It's only been over the last few years that I like to be in the water. When I was about 6 I had a scare in the water that resulted in my being anxious whenever water was over my head.
When I was 8 years old we moved to southern Ontario where my step-dad introduced me to canoeing. I had never been in a canoe. He and his brothers had been canoeing for years. They were very good canoe racers.
Every weekend we traveled all over southern Ontario where dad raced canoes with one of his brothers as his partner. There was always a lot of activities for us kids. We were partnered with the children of other racers to compete in the junior division. I don't remember being all that good, but I do remember winning races & loving the paddling.
Canoe racing was a family event. Some of my best memories include those weekends traveling and visiting with family and friends.
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| My cousin (left), and my grandma (right) at a regatta |
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| My cousin (left), and I (right) at one of the regattas |
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| My uncle at a regatta |
It was fun to cheer on the racers; especially when our racers almost always won. I thought my dad and uncles were Olympic quality racers given the large entourage of cheering groupies.
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| Dad in the back, my uncle in the front |
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| The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) Monday October 4th 1976, Page 4 **all three brothers are listed in this article** |
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| Winners! my uncle (left), and dad (right) |
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| Dad in the back, my uncle in the front |
One regatta there was a corn eating contest. I purposely came in 2nd because I wanted the trophy that had a corn on the cob on top instead of the 1st place prize that had a pig. As an adult I finally figured out why everyone had been laughing at me - at the age of 8 I had zero idea.
All I knew was that I didn't want to identify as a PIG, but I did want to WIN!
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| 2nd place Corn Eating Contest Prize |
In the years after we moved back to British Columbia dad would try to get us kids to go out canoeing with him. We would always say no. He would promise to make it a leisurely canoe ride where we could see the scenery. It was never long before dad was yelling hup (change sides), and we were cruising mach 20 straight across the lake seeing nothing as we dug deep to keep up with him. We remembered why we originally said we wouldn't go out with him. The scenario above would keep repeating until all of us kids had moved away, and the canoe was replaced by a leisure craft with a motor.
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| Mom and Dad on their boat |
When I shared this memory with my brother, he said "I don’t think dad knew how to have a 'leisurely' canoe ride". My reply was "truer words have never been spoken".
Even though I was afraid of being IN the water those early years canoeing with my dad created a shift for me where I felt safe around water. In the years since I developed a love of being IN & ON the water. Water is definitely my happy place.
In 2019 I joined a dragon boat team, and loved it. The irony of joining a sport where you paddle hard for a short time after rejecting racing with dad was not lost on me. Maybe it's my way of keeping him close.
In 2019 I joined a dragon boat team, and loved it. The irony of joining a sport where you paddle hard for a short time after rejecting racing with dad was not lost on me. Maybe it's my way of keeping him close.
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| My first dragon boat medal April 2019 |
Shortly after joining dragon boating I found out my uncle won 5 Worlds champion medals dragon boating. He had continued paddling canoe, but joined a dragon boat team for a season. My uncle is still paddling well into his senior years. I wondered if a trip to Ontario was needed so I could get some remedial coaching when I joined the team last year.
I also tried paddle boarding, and loved it.
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| paddle boarding |
My dad would be pleased that I went back to paddling as an adult.
Passing activities & memories down!
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Our retirement community has a dragon boat group. I'm fearful of water myself so it's not the hobby for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty safe with lifejackets and focus
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