New and veteran paddlers leave Whitehorse all smiles

Photo by Annalee Grant

Two very different experiences were happening in one very small area Wednesday morning.

Linda Rapp, captain of the Paddlers Abreast team was calmly talking to reporters, volunteers and anyone who wanted to cash in on the 10-year Yukon River Quest veteran’s experience. The rest of her team did jumping jacks and chit-chatted back and forth as their support crew triple-checked the contents of their canoe.

Three boats down, Chris Vickers and his team the Steelbacks were hastily bartering with their neighbours for better paddles; duct taping the cushions to their not-so-trusty red voyageur canoe and lamenting the fact that they had only been allowed two rolls of the sticky tape.

It was indeed the start of the 12 annual Yukon River Quest – and what a race it was already shaping up to be.

The rain poured down on the excited paddlers, but even the newbie voyageur team didn’t mind.

“We feel like we’re in England again, apart the fact everyone’s really friendly,” Vickers joked.

Hailing from Cuffley, United Kingdom, the British Army soldier said the rain was a very wet reminder of home.

“To be quite honest, we’re happy in this. Just like home”

Vickers was happy to give any non-competitors a lengthy tour of the “high-performance machine” that was to be their home for the next three or more days. The Steelbacks’ red canoe stuck out like a sore thumb against the brand-new, beautifully painted voyageur canoes that surrounded it, but the team was just fine with it.

“I don’t think we can really be competitive because the other teams have such great technology,” he said.

The other voyageur teams – many of whom have veteran paddlers amongst them took pity on the poor international team and offered up any spare equipment.

Team captain Mark Hart, who did the River Quest two years ago, managed to rustle up some lighter wooden paddles to replace the heavier plastic ones they had with them. He also acquired several newer and less bulky life jackets that made the team look a bit more professional, but the wooden seats covered in duct tape and foamies were still what drew looks from passersby.

“We look vaguely sensible now,” Vickers laughed.

Facing a long, difficult journey, the team was in great spirits. They seemed to laugh at the uncomfortable few days ahead of them, even planning to sleep in public areas instead of relying on support crews to have a tent set up for them.

“We haven’t actually got a support team,” Vickers said.

The Steelbacks are not here just to finish. They are raising funds for Help the Heros, a charity that assists soldiers returning from the war zone in readjusting to life.

Because of that, the men had to leave any thoughts of familiar faces behind in England to head over to the Yukon for the race.

“We are on an absolutely minimum budget,” Vickers said, pointing to the foam-covered seats again.

There are two other teams from the U.K. that are raising funds for the charity, and Vickers said one managed to get their flights paid for not only the team, but for their girlfriends to come and help out.

Even with no support crew, the team is confident they can survive the trek through the Yukon – all six members of the team are soldiers.

“We’ve done this before in the British Army,” Vickers said.

As the time crept closer to noon, and the official start, Vickers and his teammates were ready to hop in and quit trying to search for better supplies.

“I just want to get over and done with it now,” he said.

Vickers said he will be filming portions of the trip on his iPhone and hopes to make a few videos of their experience along the way.

A little further down the banks of the Yukon River, Rapp stood calmly.

The breast cancer survivor has been a fixture of the Yukon River Quest since she first climbed aboard as part of the Paddlers Abreast 10 years ago.

“I’m ready to go,” she said Wednesday morning. While her team bounced around to keep warm, Rapp was calm and quiet, the perfect team captain.

Volunteers look forward to Rapp’s smile – that can be seen from almost a mile away even on the river.

The rain that fell Wednesday was just another experience for her.

“We’re prepared for rain and cold,” she said. “We know it’s not going to be raining all the way.”

In Whitehorse there was little wind rustling through the trees, and Rapp hoped it stayed that way.

“We don’t want big wind, even a following wind,” she said. Wind could have meant a nasty time on Lake Laberge, and by the time the paddlers hit it on Wednesday afternoon, there was a strong breeze pushing the waves to whitecap.

But when the Paddlers Abreast came into view, clustered in with several other kayak teams, Rapp’s smile stood out from the gloomy clouds they had left behind in Whitehorse, and Dawson City seemed just minutes away.