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It was a great day to get out and try paddling on Saturday and the Richmond Hill Canoe Club had just the watercraft for you – all for the price of a toonie.
Clue members were offering kayaks and canoes on for size for interested locals who wanted to see what it was like out on the water, this body of liquid being Lake Wilcox in Oak Ridges off Bayview Avenue at North Lake Road.
The club, founded in 1991 by John Chretien, “you’ll know the name,” said club Commodore Charlie Stevens with a smile, boasts about 80 members but is always looking for new landlubbers who want to see if they have the sea legs to enjoy paddling on a regular basis.
After trying and passing an introductory course, annual memberships can run from $150 all the way up to $1,000 for the most avid and keen members.
‘It’s a big challenge to get all of them paddling together. It may look easy but it isn’t’
Then again, this club has past and budding future Olympians as part of its pedigree like current national team member Roland Varga who train there. He’s currently in Europe competing but is hoping to participate in the Rio Olympics in kayak in 2016.
Typical high-performance members will hit the water mornings from 6 to 8 a.m. with some of the Master’s members also sticking an oar in the water at that time.
In the afternoons, typically from 4:30 to 8 p.m., it’s time for the youth to take out the boats and get going.
Stevens said that in 2013, kayaking real took off, outselling canoes for the first time. It might have been a boost from the London Olympics, but he said kayaks are now the No. 1 top-selling non-motorized boats in Canada.
“We’re introducing people to the sport but many people may not know that canoe/kayak has the third most Olympic medals behind athletics and hockey,” Stevens said.
As he spoke, Liz Zoubikine, Georgia Waller, both in Grade 8 and Katy Stewart, Grade 6, took off in a 4-seater kayak, paddling in unison and enjoying the weather. The trio are in their second year at the RHCC and are making progress, according to RHCC board member Heather Adam.
“They’re doing well. It’s a big challenge to get all of them paddling together. It may look easy but it isn’t,” she said.
Gregory Welsch, 11, tried out a boat, and said he’d never paddled before claiming the experience was terrifying. “I thought I was going to tip. There wasn’t much stuff to support me.” He’s a swimmer and said the water was cold. He said he wanted to try again and tried a different boat and only a few minutes later looked like he had improved his form already.
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