It didn't take long for my son and I to get on with the task at hand. It was early August and we wanted to get some practice in. We were nearing the end of the race season and we still didn't have a canoe that could cut the mustard but I did have a 14'8" Old Towne canoe from Canadian Tire and that's what we used for our first few times out on the water.
We started with a trip down the five or so sets of rapids between Pimisi Lake and Campion Rapids in Champlain Park. We ran all of them but one set successfully. We had a close look at Portage la Prairie and decided to walk around for safety's sake. We had thus far managed to keep ourselves dry and wanted to keep it that way. Our canoe weighed 68lbs so the portages were a little more challenging.
We departed from Champlain Park to Mattawa on our second trip out with the same canoe and managed to complete it in 2 hrs. It was a leisurely trip where we had a chance to enjoy the sights.
I was then off to Ottawa to purchase a new 17'Jensen Clipper from Jenda Sports. Mike & I were able to take her out for a test run on the Rideau River prior to purchasing and we were totally satisfied with the results. We couldn't find any Wenonah's for sale anywhere in Ontario but we had heard that Clipper made a comparable boat and although we would have preferred a Kevlar finish,we decided to purchase the fibreglass version and run with it. The manufacturer told us that our registration number indicated that our boat weighed 52lbs. A little heavier then we wanted but nonetheless happy with our purchase. We took it out on Constance Bay next to Mike's house the following day for a few hours of more practice and then returned to North Bay.
Our third time out saw us departing North Bay to Pine Lake in our new Clipper.We managed to make McPherson Drive in an hour and 23 minutes. The remainder of the trip was uneventful except for knee deep mud at one portage and getting lost on Pine Lake.
We were ready for our first race together as a team. Or were we?
