Yukon 1000 FFTB

07/03/2024

Dan & George are skydiving for YPI Counselling, please take a look at there just giving page and if you feel capable please sponsor them!
https://www.justgiving.com/page/skydivewithdanielandgeorge?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fskydivewithdanielandgeorge&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

03/16/2024

This looks incredible

03/09/2024

Day 8 (4 of 4) - “Right, let’s get this done, remember stay right as we approach the bridge.” After 7 days of life in slow motion, all of a sudden we seemed to go into fast forward, from that first paddle stroke we were under the bridge and reached the beach which had other racers, supporters, the film crew and Jon. “We are doing nothing but crashing, brace for impact.” Jon heroically slowed the canoe down before the we gently ran ashore. Nick finally got to see Jon with a smile and also heard a positive word leave his lips “well done lads, cracking effort, jump out”.

We slowly pulled ourselves out of the canoe and where given a cold beer each. Jon asked a few questions and at the same time the canoe started to float off, luckily Glenn noticed and came to the rescue. The cold can of beer against the hand felt amazing, the wet hiss as it opened was a sound to sore ears, and the taste, just incredible. The best beer we had ever tasted, and that was because we felt like we earned it, nectar (definitely better than the bottle Gatorade we had each morning)!


Yukon 1000 Canoe Race

03/03/2024

We reached the kink, time to stop, clean our teeth, take some water on board and enjoy the moment. As we scrubbed the plaque off our teeth we floated along around the bend. We both made a short video about the journey and relief was in both our voices. “What is that? Is that I what think it is?”

The feeling of seeing the bridge, this horrible piece of concrete, which was totally alien to the beautiful environment that we had spent so many days in, was just incredible. The relief, the absolute relief that we hadn’t let our families down, our charities down, our friends down and we had achieved our goal. We both shed a few tears, reached towards each other, held each other’s hands and allowed ourselves to say well done.

To be continued….

02/28/2024

Day 8 - As we moved out of the current our speed dropped and so did out morale. 12 miles to go, which was going to take us 90 mins now doubled to 180 mins. 3 more hours of paddling, we were tired, missed our families, and just wanted to get off the water. We persevered, but hugged the shore as we rounded the final bend. There was one final kink in the river, so we couldn’t see the Dalton Highway Bridge. At the current speed, it would take another 2 hours. It’s only 2 hours but morale and physical strength was down, along with Dan’s second pair of sun glasses which were at the bottom of the Yukon (kindly and selflessly Nick lent Dan his remaining set of glasses).

All of a sudden the wind dropped, we moved back into the flow, put some upbeat sea shanties on and started to increase our rate. Heads down focusing on the speed, smoothly powering the canoe along, gaining a rhythm as the canoe started to lift out of the water, while giving each other positive encouragement. “We have this” “feeling strong” “keep this rate” “anyone catching” “let’s lift it some more”.

To be continued….

02/28/2024

Day 8 (2 of 3) - As we moved out of the current our speed dropped and so did out morale. 12 miles to go, which was going to take us 90 mins now doubled to 180 mins. 3 more hours of paddling, we were tired, missed our families, and just wanted to get off the water. We persevered, but hugged the shore as we rounded the final bend. There was one final kink in the river, so we couldn’t see the Dalton Highway Bridge. At the current speed, it would take another 2 hours. It’s only 2 hours but morale and physical strength was down, along with Dan’s second pair of sun glasses which were at the bottom of the Yukon (kindly and selflessly Nick lent Dan his remaining set of glasses).

All of a sudden the wind dropped, we moved back into the flow, put some upbeat sea shanties on and started to increase our rate. Heads down focusing on the speed, smoothly powering the canoe along, gaining a rhythm as the canoe started to lift out of the water, while giving each other positive encouragement. “We have this” “feeling strong” “keep this rate” “anyone catching” “let’s lift it some more”.

We reached the kink, time to stop, clean our teeth, take some water on board and enjoy the moment. As we scrubbed the plaque off our teeth we floated along around the bend. We both made a short video about the journey and relief was in both our voices. “What is that? Is that I what think it is?”

To be continued….

02/20/2024

Day 7 (2 of 2) - An average of 8 mph was all that was needed but the flow was not there even though we were seeking it out, the constant “shovelling water and paddling through treacle” was taking its toll, plus the 10 mile long bends were totally soul destroying. For most of the day we barely made an average of 6 mph and we tried everything, painkillers, caffeine, singing, music…… but nothing would help, the Yukon was asserting its will on to us and we were feeling it.

It is hard to fully recall day 7 and it is as if our minds wanted us to forget that physical, mental and emotional pain of knowing that we would spend one more night out on the River Yukon, when all we wanted was a comfortable bed to sleep in.

We finished within striking distance of the Dalton highway bridge and ended up camping on a long pebbled beach with the Montana boys aka Team First Water. We quickly set up camp and had a laugh and a joke about our situation but knowing that it would all be over tomorrow. We shared our rather large supply of Gatorade and painkillers with Zach and Paul. Paul cracked the bottle open and it went straight down the hatch, not even touching the sides. Not sure why they didn’t take a few bottles on their race, but we hear that taking extra kit / weight isn’t conducive to a racing performance.

