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The world's deepest woman
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The world's deepest woman
On the Cover: Mandy-Rae Cruickshank
Photo courtesy: Oceanic Preservation Society
The myths surrounding rept iles
Emerging from the logs Transformations on the Shore – a summer highlight
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Photo: Courtney Platt Mandy-Rae Cruickshank extends her own world record with a 50-metre, no-fins free dive off the Cayman Islands in 2005.
The world's
deepest woman
Story by J.R. Rardon Dive photos by Courtney Platt
I
No tanks – I've got this n 2002, Mandy-Rae Cruickshank stopped breathing for more than six minutes. Instead of CPR, she was given a trophy.
For nearly a decade, the 41-year-old Campbell River woman was among the pre-eminent female competitors in the extreme sport of freediving. She held seven world records, including a 136-metre (447-foot) ocean dive that made her the world's deepest woman. All of it without a single oxygen tank. "It not only frees you from all the equipment that you have on, but you feel a lot more free in the water, like you belong there," said Mandy-Rae. "I've been deeper now on a single breath than I would have been with the tanks." Freediving has taken her much further than the depths of the ocean. With her coach, business partner and, now, husband Kirk Krack, MandyRae has traveled the world representing Canada, trained divers, swimmers, military forces, movie stars — and a magician — appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and in an Academy Awardwinning documentary, and taken steps to protect at-risk marine species and the environment itself. "Anyone who spends as much time in the water as we do develops a special appreciation for it," she said. "I think that's one of the downfalls to our ocean; there are so many people who never get to experience what it's like to be in and under the water, and everything it does for us and what it contains. They've never had that experience swimming with wild dolphins or whales or sharks." Neither Mandy-Rae nor Kirk seemed destined for that future as youths. Both were raised on the prairies — Mandy-Rae in Alberta, Kirk in Saskatchewan — but both developed an affinity for the water early on. As a teen, she competed in synchronized swimming at the national level with the Edmonton Auroras, and, after receiving SCUBA lessons as a 13th birthday present, went on to get her SCUBA certification while diving in the lakes around Jasper and Banff. "I wanted to go into marine biology to study great white sharks; that was my dream," Mandy-Rae said. "Then I met a biologist who did it, and he talked me out of it. My parents must have loved
that. It was their idea that we meet." By the time she graduated from high school she had decided to become a SCUBA instructor, and was accepted into a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) school in Sidney. After completing the course she returned to Alberta for two months, but quickly decided she preferred the coast and moved to Victoria after finding a job in a dive shop. So what's the difference between ocean diving and lake diving? "Lake diving? It's boring," Mandy-Rae said. "I think I saw one fish in five years. My first dive here, I think I stayed in 15 to 20 feet of water for as long as my tank lasted. I was blown away by how much colour and all the things you can see. "So it was, okay, I need to be out here." Kirk, meanwhile, had attended the same PADI school several years earlier. He earned his SCUBA certification and bought his own dive shop in Saskatoon at age 20. When he sold the business to move to Vancouver, he met Mandy-Rae while she was managing a dive shop there. She was taken by his description of technical diving, which offers more challenges than recreational SCUBA, and decided that was the direction she wanted to take her diving. Two years later, Kirk moved to the Cayman Islands, where he became a dive instructor and boat captain. "That's really when I got into freediving," said Kirk. "Freediving was something I always did, but I didn't know it was freediving. I thought it was snorkeling." He spent nearly four years in the Caymans, and when he returned to Canada he returned to Mandy-Rae's shop and began extolling the virtues of freediving. "I'd still been working on my technical courses, and all of a sudden it's all freediving this and freediving that, because he'd trained someone to a world record. It's all he would talk about." Highlighting her background as a synchronized swimmer, where she spent much of her time upside-down, holding her breath, Kirk eventually convinced Mandy-Rae to give freediving a try. "He's very good at convincing," Mandy-Rae said. "Not only did I try to get into technical (SCUBA),
but I followed him into freediving. Then I married him." "It's called neural linguistic programming," Kirk joked. Whatever it was, it stuck. After a year of training, the pair formed the first Team Canada to compete in the International Freediving and Apnea Championships in Nice, France. MandyRae was struck by the status of the sport in Europe, where autograph hounds sought out their favourite divers like rock stars. "After that I went to Kirk and said, 'I want to do a world record,'" she said. "He said, 'You have no idea how much work this is gonna be.'"
