They paddled their canoe from montreal to the bering sea. We went on a rainy walk before supper, so glad to stretch our legs, gladder still to see geese on the water, which, like robins, i prefer to interpret as another sign of spring. Rate it with others, say blighs open boat voyage after the mutiny, or verlen krugers canoe trip with steve landick, and later valerie fons, of a figure eight around north america. The ultimate canoe challenge by brand frentz, verlen. I had been a friend of verlens since 1997 when one day i just decided to call him on the phone and talk adventure.
I measured out the real kruger to see how much flotation verlen determined was necessary for keeping the boat afloat in case of a swamping and it turns out i need exactly 2. I was introduced to verlen kruger 19222004 and his paddling. Making its way back to rivers edge next saturday at the hugh heward 2011 event. Verlen kruger was born on june 30, 1922 in pulaski county, indiana, usa. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make it.
But so is the author phil peterson sr, being an old friend of verlens, paddling a sea wind only. Verlen and clint paddle from the east coast of canada to the west coast in one summer, combining both the major fur trade routes. Verlen kruger was a canoe enthusiast who paddled over 100,000 mi 160,000 km in his lifetime. One incredible journey the story of verlen kruger and clint waddells 7,000 mile canoe trip to the bering sea. All things are possible verlen kruger books user home pages. Sadly verlen passed away in august of 2004 after a long bout with cancer. Verlen was a plumbers apprentice and plumbing contractor. If it rains or snows we seek the comforts of our houses never really experiencing nature and missing out on a lot of great things. I then heard about kayakers doing the inside passage plus ive wanted to canoe the yukon river for years and i would like to get back to my cabin again. Voyage to the bottom of the sea the complete series one region 2 uk dvd 1964 starring richard basehart, david hedison, robert dowdell. Today, i loaned her my video, never before never again with verlen kruger and clint waddell. Another might always bring the cookset, axe, firstaid kit and stove. Earlier i also mentioned to kate that ive been thinking of doing the first 450 miles of the mississippi river. It was ordered several months earlier before i even heard about the safari.
Never before, never again 1h 32min documentary 1975 usa story of two men who paddled and portaged from montreal to the bering sea, across canada and alaska, following the historic fur trade route. The website just refers to nick schades books as a good starting point for the build, which i think is sufficient. The verlen kruger story zollitsch canoe adventures. The books yukon and americana about his previous adventures are. Macgregor had a degree in mathematics from trinity college in dublin and studied patent law at cambridge. Imdb s advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Ralph never built it up to verlens standards, but still put many out into the world. Verlen kruger verlen kruger is the world record holder for long distance paddling, with an excess of 88,000 miles and more than 40 million paddle strokes under his belt. After all, why be miserable sitting 1017 hours a day for three months in something you are not comfortable in. View topic videos of verlen kruger paddling legend. Michigan paddled more miles 100,000 plus than anyone else in the history of the. I first saw and read about verlen when i was a young child growing up in grayling, michigan.
Never had heard of verlen kruger or kruger canoes until i started looking for a boat that best fit my trip. Verlen kruger and bob broke the record the year before that at 21 days and verlen was 78 years old. To make a long story short, my smartalec challenge has become the annual hugh heward challenge, a 55 miler from dimondale to portland, a money raising function of the verlen kruger memorial association complete with tshirts and feeding and speechifying at thompson field at portland where verlens lifesize bronze statue is to be erected. We brought home the sea wind canoe built in lansing by verlen kruger.
After watching everyone have such a good time and cool adventures in their kruger canoes i decided that i needed to experience it for myself. Cold summer wind is a truelife adventure story, set in the wilds of canadas northwest territories. My friend verlen kruger passed away last night after suffering with a long bought of cancer. I used a sea wind decked canoe built by canoe legend verlen kruger who holds many world records in distance paddling including the longest paddle trip ever by anyone. The first one was very touching and a great song with references to the memorial statue being erected next month. Life has its mysteries and you just never know when youll discover and. A fantastic story of two men who paddled and portaged from montreal to the bering sea, across canada and alaska from east to northwest, following the historic fur trade canoe route. The sea wind is a tough expedition canoe, very comfortable for long distance paddling, though quite heavy at 60lb. I had been keeping track of verlen krugers longdistance endurance canoe trips and other. But while verlen grew up a sharecroppers son, macgregors father was a general who fought against napoleon. Theres also a truly dandy documentary film about the same trip called never before, never again.
The sea wind is what i really wanted but i settled for the older sawyer loon when one came up for sale at a price i could afford on craigslist last week. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make it, but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally completing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named the ultimate canoe challenge. At night, it lifts its face westward, basking in the suns glow, a view it never had in its youth. David pike, the huck finn of pickleball, on traveling. In 2001 i interviewed verlen kruger and clint waddell about their historic record paddle journey by canoe.
Verlen has been very inspirational and without his encouragement over the years i probably would never have attempted this journey or my 1998 trip to the arctic. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make it, but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally completing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named the ultimate. Put it on a map and connect the routes with a couple of portages and there you have it. Scott smith, who had built about a hundred boats with verlen, wanted to incorporate some of. The book has hundreds of color pictures which is more than any other paddling book ive ever seen. Verlens canoeing accomplishments are widely known in the paddling.
