Melinda Moree
Pull up a chair, settle in, and enjoy stories and video from award winning filmmaker Justine Curgenven. With 15 years of sea kayaking adventures spanning six continents, Justine's hair-raising experiences appeal to anyone with an adventurous spirit ... be they climbers, skiers, sailors, or kayakers themselves!
On January 22, the Seattle Branch of The Mountaineers is proud to host Justine Curgenven at the Seattle Program Center. Her presentation includes both video clips and personal anecdotes. What happened when she saw a polar bear between Kuujjuaq to Salluit on her latest 1000km trip in the Canadian Arctic? How did she cope with extreme heat and rashes during a 6-week paddle in remote Indonesia? Did she push herself too far on a solo trip around Vancouver Island? What was it like paddling with other strong women like Freya Hoffmeister, Sandy Robson, and Sarah Outen? How does she prepare for long remote trips? What was it like when a whale came up under her kayak in Baja?
I could no longer see the shoreline to tell whether there was a safe, or even a possible, landing. An occasional boulder loomed out of the darkness in front of me in the glare of my headtorch to remind me how shallow the estuary was. I was pretty sure the tide had started to go out and was really afraid we’d get stranded miles from shore. We’d been paddling for 11 hours to try to avoid a big portage in this land of extremes. The tidal range is up to 18 vertical metres in the Bay of Ungava which means the water disappears up to 5 nautical miles from the shore. It moves so quickly that during a 30-minute lunch break, the tide can drop a metre leaving our kayaks high and dry. Not a good time to bump into a polar bear, I shivered, hoping there were none around. - Justine
Justine has been going on remote, sometimes world-first sea kayaking trips for over 15 years, and she has made dozens of award winning films about her journeys. Her talks are always funny and entertaining. Come and hear some great stories, near misses, and lessons learned.
This event also serves as a fundraiser for the Washington Water Trails Association (WWTA). WWTA protects and promotes public access to the many Washington waterways, shorelines, and marine trails enjoyed by kayakers and other human-powered watercraft. This mission is especially important in Washington state, where much of the tidelands have been sold to private property owners and only about 30% of our state’s shorelines remain available for public access.
More information can be found on the event page. This event is open to the public! Tickets will be available at the door for a $25 donation. (We ask for at least $15 if you cannot afford the full ticket price.) This event is kid friendly, and while Justine is a role model for us all, her story is especially inspiring to adventurous young girls.