"We wanted to do it here, but it's so much more challenging in cold, dark waters," she said. "I had two suits on to stay warm during warmups, and during the final breathe-up Kirk peeled the top layer off so I was down to one, three-mil suit so I could move." She went on to extend that record to 50 metres in the Caymans in 2005, and added records in free immersion (74 metres) and constant ballast with fins (78 metres) in 2006. It was the largest one-time jump in the constant ballast with fins record, and she extended it to 88 metres in 2008. "That's one of the harder disciplines and, for most freedivers, the one they want," Mandy-Rae said. "It takes a lot of physical ability."
She did the work, and also benefits from a rare ability to "equalize" her underwater pressure "I think that's one of the downfalls to our ocean; hands-free, while there are so many people who never get to upside down. Most divers have to pinch experience what it's like to be in and under their nose shut and the water, and everything it does for us blow to "pop" the and what it contains. They've never had pressure on their eardrums as they that experience swimming with descend.
The couple married in 2006. Mandy-Rae continued to break records under her maiden name, "to avoid confusion," but has since taken Krack as her last name.
During this time, the pair were approached through Performance Freediving, the company Kirk founded in 2000, by illusionist David Blaine. They coached and provided 24-hour safety for Blaine's Drowned Alive act at New York's Lincoln Centre in 2006, and two years later appeared with Blaine on Oprah Winfrey's show as he performed a world-record breath hold.
wild dolphins or whales or sharks."
When she reached 101 metres depth on a no-limits dive (with the aid of a sled to descend and an air bag to return to the surface) in 2000, Kirk began preparing for an attempt at the women's world record, which stood at 130 metres.
The two travelled to the Caymans the following September, where Mandy-Rae reached 136 metres to become the world's deepest woman. The static apnea record — lying face-down in a pool for six minutes, 16 seconds — followed the next year. "It's a huge mental challenge," she said. "You're holding your breath. It's not comfortable at all, and eventually you start going through diaphragmatic contractions, which is kind of like hiccups, only you're not breathing. You're trying not to fight it, but it's hard not to fight the lack of air." From there, Mandy-Rae claimed her only record achieved in Canadian waters, a constant, no-fins dive — basically, breaststroking down and back — of 41 metres in the waters of Howe Sound, just outside Horseshoe Bay, in 2004.
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They recently returned from Europe, where Kirk was coaching a certain A-list actor for underwater work in an action-thriller film scheduled to come out this year. That was no big stretch because Mandy-Rae and Kirk played real-life action-thriller roles in the 2009 documentary The Cove, about the annual dolphin slaughter in a small, secretive inlet near Taiji, Japan. Their involvement began when Kirk was approached at a diving trade show by representatives of the Oceanic Preservation Society. They had received financing for a film project to highlight problems in the ocean environment and wanted to film a female diver swimming with humpback whales.
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Photo: Courtney Platt nk dives Mandy-Rae Cruicksha her own ak bre to p dee tres me 88 fins h wit t las bal nt sta con world record off the 8. Cayman Islands in 200
Photo: J.R. Rardon » Mandy-Rae (Cruicksh ank) Krack relaxes with her husband, at the beach in Willo Kirk Krack, daughte w Point r Kaila and the fam ily dog, Holly.
"Kirk said, 'Oh, I have just the person for you,'" Mandy-Rae said with a laugh. "A week later, I got a call from someone who explained it and I said, 'Yeah, I want to do this.'"
"So Kirk said at one point, 'Give me the camera.' So most of the shots with me and the whales was him filming it on free dive."
She insisted on a safety diver to accompany her, which brought Kirk into the project as well. Mandy-Rae said she later heard the filmmakers joking that she just wanted her boyfriend along, but Kirk proved worth his weight — and a spot on the payroll — when the underwater camera crews with their air tanks proved unable to keep up with the action as Mandy-Rae swam with whales and dolphins.
Then they traveled to Taiji to meet director Louie Psihoyos and the production crew for what they thought was going to be a routine shoot in 2008. Until then, Mandy-Rae says, Psihoyos was unsure how his footage would be utilized. But after meeting former dolphin trainer-turned-activist Ric O'Barry and learning of the Taiji dolphin hunt, Psihoyos decided to try to access the highly restricted Cove using elaborately camouflaged cameras hidden in rocks and nests, night-vision
"They're just too bulky to move through the water," she said.
SUMMER
|9
cameras and hydrophones placed on the floor of the cove. The plan was so secretive that Kirk and Mandy-Rae were not notified until they were brought into Psihoyos's hotel room and told of their part in the filming — breaching the security and freediving to the bottom to place cameras and hydrophones in the killing bay in the dark of night.
