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We take a rest day as Scott's wrists cause problems (Entry by Matt)
(Jul 17th, 2005) After repacking our food and crew equipment packs, we headed back to the St. Adolphe bridge, where our canoe, paddles and one pack were stored. There, we knocked on the door of Garry Scott, and asked him if he had any tools to which we could rig our sail, made by Pacific Action, and install our thwart. He said, “Sure, come to the garage.”

Garry took it upon ourselves to not only remove our old, bent thwart, but he replaced the thwart by drilling holes vertically through the gunwale for some nuts and bolts. The old thwart was held in place with rivets (which Garry drilled out). We had new rivets, but Garry’s gun wouldn’t fit them, hence the holes.

While Garry worked on the thwart, Scott and I worked with the sail. After drilling holes for four brackets, we installed the masts thanks to emailed instructions, and then spent the rest of our morning working on the line which controlled the two masts.

After packing our gear, we hit the water at 12:30, three and a half hours later than normal, but we felt good about our accomplishment, as the sail will save us more time than we spent putting it up.

After paddling for a few hours, we met Garry again, this time a few miles upriver of the dam south of Winnipeg. He gave us portaging instructions and even offered to carry packs in the back of his truck. Unfortunately, while navigating the boulder field in which me made our portage trail (both sides of the damn had erosion-preventing boulders placed on them), Garry took a fall and hurt his knee, causing it to swell up. We were very worried, and hopefully he is feeling better, and the injury is temporary.

We entered Winnipeg later that afternoon when we passed underneath the southern Perimeter Highway (much like Interstates 494 and 694 in the Twin Cities metro area), and camped later that night in southern Winnipeg in a baseball field.

We set off the next morning with southern winds, to our much rejoicing. The breeze allowed us to pass a 2 ½ mile straight stretch in 20 minutes, about 7.5 mph (1.5-2.5 mph faster than we normally travel!). Sailing was much fun, and we are looking forward to traveling on Lake Winnipeg with it.

While paddling through Winnipeg, we met members of the Manitoba Canoe and Kayak club, and their coach Gerome. They also told us Don Starkell, who paddled from Winnipeg to the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon River with his sons and wrote about it in his book, “Paddle to the Amazon,” lived upriver. We hoped to meet him, however, we could not locate his house.

North of Winnipeg we passed through St. Anthony’s Lock and Dam despite previous advice that a portage was necessary. I had never been through one, and it was an exciting, al beit slow process. Like the dam south of Winnipeg, the St. Anthony’s dam was full or rapids and recirculating current.

After passing through the lock, Scott told me his wrists, in particular, his right wrist, were hurting, and that we needed to stop, on the sooner side of later. So we paddled on, looking for a campsite. First we stopped at a private home and found no one home. After paddling 30 minutes more, we arrived at Lower Fort Garry, the oldest remaining stone fort left in North America. There we filled our water, and were told that camping was not allowed on the grounds. Deterred for the second time, we got back in the canoe and ventured into Selkirk, our largest town (of 10,000) for the rest of the expedition. We tried to get a spot at Selkirk Park, but a large music festival was going on, and there was only one non-electric spot left, one adjacent to the rodeo. The woman who appeared to be running the place said that it was far away and we wouldn’t get much sleep. Again put back on the river, we paddled around our first island since July 1. At its end was the Selkirk airport, a river base for float planes. There was a small area for our tents, and after locating the owner’s house, we asked permission. The owner’s brother-in-law answered the door, and understandably said he couldn’t speak for his relative. However, he later flagged us down and said he had called his brother-in-law (who was at the festival), who said we could camp.

That night, we were besieged by a rather large storm, the largest yet the expedition has endured. Rain and wind held us in the tent all night, save the two times I went out in full rain-gear to secure the dry-fly (which blew down, as our stakes were in halfway in the rocky soil), tent and re-stake our tent guy lines.

With Scott’s wrists hurting, we decided a layover day was best before we hit Lake Winnipeg, where both of us will need our combined strength against the waves. And with the rain continuing through the night, waking up with rain still hitting our tent told us we had made the right choice. We spent the morning hours in the tent, resting, sleeping and reading and only leaving for breakfast.

We met the owner’s of the property where our camp was the next morning. Helen, Ben, Jake and Dieter were extremely nice, and let us use their van for the afternoon while they were away. We drove it into Selkirk and ate lunch at Barney Gargles (which is a licensed family restaurant). We also looked around the city, which appears to have been hit by a large storm, either from last night or a previous night. Debris was strewn across some of the side streets.

Tomorrow we hope to venture through Netley Marsh and leave the Red River behind us as we enter Lake Winnipeg. Winds are supposed to be out of the NW at 30 km/h (about 19 mph).

Today we’d like to thank Pacific Action, for donating a sail kit to the expedition. As the bowman, it became my responsibility to man the sail, and guide our canoe with the winds when the opportunities arise. Easy to install, the sail is supported by two super-light and strong carbon-fiber masts.

We’d also like to thank Kokatat, who has agreed to sponsor myself with a few articles or paddling clothing, including a two-piece Gore-Tex rain suit, zip-off paddling pants (with padded knees and buttocks). In addition, I will be receiving a personal floatation device, all of which I am looking forward to.