September 4th/5th - Newcastle Island and Joe's finish (#83/84)

I drove up to Nanaimo to be there for the finish. Robin from Atlantis Kayaks had organised a corn roast for Joe and many Atlantis fans. I met Helen Wilson (greenlandorbust.org) of the Duke point ferry and we made our way over to the camp at Newcastle Island in our Tahe Greenlands (Thanks to Mel for transporting our camping gear which would not fit in the Greenland!). Though conditions in the Gulf Islands were fairly calm there was a stiff NW wind in the Strait of Georgia. When we made it to Newcastle, we met Sheila and Jo Anne, Yves and Patti, Roy and Annette and many others.
After eating some wonderful corn for dinner, we heard that Joe was passing through Dodd Narrows so a few of us headed to the southern tip of Protection Island to wait for Joe. Just before dark, we spotted a speck which quickly grew into Joe, still paddling strong. We paddled the last few kms with Joe to his record setting finish of 16 days, 12 hours and 14 mins. What an accomplishments. After celebrating at the finish (Brechin Boat ramp) we made our way back to camp on Newcastle and had a few beers to celebrate Joe's amazing feat of athleticism and endurance.
A few photos of the finish:

2010-09-05_joeoblenis

On Sunday morning we had a relaxed breakfast, broke camp and I had a short but very productive rolling lesson with Helen - managed to do a couple of elbow rolls and also learned the cross arm roll. Thanks Helen!

We were so proud of Joe - he is a very unassuming and modest champion!

16 km, 9 NM, YTD 836 km