"All the guys had ear buds so we were in communication," Kirk said. "We had a flare (infra-red) camera so we could see where their guards were. In our socks we had laminated numbers for the U.S. and Canadian consulates and lawyers."
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank is tethered to a guide cable as she sets her first constant ballast world free diving record in 2006.
Psihoyos and his elite team established an evacuation plan in the event they were surprised by police or guards, but, as Mandy-Rae said, "We had our own plan." "If we were discovered, Mandy-Rae and I said we'll jump back into the water, we'll swim out to the middle of the ocean where they can't see us, and we'll swim along the shoreline until we get back to our hotel." The real-life suspense of the documentary led one reviewer to describe it as "Jason Bourne meets Flipper" and Time magazine's Mary Pols said it "puts Hollywood capers like Mission: Impossible to shame." It was awarded the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The movie poster features an iconic image of Mandy-Rae, arms spread underwater, surrounded by dolphins. "They made T-shirts with that image on the front," she said. "You feel
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a little weird wearing a T-shirt with you on it, but it's very flattering."
Rae has had 14 blackouts while attempting world records, and each time was saved because Kirk was there as a safety monitor.
Of course, it's not all fun and games for Performance Freediving, which the couple run together out of a home "You're holding your breath. It's not office in Campbell River. They moved here from comfortable at all, and eventually you start Vancouver three years going through diaphragmatic contractions, ago and live with their which is kind of like hiccups, only you're not daughter, Kaila, 5, and Holly, an Australian breathing. You're trying not to fight it, cattle dog/blue heeler but it's hard not to fight the lack of air." cross from an SPCA rescue. In addition to training seven people to 23 world records, Kirk has established recreational and professional diving programs, including a certification program that has become the industry standard. The company has 77 instructors teaching the program to trainers around the world. Its breath-hold survival programs are taken by Red Bull athletes, special forces military branches in both Canada and the U.S. and fire department and whitewater search-and-rescue teams. "It's all based around survival," Kirk said. "In a demanding and task-loaded, extreme environment that is very unforgiving, which can be the water, if your equipment packs it in and you still need a minute to two-minute breath hold."
"Blackouts really aren't that bad to the person having them," she said matter-of-factly. "If you black out, you have this wild, crazy dream, then you wake up a few seconds later in someone's arms, on the surface."
Mandy-Rae just started competing again last year after taking a break for the birth of the couple's daughter, Kaila, in 2010. That event was followed by neural back surgery after she "blew out" her fourth and fifth lumbar vertebra. The family returned to the Cayman Islands this spring to host Deja Blue, an annual freediving competition they started six years ago. "I just do it for fun now," Mandy-Rae said. "I always said that when I retired from doing records, I still want to compete just for fun, because I love doing it."
The couple has even returned to Mandy-Rae's native Edmonton and taught breath-hold and safety techniques to her old synchronized swimming team, the Auroras. "It's kind of neat going back in that capacity," she said. "We show them proper breathing habits, how to properly oxygenate as well as recover breathe while they're doing their routines. Which is harder for them, because you have to smile and look good, too." Performance Freediving has been approved for breath-hold training at that pool and also at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. The Kracks have a bit of experience with water rescue. MandyVegetarian • Beef • Pork Chicken • Salads • Dips • Homemade flat bread • Desert & more! • FRESH MADE DAILY • Minimum 19% protein in our beef and chicken •
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Story/photos by J.R. Rardon
M
any artists produce work designed to shock, provoke, challenge, titillate or cause viewers to question their values or perceptions. Jill Paris Rody just wants you to relax. "Her art is tremendously atmospheric," said Ken Blackburn, a fellow artist and head of Campbell River Art Gallery. "I find it emotional, almost dreamlike." Which is not to say Paris Rody lives sequestered away, living an ethereal existence while churning out colourful canvases. This is a woman with a very real presence in the community. For every hour she spends creating her own paintings, Paris Rody devotes essentially the same time to teaching a variety of art classes, working with head injury patients in their recovery, volunteering on the board of the Campbell River Arts Council and sharing her time for projects like the recently unveiled Art in the Hospital initiative. At an age when most people are entering into retirement, she has also for the first time secured an agent, in the form of longtime friend Ruth McMonagle. "As far as my art goes, this is the busiest time in my life," said
Art with Paris Rody, now 65. "There's always something to do."