David pike, the huck finn of pickleball, on traveling 6,000 miles in a dinghy. Im meeting mark przedwojewski to borrow his kruger sea wind to paddle the hh. Soon after returning from texas we made another long trip, that time to michigan. Thought id post these amazing videos of verlen kruger. Yes, ive paddled the hugh heward the last two years, but this year is special. Even though pieter feels renewed hope from kasper s fiery messages, he is unaware that a diabolical plot targeted on the van zyl household is brewing. Monticello to anoka on the mississippi river with kate. As this case illustrates, even experienced paddlers need a plan.
The trip alone, so it seemed, was not enough, and never was. After dinner and washing up in the rv, we settled into our bunk with our books, lulled by the sound of rain on the roof. If you really want to do someone speacial break the record upstream. In the tiny town of portland on friday, amid the ball diamonds and canoe launch at thompson field, hundreds of paddlers will gather to honor a michigan icon and hero. In 1980 verlen and steve landick started the ucc in verlen kruger built loons. Paddling pair sets new border route record the timberjay. He thought that his partner, clint waddell had portaged it. The fantastic story of two men who paddled and portaged from montreal to the bering sea vhs videotape. Kruger and landick paddled it solo from new orleans to lake itasca unstream in 84 days and verlen was in his mid 50s at the time. As their documentary says never before and never again. I am thinking of his first and again, fourth wife jenny in particular.
But never feardave is far from a beginner boater, and he even has his own wilson along for the ride. But, like the ash and beech, disease took him before he could have a better view, a vigil cut short. Leibel said shes been up for about 32 hours straight before, but never under the kind of circumstances she faced on their recordsetting trek. Youll also find a variety of information sources if youre planning or dreaming about an ip inside passage trip in a small boat. Canoeing the mountains download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi.
Ralph sawyer wanted to produce the loon, so verlen sold him the rights to build it. For example, one canoe team may always carry the tundra tarp, wanigan box and saw. Thursday evening i met trailspotters in portland take ou. He built the loon for a few years for close friends and family. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make. Oops you have to login with your acs id befor you can login with your mendeley account. Paddlers set to honor the late verlen krugers appetite. Am familiar with the storyline it was a very long long epic trip by canoe. When he was younger, dave enjoyed canoeing and lived in a community that included a man named verlen kruger. Northern forest canoe trails 2018 northern forest canoe. Verlen and i landed and began setting up camp before dark on the rio negro negro river. Story of two men who paddled and portaged from montreal to the bering sea, across canada and alaska, following the historic fur trade route.
This last on is a trailer for never beforenever again verlen and clint wadells. If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your acs id. I read all of his books and was amazed by his ability to start something so late in life and become one of the most respected paddlers to ever live. He started paddling at 41 and before he died on august 2, 2004, at age 82. Divide peak in glacier national park, montana and hiked, peddled and paddled to the gulf of mexico. Story of two men who paddled and portaged from montreal to the bering sea, across canada and alaska, following the. Experienced wilderness canoeists monday, march 15, 2010. The story below i compiled from that interview in hopes of getting it published in a canoeing magazine. The famed 21 canoe from the never before never again kruger waddell adventure montreal to the bering sea is getting an a1 make over. We became aware that our camp site was increasingly populated by bees. Verlen kruger and his partner steve landick wanted to take a canoe trip that would surpass all others. Bwca paddling with a legend clint waddell boundary waters. The waters from this peak flow into three different oceansatlantic, pacific and arctic.
Over the course of his life, verlen kruger paddled the most miles over 100,000 miles of any single competitor in the sport. Concurrently, pieter reconnects with a kasper, a white supremacist whose book tour takes him to cape town. He died on august 2, 2004 in lansing, michigan, usa. It will join the exalted list of klepper achievments beginning with hans lindemanns atlantic crossing. Verlens life span was 1922 to 2004, thus they lived just a century apart. That mark, set by canoeing legends clint waddell and verlen kruger back in 1968, had held up against numerous challenges for over half a century.
Unique even among those was valerie, who had boundless energy and a great. Out spewed never before told stories of reg lake putting me back in my slalom kayak in the bolinas surf before the next wave hit me in 1986 phase one, and of michael powers crawling around our rocky camp at big sur last summer because of his bum knees phase three. Never before never again dvd verlen kruger clint waddell. Verlen and clints original green monster canoe was on display. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make it, but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally competing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named the ultimate canoe challenge. Never, never and never again is a disturbing story of racism. Distance 50 448 today was a brand new experience for me. Again and again they were warned, it cant be done or youll never make it, but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally competing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named the ultimate. One incredible journey by verlen kruger and clint waddell.
He was very soft spoken, and i admired someone that could do what he did at some personal cost. Never have that many kruger canoes been assembled at one place at one time. This is a registry of trips made through the inside passage washington, british columbia, alaska by kayaks, canoes, rowboats, sups stand up paddleboards and other vessels that rely on human power as primary propulsion. A great account of a plumbing contrator and father of 9 kids who never had been in a canoe till he was in his 40s then went on to paddle over 140,000kms including two trips of 30,000kms. That, of course, includes his 21,000mile, threeyear, toptobottom world canoe paddle at the.
1431 780 428 511 811 414 508 695 118 299 918 1458 1090 641 430 246 1464 1087 1349 147 233 649 869 364 1327 1009 1142 69 304 559 304 543