The La Ronge Canoe Club hosted a paddle around the Nut Point peninsula, Marker 6 Saturday Sept. 9 beginning at 9 a.m.
Canoeists met at Eagle Point Marina with lunch and warm gear in tow, ready for the long paddle which included: going clockwise around Nut Point; stopping there for lunch; then travelling down the Campbell channel; crossing into Nut Bay at Nut Portage; and back into McGibbon Bay.
Three canoeists left the Pimiskatan home base at Eagle Point Marina. The two-person canoe is a Clipper Whitewater 2.
“It’s made by Clipper. It’s a fast canoe, but it’s can take big waves too, so you’re sort of getting the best of both worlds,” said club president Warren Kelly, who took a single canoe.
“(It’s) One of your last good chances for a paddle before the colder weather.”
The Club has had a good season this year with higher than usual membership and good weather for their Wednesday night races.
They held their annual race event on Saturday, Aug. 26 with in the neighborhood of 35 participants in the two races.
The Long Race is 18 kms and involves paddling across Doughton Lake, up the Campbell Channel to Nut Point and back from Nut Portage to McGibbon Bay.
The shorter, 7-km race is just in McGibbon Bay.
Typically, the races mark the end of the Wednesday night race season, but some keep paddling into the fall, Kelly said.
The trek on Sept. 9 is “a sort of wrap of the season, getting some paddling in type of thing.”
Two major highlight of the season – Morgan McKenzie spent time paddling with the Club over the season and attending various clinics before heading off to compete in the North American Indigenous Games in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
“She paddled a lot in our club getting ready,” Kelly said.
Club members Ragnar Robinson and Scott Frazer participated in the Yukon Quest coming first in their category and third overall in the race.
”They were using one of Martin Bernardin’s canoes, which is sort of a nice local connection,” Kelly said.