It's not that Paris Rody lived a life of leisure prior to kick-starting her current art career. She grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where she discovered her passion for art at an early age. After attending Oregon State University for a year and finishing her post-secondary education at Portland Community College, she met Mike Rody, a young Canadian Forces member vacationing stateside. She followed him back to Comox where they were married. Two years later, they moved into the Oyster River-area home where they remain to this day. She initially worked for a small, homebased newspaper in Comox, but also taught an oil-painting class out of the family's kitchen in Courtenay. "I think I charged a dollar an hour," she said. Following the move to the Campbell River side of Oyster River, Paris Rody spent four months doing paste-up for the Campbell River Mirror, and spent another seven months working at Irly's Building Supply in Black Creek — "because my husband thought it was a great idea for me to work in a hardware store," she said with a laugh. "Then we had our first baby, and I became a stayat-home mom for 16 years."
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Prepare to Artist Jill Paris Rody applies colour to a landscape in the basement studio of her Oyster River-area home. During that time, however, Paris-Rody leaned on her artistic background to take the first steps toward establishing a career in art. It began simply by volunteering with the Parent Auxiliary Council at Oyster River Elementary School, in a very specific capacity.
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"I work really hard to try to understand what my students need. And I guess that's part of the joy and excitement of being a teacher, is having that victory of reaching them, and sharing." "I headed up the parent auxiliary crafts section," she said. "I wasn't president; it was more being involved in craft fairs and fund-raising for activities with crafts involved, because that's my area of expertise." When the couple's youngest child reached age 12, in the early 1990s, Paris Rody became heavily involved in the burgeoning craft of decorative art. She spent 12 years involved in an international organization devoted to decorative art, both creating designs, teaching classes in their application and publishing a how-to book with instructions and patterns, in 2002. The woman who had spent nearly her entire life living in just two homes was now traveling internationally attending and teaching at conferences. "I was using my fine arts background as the basis for design and teaching," she said. "That was a wonderful experience for me." In time, it provided the catalyst for her return to fine arts. She had been teaching decorative art classes at Calico and Cross Stitch, a Campbell River crafts store. When it was purchased by Jurgen and Inge Cutler and renamed Needle and Art Centre, Paris Rody stayed on and expanded her teaching to fine arts while helping the business develop its line of supplies. "I was in that building through three different owners over 13 years," she
Jill Paris Rody at home, in front of one of her dreamlike landscape paintings.
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said. "They all kept me on, because I was bringing in new customers." What began as a "Paint your Pet" class eventually became open studio instruction, which she moved to her own basement studio for a period of seven years. "I never thought about teaching when I was in school," Paris Rody said. "But I was always interested in people; psychology was always one of my favourite courses in high school. "I've always looked at my teaching as a form of sharing. And rather than teaching from head knowledge, a lot of heart goes into it, too. I work really hard to try to understand what my students need. And I guess that's part of the joy and excitement of being a teacher, is having that victory of reaching them, and sharing." She now teaches classes twice a week at the Sybil Andrews Cottage, and last year became involved in helping instruct at the head injury centre for victims of stroke and traumatic injuries — people who are literally teaching their brains how to work again. "That can be very challenging work, but she doesn't see it as if she's giving to this group," Blackburn said. "She sees it as a great opportunity to learn from these people who have great challenges, but also great stories. I think the thing that stands out most for us at the arts council is that she's very passionate for the community." Paris Rody brings that passion to her own work, which she performs in that basement studio that has gone from classroom to strictly working studio. She will occasionally paint animals, introspective abstract works
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"My dad, bless his heart, couldn't live with the oils," Paris Rody said. "I wish my dad were here now to hear this, but mom would say, 'Well, dad doesn't like me to use the oils, but if you're using them maybe he won't object too much.'"
and flowers — "I love poppies; I think that's the only flower I've painted because it's the one plant I grow that I really like. Maybe if I had a bigger garden with more variety …" — but landscapes featuring trees are her calling card. These scenes depict real places, but in an almost soft-focus style emphasizing colour and textured brush strokes. "I've been in places Jill has painted, and they're quite accurate," said Blackburn. "But she doesn't depict the scene as it appears, rather she depicts it as an emotional response. It's kind of how we remember things, or how it is in our dreams." Paris Rody also eschews broad, sweeping panoramas in favour of intimate settings. Rather than a wide beach with a sweeping surf, she may focus on a tree suspended on a cliff above a small cove. Instead of the grandeur of Vancouver Island's spinal mountains, she'll paint a small section of a slough, with the hazy suggestion of a small bird or other creature creating a ripple that provides the only motion in the quiet still-life. "I tend to see a story in these smaller, intimate scenes," Paris Rody said. "I guess what I try to express in my art is a type of peace and tranquility. That's important to me, because we have a lot of commotion in our lives." Most of the excitement in her art comes through her use of colour, often applied in generous, textured brush strokes. It has been a trademark from the time of Paris Rody's first oil painting, a picture of the family's horse she painted as a 13-year-old and still owns. Upon seeing the finished painting, her mother pointed out young Jill had forgotten to include the background. So she returned to layer the canvas with broad, sweeping green strokes extending outward from the horse's head. "I was thinking of grass, so I just did green rays of light going around the horse," she said with a laugh. Already intrigued by various arts and crafts projects as a young schoolgirl, Paris Rody got into oil painting after her mother acquired supplies while hoping to take her own course.
