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BBQ and Awards

posted Jul 4, 2010, 4:30 PM by Debbie Morgan

Sunday brought the entire group of racers and support crews together for the last time for a dinner and the presentation of awards. The Marauders were recognized for their charity efforts in raising money for the Bonnie Schindler Fund and for finishing the race in 6th place in their division. The host of the awards was a man named Jean Francois and he was absolutely hilarious. I wanted to take him home with us. This really has been a great experience. Everyone was incredibly nice to each other and you felt a real kinship with the other racers and crews. People kept asking Kevin and Erin if they were coming back to race again. I said it was like asking a lady who had just given birth if she wanted to have another kid. . . . . give them a few days for their paddling muscles to get back to normal before they decide. Jean Francois said that the weather conditions for this year's race were some of the worst ever and more teams than usual dropped out of the race than ever before. This makes the Marauders accomplishment all the more fantastic!! All the training and planning certainly paid off and their completion of the YRQ is impressive!!

We be done.

posted Jul 3, 2010, 8:58 PM by Debbie Morgan

WoooooHoooooo!! The Marauders completed the entire Yukon River Quest . . . . all 460n miles of it!!! WooooooHooooooo!!!!! They crossed the finish line at about 3:11pm . . . . sixty-some hours after starting and finishing around in the middle of the pack that started the race!!! Happy times and quite a sense of accomplishment. Weirdly enough . . . . . the boat that Erin and Kevin most traveled with on the river were the father/son/husband of the Support Crew that Debbie most hung with in the support camps . . . . . unbeknownst to any of them. Weird or what??? Anyway . . . . . mission accomplished and on to the next adventure!!! YRQ parties tomorrow!!!

Displaying the traditional Morgan "War Canoe" finish pose . . . . . the Marauders finish the 460-miles of the Yukon River Quest in fine spirits!!

Champagne awaited the Marauders upon their completions of the Yukon River Quest!!!

High Five ("yeah, buddy") and a few gulps of bubbly finished the race and began the celebration of the end of the 2010 Yukon River Quest. Go, Marauders!!!

. . . and this was the "big" set of rapids we worried about?

posted Jul 2, 2010, 9:12 PM by Debbie Morgan [ updated Jul 2, 2010, 9:38 PM ]

For a full year, everything we read about "Five Fingers Rapids" made us worry if the Marauders could handle it while being sleep deprived. Well . . . when the big day finally arrived, we see that the size of these rapids was greatly exaggerated and the Marauders could have (and very well may have) shot through them in their sleep!!

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

In reality, the Marauders are moving right along. It took them ten hours to reach Fort Selkirk and take a sight-seeing stroll around the old town. They should be pulling into tonight's three-hour rest break around 11:00 or midnight tonight. Regarding the photo above: Kevin and Erin left last night's rest stop around 2:00am and were scheduled to arrive at this set of rapids around 5:00am. Jayson and I decided we would perform a lot better as support crew if we got as much sleep as possible and NOT get up to travel the 30-minutes from our cabin to the view point above these rapids. So . . . . through the magic of Photoshop, we experienced watching them go through the rapids without losing a single wink of sleep. And the rapids really do seem less scary with Photoshop.

"The Texans" -- the Voyageur team who won last year's River Quest -- once again completed this year's Quest in the fastest time. They came into Dawson City around 4:00pm this afternoon. The second boat to complete the race this year was a solo kayaker who came in eleven-seconds behind The Texans. These guys started a 460-mile paddle at noon on Wednesday and completed it by 4:00pm Friday with ten-hours of mandatory rest stops. Unbelievable.

Dawson City looks like a big Leadville -- but without the paved streets. And their beer is more expensive.

I expect the Marauders to come into Dawson somewhere in the early evening tomorrow. They are incredible.

post-Carmacks

posted Jul 2, 2010, 9:57 AM by Debbie Morgan [ updated Jul 2, 2010, 10:29 AM ]

Good Morning!!! Jayson and I had a really rough day yesterday. Kevin and Erin selfishly stayed in our beds in the cabin until 1:30am. We had to stay up ALL that time talking and laughing with the other crew people whose teams selfishly wouldn't let them go to sleep at a decent hour either!!! People think the paddlers have it so rough paddling for 460-miles. "Ha!" I say. We've made sacrifices, too!

