Members of the Kistahpinanihk Paddling Club prepare for their two hour trip on Sunday. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Fall Paddling

Paddling Club wraps up the season

Sep 29, 2019 | 5:06 PM

The Kistahpinanihk Paddling Club (KPC) had their year-end excursion on Sunday.

The original idea was to do a four-hour trip from the KPC Boat House to Cecil Ferry but a change in water levels meant they had to shorten their plans.

The club decided to do a two-hour paddle from the Shellbrook highway back to the KPC Boat House in Prince Albert with a mixture of people in kayak’s and canoes.

Dwight Bergstrom, the Program Coordinator for the KPC said they do recreational paddling throughout the summer.

Although the 5 C temperature wasn’t ideal to be on the river, that didn’t stop the 30 or more dedicated members from kitting themselves out.

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“With today’s activity this is sort of our wind-up for the season,” Bergstrom said. “If we had planned it for last Sunday, I’m sure this weather would have arrived for us.”

Bergstrom said throughout the summer the club is open for access to equipment if you buy a membership to the club.

“I’ve been doing programming funded by KidSport that’s sort of coordinated, ” he said. “We work with P.A. Grand Council and we’ve had a pile of kids on the water this summer, probably almost 100 different kids out paddling.”

Sunday’s event was open to all ages and Bergstrom said they try to meet every Wednesday as a group to paddle. In the summer he said there would be people at the KPC almost every night.

“The plan today is just to have a fun paddle,” Bergstrom said. “The water we’re coming through, probably the biggest thing would be there is sandbars and stuff so we will try to navigate everybody through that.”

He explained there was very little chance of anyone tipping or falling as there are no rapids.

“I don’t suspect we would have a problem like that, but we’ll be amongst the people. There are some pretty experienced paddlers and we will make sure they all get back in good shape,” Bergstrom said.

Some of the members begin their trip. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

He said 10 years ago there was very little going on at the KPC, so two years ago a group of people including Bergstrom have been working to build the program back up.

“It’s a sport that those of us of course that are involved are passionate about. We’ve had a great time getting kids involved and families,” he said. “It’s a pretty low impact sport on the environment and to some people that’s attractive.”

Bergstrom said it’s also something everyone can do at their own speed.

“We’ve involved a lot of people this year I’m really happy with how it has gone,” he said

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Ian.Gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12