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Paris Rody said her father instilled his own love of nature, as a land surveyor, mapmaker and landscape artist, to her upbringing. He taught her the difference between trees and different kinds of plants, and she says the ability to paint is all based upon how the artist sees the subject. "It's not just 'the red flower', but how many petals does it have? And how big is this petal compared to that petal? Some people look at a tree and see green. Well, I see 12 or 15 different values and colours of green every time I look out the window." And now, it may be time for the rest of the country to sit up and take notice. Ruth McMonagle has sold many of Paris Rody's painting from Stillwater Books and Art, a business she and her husband formerly operated from a storefront before moving it into their home and online. Now, she's hoping to share the artist's story across Canada, along with local clients like Blackburn and Heather Hughson. "Primarily, her skill level is very high, particularly her capacity to work with and adjust colour," McMonagle said of Paris Rody. "From the emotional side, what people feel is what most draws them in. And, whether it's nostalgia of her childhood, or her trees, people get a sense of serenity; they identify with her enjoyment of the essence of nature. "Others are discordant, powerful. She's not that sort of artist. She draws you into the picture, and most people find serenity, peacefulness." As a child, experiencing a love of art and a love of horses, Paris Rody remembers envisioning her future. "My first thoughts were, I was either going to marry a rancher and raise horses, or I was going to be a professional artist," she said. In which case, Paris Rody is an artistic workhorse living a dream.
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More than just a salon
Story/photos by Kristen Douglas
Industry Hair and Body Care is more than just a salon. It’s a family. And while owner Sam Hubbard’s six-yearold daughter Elle may be a frequent visitor to the hair studio, the family extends well beyond her own flesh and blood, to her co-workers straight on down to her clients.
From the moment you walk through
the front doors, you’re made to feel like family. Following a tour and a thorough lay of the land, the salon is yours to discover. “Make yourself at home,” Hubbard says. That’s after you’ve been warmly greeted at reception, given a glass of champagne and orange juice and had a warm wrap draped around your neck. “We walk everyone through, give them a tour and introduce everyone so everyone SUMMER
| 17
Sam Hubbard takes a time-out with daughter Elle, 6, at Industry Hair and Body Care.
feels like they’re home,” Hubbard says. “We want it to feel like home.”
you live on the Island, you don’t pay Vancouver prices to get your hair done.”
And that means feeling comfortable, with no surprises.
Which is one of the reasons Hubbard opened Industry Hair and Body Care in October of 2013.
Whether the guest is at the salon for a hair cut, colouring, pedicure or manicure, tanning, or waxing, Hubbard tries to keep her prices reasonable. “Price point is a really big deal for me,” she says. “Jobs are difficult to find here and they’re not always great paying jobs. I think if
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The salon, which offers an array of services, each nestled within its own little room within the shop, is a far cry from where Hubbard first began. Her first salon was run out of the kitchen of her home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Hubbard gave up a job at the prestigious Marca College of Hair and Esthetics in Ontario to return home after her grandmother, also a hair dresser and who owned three salons, passed away. Wall Art • Home Decor • Lamps • Furniture
Before even touching a strand of hair, Hubbard sits down with a client to go over price points and determine exactly what the client is after.
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“I went back to Saskatoon, started from scratch, and ended up in the kitchen,” Hubbard says. Hubbard’s husband, Rafael Hubbard, said the salon was a hit. “People were coming in and out of her house, and people were so happy to be there,” he says. “She was notoriously under charging people.”
“We walk everyone through, give them a tour and introduce everyone so everyone feels like they’re home. We want it to feel like home.”
