|
|
|
Tour Tickets Available
 It’s been a summer of mini adventures for Julie and me. While we’ve been extremely busy organizing our upcoming film tour and book launch for Rowed Trip, we’ve managed to squeeze a number of expeditions in our home province of British Columbia.
Just north of our town on Vancouver Island is a myriad of islands, channels and inlets. Tidal currents of up to eight knots rush between rocky headlands and pocket beaches. Gnarled arbutus trees lean over the water like old security guards. This is the land of salmon, wolves, cougars, bears, eagles and, of course, many pleasure boaters. We spent a week exploring Desolation Sound and neighboring archipelagos, and you can read more about this enchanting part of British Columbia in the article below.
Our rowing trip through Desolation Sound was followed by an eight-day canoe paddling trip as part of Tribal Journeys. Julie and I were honored to be invited by Vince Fairleigh, a member of Nisga’a Nation (the First Nations people in the Nass River region), to be a part of their canoe family. It is an impressive cultural gathering, where tribes of the Pacific Northwest travel by human power in traditional-style canoes to a hosting community. There is a strong parallel between Tribal Journeys and our own human powered expedition last summer rowing from Scotland to Syria to explore our own heritage. In our next month’s newsletter Julie will be detailing our journey with the Nisga’a and Squamish people along with photos of the adventure.
Vince Fairleigh is an artist in residence at the Vancouver Museum of Anthropology, and is currently creating a giant Moon Mask to be displayed at the 2010 Olympics. For those interested in seeing him crafting his work, he’s in the museum most week days during business hours.
We look forward to seeing many of you during our ROWED TRIP tour this fall. The Canadian tour will be from Oct 14 to Nov 21 and will take us from British Columbia to Ontario. We’ll be stopping in Calgary, Courtenay, Edmonton, Kamloops, Kelowna, Kingston, Nanaimo, Ottawa, Parksville, Penticton, Port Moody, Regina, Saskatoon, Squamish, Vancouver, Victoria, Waterloo and Winnipeg.
We now have advance tickets available online and soon at outlets across Canada. Also take a peek at the tour video intro.
We hope you’re having a great summer.
- Colin
|
|
Staycation in Desolation Sound
 Julie and I are back from a week-long rowing voyage amongst the picturesque archipelagos of Desolation Sound. This region is home to British Columbia’s largest marine park and deep fjords that include the steepest drop from mountain peak to sea floor in all of North America.
Our journey began from the shores of Cortes Island. We ventured through Desolation Sound and then down to Lund on the Sunshine Coast as well as Savary and Hernando Islands. Seals, porpoises, cormorants and eagles were abundant. Nature provided the most dramatic (and grisly) shows on Savary Island when a dominant bald eagle attacked and killed a juvenile (but full grown) bald eagle about fifty metres from our tent. You can see the pics (including the eagle saga) on our facebook page.
|
|
|
Featured Expedition: Zac Sunderland - youngest to sail around the world
 Back in the late 1960s Robin Lee Graham became the youngest to sail around the world in a journey famously recorded in the book “Dove”. Many cruising sailors (including myself) were inspired to head out to sea after reading the enchanting tale of Graham’s five-year voyage.
Since then Robin Lee Graham’s record has been broken by a handful of individuals including Tania Abei, Jesse Martin, and David Dicks. Although modern technology has made offshore sailing easier, there is no denying that a teenager has to have nerves of steel to sail away from all things familiar and spend over a year alone facing the perils of the open ocean.
On July 16, 2009 the record for the youngest solo circumnavigation of the world was broken yet again. Zac Sunderland of California returned to the harbor of Marina del Ray to complete his thirteen-month journey around the world. Like Robin Lee Graham he departed when he was sixteen, but a speedy voyage meant that not only is he the youngest to complete a solo circumnavigation, but also the first to complete this goal before the age of 18.
Read the rest of the article on our blog. |
|
|
|
