The Paddler ezine Issue 53 Late Spring 2020 | Page 130

ThePADDLER 130 JF MARLEAU BROKEN GROUP AND DEER GROUP ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA When the legal and social norm restrictions are lifted or softened and kayak touring will become socially accepted in relation to the evolution of the status of COVID-19 in our area, we have a few plans to enjoy the freedom of the sea again. Weeks ago before COVID- 19 transformed the world as we used to know it, my partner Justine Curgenven and I were planning two Easter adventures. First a seven-day trip where we will leave from a beach beside our house in Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island for the Broken Group Islands and Deer Group islands in Barkley Sound. The Broken Group Islands has over 100 islands by itself. This is currently on the path of the grey whale migration and the area between our place and the Broken Group and the Deer Group Islands is very wild and beautiful with so many whales around. This is just a start. We were also planning to take a float plane to go kayak fishing trout to a remote alpine lake called Pretty Girl Lake for a few days. This Lake is only accessible by float plane. When things return to normal, in addition to guiding and teaching in remote areas, we are planning to circumnavigate Haida Gwaii for a personal holiday from guiding and teaching sea kayaking:) JF has taught kayaking and guiding expeditions full time across Canada since 1998. He is a certified Level 4 Guide & Guide Trainer and Examiner with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC (SKGABC). He was vice-president of the SKGABC for 14 years, He is also a certified Level 4 Instructor and Level 3 Instructor Trainer with Paddle Canada. He runs SKILS, Canada’s premiere sea kayaking training centre. For details see: https://www.skils.ca SEAN CLARKE WHITE NILE, UGANDA Escaping from lockdown and an imminent winter, I’d love to be on a river anywhere. But if I have to choose, then the White Nile, Uganda – even in spite of the recent Isimba Dam, everything about Jinja, Bujagali and surrounds, it is my favourite place on earth. April is the rainy season but other than bodas and mutatus sliding everywhere in the mud, paddling continues year round. Freestyle paddling is much reduced without the Nile Special section but the river is still mighty and holds the attention of any paddler unawares on it. Ingenuity and a genuine love of the river is what draws people back each year for the Nile River Festival (Jan/Feb each year) and I can’t help myself in answering the call and heading back. There’s not too many places in the world you can get to the river holding your kayak and paddle on the back of a motorcycle sliding through mud. Adventure and social interactions (sorely missed in the isolation) is what draws me back year on year. God damned I wish I could get there right now. Sean is the Chair of British Rafting, the rafting discipline committee of British Canoeing and Head of Marketing and Media for the International Rafting Federation. He is also a kayak and canoeing coach. www.britishrafting.com