So . . . I was going to wake up around the time the Marauders were supposed to go through Five-Finger Rapids to make sure Spotty did his thing and we would know they were OK. Luckily, the Safety Boat guy (who has a loud, booming voice that carried very far) was standing outside our cabin and got the call saying all boats made it through the Rapids without incident. He also was the kind of guy that repeated everything that was said to him with an " . . , eh?" after it (not unlike a lot of Canadians). Therefore, I got to hear both ends of that conversation. So . . . we found out that they were safe and on their way without having to get out of bed.

We met a boy at a cafe in Carmacks . . . I'm sorry . . . at THE cafe in Carmacks. He was from Montreal and spoke kind of a broken English with heavy French overtones. He was nineteen, saw on the internet that there was a job opening in Carmacks and left for here--sight unseen-- for the summer. He was earning money for college. We asked how he liked it. Without hesitating and spoken loudly (everybody loud-talks up here) amongst all the locals eating, he said "Everee-buddee in thees town is a al-kee-whol-eeck. I put "x's" on the days to see how long before I go home." Like I said . . . six buildings and about 200 people (maybe) make up the town of Carmacks. It's going to be a loooong summer for this guy.

We've heard all this talk about the Canadian Health Care system--good/bad . . . whatever. Here's a part of it I both love and hate about it. The way they discourage smoking and drinking is by charging crazy prices for beer and cigarettes! A lady told me a pack of cigarettes costs about $15 . . . not a carton . . . a pack!! A six-pack of Molson Canadian (do I have to say Canadian after Molson when I am in Canada?) was $14! I think even I would stop drinking beer if I had to pay that every time . . . . . well, maybe not.

In a few hours, we will leave for Dawson City. The road doesn't come too close to the River anywhere on this route . . . . so we don't anticipate seeing the Marauders again until Saturday night sometime. They are doing an awesome job. All the race volunteers kept commenting on how they had one of the best attitudes of all the paddlers at the checkpoints. They came in laughing and joking enough that they made an impression on all the workers. Personally, I think they were delirious and were suffering from canoe-lag.

Sorry there wasn't more to say about the Marauders. They weren't awake all that much yesterday while they were in camp to update us on what was happening. They swallowed a quick dinner and hit the sack. They both woke up with swollen and numb hands that eventually got back to normal after about twenty minutes. They shoved off at 2:15am or so and -- according to Spotty -- are, once again, making steady progress down the River. They left joking and laughing with the launch crew and boat inspectors . . . so . . . . I guess Life is still Good.

Bye for now . . . .

Random shots

posted Jul 1, 2010, 10:47 PM by Debbie Morgan

Our cabin at Carmacks . . . . right on the river. We are in the "absolute quiet zone" for the sleeping racers. The only one they didn't tell about the "quiet zone" was this crazy, screaming bird that never shut up.

Un-retouched photograph taken at midnight from our cabin's porch. This is as dark as it got on the river for Kevin and Erin.

Kevin, wearing his Monty Python and the Holy Grail outfit, at the warming fire at the end of Lake LeBarge. Hot tea and a hot fire were available for any paddlers who wanted to stretch their legs and warm-up. (photo taken about midnight or so)

7 Hours of Sleep . . . finally!

posted Jul 1, 2010, 10:27 PM by Debbie Morgan

The Marauders arrived in Carmacks -- their seven hour sleep stop -- around 6pm on Thursday . . . . approximately 30.5 hours after they left Whitehorse. They survived Lake LeBarge . . . with waves kicking up to three and four feet . . . and a late afternoon thunderstorm just before Carmacks and arrived smiling and still speaking to each other. Kevin said his back was sore but thought he could finish the race after a rest. Erin was in great spirits. Just paddling this far is such an accomplishment . . . . nine boats have scratched out of the race already and the Marauders are still going strong! They leave tonight at 2am to begin the second half of the race to Dawson City.

Walking without assistance aftering sitting in a canoe for thirty hours . . . . . pretty impressive!

Arriving at the dock in Carmacks after thirty hours of paddling. They got caught in a sudden thunderstorm after an absolutely beautiful afternoon of sunshine and not long after they had put their rain/waterproof gear away because the day had turned so nice! Figures.

Erin is positively (and literally) glowing after arriving at the Carmacks rest stop.

