Don Starkell in his canoe
Epic canoeist Don Starkell has taken his final paddle. The intrepid Canadian who, together with his two sons, holds the Guinness record for the longest canoe trip ever taken, an amazing 12,181 mile adventure from Winnepeg to the mouth of the Amazon in 1980, died at the weekend.
Don Starkell had numerous other canoeing claims to fame, not least attempting to kayak the Northwest Passage – the fabled sea route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Starkell’s route would be some 3,200 miles, not far on paper but the weather conditions and climate – much of it is within the Arctic Circle – would prove tougher than even he expected.
The Canadian set off in 1990, canoed for three years and then had to be rescued a mere 36 miles from his destination of Tuktoyaktuk, when the conditions – and frostbite – got the better of him. His kayak became entombed in ice and Starkell lost all his fingertips and many of his toes in the process.
The Northwest Passage - gives an idea of just how far north Starkell's route took him
“I sat in that kayak for 25 hours,” he told The Journal of Canadian Wilderness Canoeing a few years ago. “I felt that, yes, I’m in agony. I’m in pain and I’m dying, and all that, but so many times I was fighting with myself — should I release myself and go into my final sleep?
“I said to myself that I don’t care how painful, but my life is going to have to be taken. I am not going to release it.”
Starkell’s adventures are chronicled at www.paddletotheamazon.com.
A detailed obituary of him can be found on the Canadian National Press newspaper’s website.
Don Starkell’s entry in Wikipedia can be found here. Don, wherever you are, we tip our hat to you.
(Picture credit: Paddletotheamazon.com; Map credit: Geology.com)
0 comments:
Post a Comment