Hello folks, For those of you who have been following Maligiaq's trip here to Quebec, let me tell you, he's on his way home to his Dad in Colorado. Together we have had quite an adventure these past 2 weeks! Since picking him up at the bus station in Montreal we spent a few days in Montreal meeting the Quebec Inuit Cooperative people and picking up the boat loaned to him by QCC kayaks. Very, very few Quebec Inuit (if any) still kayak in the traditional manner or in any manner for that matter, so it was interesting for people here to talk with Maligiaq. It was also a chance to hear each other talk. The two language are very similar sharing the same roots from years ago, but have diverged sufficiently over the years to cause some confusion deciphering exactly what is being said. Maligiaq's first weekend in Montreal had three highlights. On Friday night there was a rolling demonstration by three young Greenlanders who had come to Montreal bringing with them their home-built kayaks. If you have never seen these guys in action, try to find a video or something. It is very interesting. Just the variety of rolling styles is amazing, not to mention rescue methods, and ways of using boats to hunt. Saturday saw the first pre-race activity, a 500 meter sprint. Maligiaq stayed with a fellow racer and his family, and got to experience French immersion! On Sunday he completed the second pre-race activity, a 30 km race mostly up-stream in the St Lawrence river winding a path among several mid-stream islands. He finished 12th in this section. It was at this point that we realised there was a difficulty using the boat donated by QCC. Maligiaq was too light and the boat would not track as well as it usually did. Monday we took a rest day, but Tuesday, after consulting with the people at QCC we experimented with a variety of skegs and skeg positions until we felt that the boat was easier to handle. We epoxied the new skeq permanently in Wednesday. Maligiaq tried his hand at horseback riding and we did some exploring in an old copper mine which originally opened to supply the US with metal during the Civil war in the 1860's. Today its one of our local tourist attractions nearby. Friday we left for the lower north shore of the St Lawrence where the Traversée race is held from Forestville to Ste Luce. We got as far as Tadoussac, a kayaking heaven if ever there was one! The following morning we continued on to Forestville and headed for the beach. It was a bright sunny day and one could just make out the distant shore, the finish line 60 kms away. We checked in and began getting ready for the race the next day. Maligiaq and the other competitors eying each others equipment, especially interesting were his Greenland style paddles compared to the carbon fiber jobs. Sunday morning there was concern as the day dawned gray and overcast and at first the weather reports called for high winds and rain. However, these reports changed. The calm, windless conditions we saw at 9.00 am would prevail all day and the race was on. The starting gun sounded at 9.30 and about 60 kayaks began disappearing out to sea. Seen from the beach it was a moment to reflect on, wondering what was passing through the minds of all the racers. I caught the ferry across the river but only arrived after the first boats, including Maligiaq's, had already arrived. As was reported here, he finished 7th in his class, a very respectible finish given the nature of the competition. I believe he was about the 14th boat to finish overall, but am not certain of this. I wonder if his name which, in English, means 'wave' helped make him into such a superb paddler... We treated ourselves to a big sea-food dinner and our first motel room that night, camping is fun, but it was reward time! We returned home on Monday having travelled about 1400 km, and 60 km by kayak. Maligiaq returned to Colorado on Wednesday having made some new friends and admirers, not to mention having seen more of Quebec than many people who live here see in a lifetime! If you would like more information about this race, they have a site on the web at <http://www.traversee.com>. The results in each category are posted as well. Michael Bradley *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Aug 12 1999 - 14:05:02 PDT
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