Action shot . . . the Marauders pushing it down the River

posted Jul 1, 2010, 3:36 PM by Debbie Morgan [ updated Jul 3, 2010, 9:28 PM ]

The Marauders just seconds before pulling into Checkpoint #4 after 25-hours

of paddling. We got the support crews of teams from Australia and

Vancouver Island to give an echoing "WooHoo" to welcome them

(we missed you, Jennie . . . .wished you were here to lead the "woohoo.").

Our new friends( Tall Unknown Guy, Teresa & Amy, and the Martins from Australia--all first names) giving their best attempt at a "WooHoo" send off for Erin and Kevin. This is where we needed you, Jennie! They all cheered and yelled "woohoo" and then I told them I loved it that they did the action/voice scene even though i only had a still camera. They were very cooperative and accommodating. Good people on this trip . . . . both paddlers and support crews. We're having a great time getting to know a lot of them.

25 hours and still smiling

posted Jul 1, 2010, 3:12 PM by Debbie Morgan [ updated Jul 1, 2010, 3:36 PM ]

The sun broke out this afternoon and the Marauders are just about to their seven-hour rest stop. Lake LaBerge was pretty rough. One tandem kayak group helped with a rescue of a mixed-canoe team. The canoe-team lost most of their gear when their boat flipped and the lady-paddler panicked and nearly pulled her rescuers into the 4-to 5-foot waves. Luckily, the Marauders got through the lake without incident. The Marauders are still strong and in good spirits. Or delirious. In either case, they were smiling and making jokes when we saw them at Checkpoint #4. Support Crew Marauders had to take a hypothermic kayaker back to base camp after Checkpoint #4. Many teams have scratched already. We were worried about Kevin and Erin when their spot checker device stopped spotting after 24-hours. Who knows why? Anyway . . . they are OK . . . upright . . . dry . . . still paddling . . . and the sun is shining. What more can you ask for?

A view of the Yukon . . . . it's a wide, fast moving river

with many islands and channels.

Still smiling after 25 hours . . . . who woulda guessed? The Marauders pulled over at Checkpoint #4 to say "hello" and let us know they were OK. Erin's waterproof iPod speakers are providing music and books-on-tape to keep the Marauders awake and motivated.

A mass start, a run to the boats and a shove into the river . . . .

posted Jun 30, 2010, 10:26 PM by Debbie Morgan [ updated Jun 30, 2010, 10:42 PM ]

The leader of the Yukon province started the race. Then, all racers ran about a quarter-mile to their boats, jumped in and shoved off. It was crazy to see people running to gain a few minutes in a 60-hour canoe race!!! The Marauders were psyched and began the race with smiles on their faces. We connected with them again about twenty miles down the river as they passed a place where the road and the river were in close proximity. We yelled a "hey ho" and they went on their way. Looks like fun, no??

The Marauders are standing next to the guy in a chicken mask and another dressed like a pirate.

Kevin is psyched and ready to race!

Off they go with their first paddles in the race . . .

Racers . . . start your paddles!

posted Jun 30, 2010, 9:52 PM by Debbie Morgan

Well . . . . occasionally, the weather forecasters are right--damn it! It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained all afternoon. It REALLY rained in the late afternoon. It rained a little in the early evening. Apparently, the Yukon needs the rain. Is there any reason it couldn't have held off for a few days? It was even miserable being the support team (I know you all feel badly for Jayson and me!). The Marauders have been slogging along. As I write this, they are almost at the end of Lake LeBerge. According to all the experienced people, if they finish the lake, they will finish the race. We're hoping!!

Interesting side note: We started talking to this guy from Alaska about the Gulf oil spill. Some guy with a British accent joined our table and started explaining why BP has had a hard time stopping the leak. I think this is that Harwood guy that BP fired and he's in the Yukon trying to hide from all the environmentalist who want to kill him. I'm sure of it.

People were actually bailing out their boats BEFORE the race started and BEFORE a single boat was launched into the river!! We did all loading under several pieces of plastic sheeting.

A last minute re-design of the spray deck . . . a PVC pipe over the place where the skirt wraps around the paddlers so the rain water will run off into the river rather than into the bottom of the canoe.

Still smiling and anxious to start the adventure. What's a little cloud burst when you have 460 miles to paddle!!!

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