FALL RIVER: Get your canoes and kayaks out of storage folks, Canoe to the Sea is coming to Fall River this June.
The June 17 fundraiser, put on by the Shubenacadie Canal Commission, will participants travel along Lake Thomas and Lake William en route to Senobe Aquatic Club on Lake Banook. There will be portions that include portages from water to land back to water. It starts at 8 a.m. with registration, while participants will get shuttled back to Fall River beginning at 1 p.m.
Avid water user and author Allan Billard said the event has been occurring since 1989, and takes place on various parts of the Canal.
“This year the event will go from the new canoe/kayak dock at the Snow Centre down to Dartmouth,” he said. “People don’t realize you can paddle that whole distance to Lake Banook, and we’re going to show them.”
He said often with Canoe to the Sea one has to deal with portages, and this year’s is no different. They will have young paddlers from Senobe and Cheema assisting participants, carrying their canoes/kayaks from one lake to the next.
“That’s important right in Waverley where you go from Lake Thomas to Lake William,” said Billard. “At the end of Lake Charles, you go through Shubie Park but it’s a 400 metre portage so you get these guys and paddlers.”
Canoe to the Sea is for everybody. The event regularly has family members, sisters and brothers, father and sons/or daughters, etc. It is being held on Father’s Day, so the entry fee is free for all Fathers who bring a kid to paddle.
“We’re giving them a break, so if they bring their kid and paddle with them they get to do it free,” said Billard. “So get out and have some fun.”
For more information, check out their website, Canoe to the Sea.
Billard said those interested in participating have to register in advance so organizers know their numbers for the post-event meal at Senobe. Shuttle service will be available back to the Snow Centre after it’s over.