02/20/2024

Day 8 (1 of 3) - We awoke tired but motivated to finally get out of the flats and back into the flow, which was going to whisk us to the finishing line, but the River Yukon was not finished messing with our minds. We had the echo in our minds that the flow increases when your reach Stevens village, so we worked hard, stroke by stroke, pulling ourselves to Stevens village. The anticipation was palpable, “are you ready it’s coming”, “it’s got to be coming soon”, “where is this mass of current?” “Are we on the right track?” Nothing, just good old standard Flats flow rate, aka nil to nothing.

We passed Stevens Village and reached the final convergence of the Yukon 1000. All of a sudden our speed increased by a mile an hour, then a little more. Our spirits started to lift. “This straight, then one more bend and finally the last straight to the finish line.” As the hills built on either side of us, we knew we were out of the Flats, but with the hills came the wind that funnelled down the river and was right on our nose, which slowed our speed down. “Will this race never end?” As the wind picked up (which was clearly the race director’s doing), the effect against the “tide” meant that the river started to “boil up” and in our opinion became quite dangerous, as we couldn’t keep a constant course and if we capsized into the frigid water we would have struggled to get to the bank with the canoe, as it was a long straight followed by a long bend. We decided that that we needed to paddle closer to the shore where the chop was less.

To be continued….


Yukon 1000 Canoe Race

02/09/2024

Day 7 (1 of 2) - We awoke full of optimism and hope that we would complete the 160 miles to finish line. We were on the “home straight”, our technique was improving, we had the energy to get the job done and the flow was going to start again. Our bodies were failing apart with minor niggles but they were not going to stop us. We needed to keep an average of 8 mph and we would be enjoying a cold beer at the finish line. 8 mph, that has got to be achievable, we had done it before.

Oh wow, how wrong we were. Day 7 was incredibly painful, the sun constantly beat down on us and reflected harshly off of the twinkling water, making our sun burn skin and chapped lips worse. The heat built up during the day to an absolute scorcher, the lack of river flow and humongous sweeping bends started to sap the will out of us. It was barbaric, with no where to hide from the sun which was quite literally hitting us from all angles and was made worse by Nick forgetting his wide brimmed hat which would have provided some respite from the sun. “Why o why did I leave that perfect hat in the garage? I am absolutely kicking myself” was regularly repeated during the day.

To be continued…….

02/05/2024

Day 6 (3 of 3) - By midday we reached Fort Yukon, which looked like a physical small settlement, but was a big milestone for us, like reaching the Arctic Circle and Circle, all were significant names on our journey that had been etched in our minds. “Once we hit Circle, the next milestone is the Arctic circle” and so on. As we had crossed the Arctic Circle we would sleep in total day light even though the sun would set, there was still enough light that we could see perfectly at midnight.

The Yukon River is famous for its salmon which keeps the First Nations people and the bears well nourished through the summer and we were lucky enough to see a working salmon wheel but sadly over the last few years there has been a collapse in the Yukon salmon population. Nobody really knows why as it is complicated issue but it is likely due to overfishing in the Pacific as well as on the river itself and climate change might also be a contributing factor.

That night was horrible, it turned out that our waterproof canoe sacks were not waterproof and our sleeping bags were soaked through. Luckily we followed Jon’s clear direction and had non-down sleeping bags. Even so it was a long damp night, which our bodies could have done without and certainly didn’t help our rashes, chaffed backsides and our haggard faces.

02/03/2024

Day 6 (2 of 3)

Nick was on fire with the navigation as we criss crossed the tributaries and absolutely nailed each decision point but started to become a little bit too confident as we remained neck and neck with Team First Water. “Mate, let’s not get too cheeky, remember take no risks, keep to the main channel, slow is smooth, smooth is fast”.

Then it happened, a minor navigational error that we made and Nick paid for it in blood. As we re-corrected ourselves we came too close to the shore and some overhanging trees. Like a squadron of Messerschmitts a swarm of mosquitoes launched out of the trees and took a bee line for Nick, who clearly looked like a tasty morsel. “Here take the mosi repellent”. Sq**rt sq**rt sq**rt, Nick covered himself. It wasn’t repelling them at all as they attacked, landing, biting, sucking. “Right shoulder, left tricep, neck, neck, neck”. Slap, slap, slap….. Nick’s hands were striking faster that Sugar Ray Leonard. It wasn’t enough, their attacks intensified. Time to call in reinforcements and the paddle. “Stand by, ready?” No time for a reply. Bang, crack, wham. The paddle stuck Nick and the mosquitoes. “Bloody hell mate!” “Time to paddle, we need to get away from them” but they were a tenacious swarm that followed us for an hour.

Even though Nick was low on blood and itching every few minutes we continued our route north and reached the Arctic Circle.

To be continued…..

02/01/2024