Paul Verchere was recovering from ankle surgery when he made a bold decision: to stand-up paddle board all the way around Vancouver Island.
Verchere, a yoga instructor and former nightclub owner, had always been active, and was keen to do some sort of athletic challenge. Taking inspiration from Terry Fox’s cross-Canada run, he started making plans for a month-long paddling trip.
“I spent about two years preparing for it,” he told CBC’s On The Coast.
Over that time, he invested in gear, trained physically and even considered finding a sponsor for the journey.
“In the end I realized I was just going to do it for myself.”
He left his home in Ladysmith, B.C., on June 25.
For 40 days, Verchere paddled all the way around Vancouver Island — about 1,300 kilometres total — sometimes up to 11 hours a day, carrying 40 kilograms of gear, including 10 days worth of food and 10 litres of water at a time.
“It would take all my strength to unload the board, set up camp and cook some food.
“It was hard,” he said. “I don’t recommend it.”
But once he got back out on the water and started paddling again, after his 2:45 a.m. alarm, he’d start to feel good again.
Verchere stopped in Port Hardy and again in Tofino to gather supplies, but otherwise, he only stopped at night to set up camp, cook and sleep.
Verchere figures he paddled about 36 of the 40 days, having had to stop for a couple of rest days, and twice more to escape bad weather.
Rough waters, strong head winds and curious wildlife all forced the paddler to change his plans along the way.
“I started my journey … really wanting to see whales, but I got to a point where I was trying to avoid them,” Verchere said. “There were so many of them, especially the humpbacks.”
He said they breached right next to him, which was worrisome for someone on a stand-up board, with no protection and sometimes imperfect balance.
“It’s rewarding because even though it’s challenging, no matter how fast you go … you don’t miss anything, any wildlife, every sea otter, every whale, every bear, every wolf, I saw everything along the way.”
Wind was a concern for Verchere, who expected tailwinds to push him around, but did not expect such strong headwinds.
“I think I had a headwind 85 to 90 per cent of the time, which meant that I had to change my route. I’d hide behind islands or go up an inlet.”
At some points, the wind was blowing at 35 knots (65 km/h), and giant waves forced the stand-up paddler to drop to his knees for short periods to maintain balance.
The worst of it came as he rounded Cape Scott, at the northern tip of the island.
“The conditions there were pretty sketchy,” Verchere said.
As he paddled back into Ladysmith on Aug. 4, Verchere was relieved.
“I had a very wonderful sense of accomplishment.”
And while some would take up residence on the couch for the foreseeable future after a long physical excursion like his, Verchere has been doing yoga, hiking and paddling, enjoying every last minute of B.C.’s warm summer weather.
“My legs weren’t working for a week or two due to my fairly static standing position on the board all day,” he said. “My glutes and quads felt like they belonged to another person once I returned to a life on land, so I went hiking every day to try to get them going again.”
His dream paddling trip?
“I’d be very tempted to do the Northwest Passage.”
