ThePADDLER 40
Below : Darcy and Maggy on Gates of Ladore , Colorado , USA . Photo : Don Beveridge
Below right : Darcy on the Mission Falls , Kenya
WHAT ’ S THE MOST ENJOYABLE ENCOUNTER WITH WILDLIFE THAT YOU ’ VE HAD WHILST PADDLING ? Seeing Pink Amazonian River dolphins on the Amazon River . I read Joe Kane ’ s book Running the Amazon about his 1985 expedition down the Amazon . He mentions that they saw the dolphins , but infrequently , and he wrote about how they were going extinct . I went into the expedition desperately hoping we ’ d see one . We saw our first dolphin on day 30 of the expedition , and then we saw them every day from then until last week of the trip , around day 140 or so , when we got into the brackish water . Whenever morale was low , watching the pink dolphins swim around us always lifted our spirits !
WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON ? A few ! Don and I are in the early stages of creating a youth group for the Quijos Valley in Ecuador . Kayaking will be about 40 % of the focus . We also plan to incorporate life skills , health and first aid training , and community projects ( mainly focused on animal welfare as this is my other passion ). I ’ m also working on expanding my business Amazon Woman , LLC , but it ’ s so early in the development phase that I ’ m not ready to talk much about that yet .
Kayaking-wise , when the Canadian border opens to Americans , Don and I plan to head north to start on our project of kayaking the Stikine , Skeena , and Nass Rivers ( the three main rivers that come off of the Spatsizi Plateau ) from source to sea . This river project isn ’ t ‘ new ’ or overly epic , but it ’ s a part of the world that we want to immerse ourselves in for a little while , and this seemed like an excellent way to do it .
And , of course , there is the on-going project of fundraising for the Ecuadorian Rivers Institute . The ERI has several legal challenges to hydro projects on Ecuador ’ s rivers in the national court system . Keeping up with paying the lawyers presents a constant test of our fundraising capabilities .
IS THERE ANY ISSUE THAT STOPS YOU FROM SLEEPING AT NIGHT ? There ’ s been more and more lately ; where to begin ? The state of politics in America . The state of the environment globally-speaking , and the shocking rate of development and destructive industries that continue to push forward despite the science that explicitly lays out how unwise this is .
Social media also keeps me up at night . People are horrible to each other ( especially online ), and this drives me crazy . The world needs more niceness – I think about this one first thing every morning , and it does help me do my part to be nice to people . The world also needs more women leading the way in all walks of life . I feel this last one is happening and is the one bright spot in my list of worries .
YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT ? Well … it ’ s not my most embarrassing , but it ’ ll do for now : I was hand paddling the Upper Gauley . I didn ’ t have proper kayaking hand paddles , so I was using some small hand paddles that Speedo makes meant to help swimmers when they are swimming laps . Things were going quite well , and Don suggested that we try to boof over the Energizer hole on Sweets Falls .
I was new to hand paddling and new to the Gauley River , and I had no clue what the Energizer Hole was , but I trusted Don , so I said , “ sure , why not ?” I managed to get a decent boof , but then I made a mistake . At the end of my boof , I laid on my back deck instead of using proper boofing technique and sitting up straight or leaning forward .
With all my weight on my back deck , the little Jackson Star back-endered into the Energizer hole and I got totally worked . It took me a while to release my fingers from the hand paddles , but I eventually did and pulled my skirt and swam . On any given day on the Gauley , there are hundreds of people hanging out at Sweets Falls , and I put on quite a show !
Now , for the embarrassing part : after I swam , I was having a real struggle trying to get to shore . My hand paddles were dangling around my wrists , flopping around , hitting me in the face , and totally getting in my way . It wasn ’ t until I finally flailed and flopped and dog-paddled my way to shore that it dawned on me that I should have put my fingers back through the loops and used my Speedo hand paddles for what they were . Meant for – swimming ! Duh !
WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX ? This will sound weird , but when I ’ m super stressed or am having a lot of anxiety about something , a long trail run sets me straight . 10-20 miles in the mountains never fails to make me happy . It ’ s not physically relaxing , but it is very mentally relaxing for me . I ’ m honestly not good at physical relaxation .
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 20 YEARS ? This is a tough question . My life has changed somewhat with the publication of Amazon Woman . I ’ ve gotten a job as a professional speaker with the Leading Authorities Speaker ’ s Bureau . I ’ ve been able to use my platform ( as tiny as it is ) to begin to reach women and young girls to encourage them to follow their dreams , to shrug off suggestions about what they can and can ’ t do , and to be brave enough to charge forward into leadership roles .
I genuinely hope that I can carry this new momentum forward and keep working in the field of women ’ s leadership and development . Breaking down ideas of what the world thinks women are capable of has always been something I ’ ve done . When I was younger , I didn ’ t consciously realize I was doing it , but now it ’ s become at the forefront of my consciousness and something I want to continue to pursue .