But it wasn’t just the price that kept people coming back. “Most of our success is through Sam’s personable nature and the energy level she keeps up,” Rafael says. “We find we’re having huge success because she’s able to infuse that ethos, that spirit, to her clients.” To find evidence of that success, you don’t need to look any further than Industry’s Facebook page. “We have 81 reviews and all are at 5.0,” says Hubbard proudly. Or take for example, what happened this past winter when Rafael nominated Hubbard’s salon for a Small Business BC Award. Rafael nominated the salon for a Premier’s People’s Choice Award just two days before the nomination period ended but the salon “garnered enough votes in two days to land ourselves in the top 10 for the award.”
While Hubbard herself can take a large chunk of the credit for her success, she says she wouldn’t be able to do it if it weren’t for the staff and the clients. “We’ve got an incredible team here, it can never be just one person,” Hubbard says. “That’s what makes us special, is the symbiotic relationship with the staff.”
Hubbard isn’t afraid of losing a client to another staff member, and vice versa. Rather, they know one another’s strengths and want what’s best for the client. “I just thank the amazing, talented and creative girls I have here,” Hubbard says. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without them. And of course the clients, without them I wouldn’t have a business. I’m very honoured for both of those components.” And she’s especially thankful to be able to do what she does here in Campbell River. “I love living here, it’s a special piece of heaven we live in,” Hubbard says. “It’s beautiful, and the people are nice. We should be honoured to live in this town.” For more on Hubbard’s salon visit the Industry Hair and Body Care Facebook page.
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! s w a s n i Cha
Story/photos by Alistair Taylor
Gentlemen – and ladies – start your
I
Campbell River's Transformations on the Shore carving competition is a summer highlight
t starts one morning in late June. The far off buzzing of chainsaws. And it can mean only one thing, the Transformations on the Shore carving competition has begun at Frank James Park
in Willow Point, in Campbell River's southern end. It's Campbell River's premier summer event that draws chainsaw carvers from all over British Columbia, other parts of Canada, the United States and even Europe for a friendly competition. It's technically a competition but the atmosphere is relaxed and more cooperative than competitive, even though – or maybe because – there are a range of levels from novice to professional. "For them it's a carving week and it's like a family," says Don Daniels, president of the Campbell River Shoreline Arts Society, the organization that puts on the event. "It's like a social event." This year there is expected to be approximately 22 carvers participating. The
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exact number is never known until the competition begins because some of the participants don't register until the last minute. This year's festival runs from June 24 – 28 and carvers can compete in novice, amateur, semi-professional and professional categories. This is the 17th annual Transformations on the Shore and as with every year, it is the lead off into Canada Day celebrations in Campbell River. In reality, the festival runs for months because the completed carvings remain on site at Frank James Park in Willow Point, overlooking the entrance to Discovery Passage right up until September. And the carvings are popular attractions as visitors and residents alike love to wonder around the carvings and look at them closely. In fact, from the first crank of the chainsaws on the first day of the festival to long months afterwards, spectators flock to watch the carvings take form
and then they come back afterwards to see the completed works of art. And the carvings that result range from mythical creatures to local animals, from dragons to wolves. Wizards, warriors, fishermen and more emerge from the logs each carver is given to work with. It is a unique event. There is nothing like it anywhere in the country, although a smaller scale carving event is held in Chetwynd, B.C. but it is limited to a small number of professional carvers. This is a unique festival with a unique origin. The competition website explains: "On July 1 (Canada Day), 1996, well-known local artist Max Chickite stood working on an old stump that had been on the beach for many years. After 10 hours, a remarkable octopus appeared from the wood and "Octy" was born. Octy was a gift to the city from Chickite. A few days later, vandals cut off the Octopus' head and stole it, but it was found 11 days later on a logging road. "Chickite repaired the charred, damaged head and returned it to Octy's body.
The vandalism caused a furor and is the reason the Driftwood-Carving Competition was started. It was felt that since a city could be so upset about the damage to one carving, it would surely appreciate a city filled with carvings. "Barb Comeau was also down on the beach that day and saw Max creating his work, was impressed, and stopped to talk about it and together they founded the Campbell River Shoreline Arts Society Transformations On The Shore which this year celebrates its 18th Annual Event. "Transformations on the Shore began in 1997 and has been seen by thousands and thousands. Visitors and local residents love to watch the carvers at work and enjoy the carvings that are left along the Sea Walk and throughout the City of Campbell River. "The Octopus has had other adventures as well, but he is still standing proudly (although much smaller) in his spot looking across Discovery Passage (on the 50th Parallel)." The competition has become the premier event of the summer and has become woven into the fabric of the community – or should that be, carved into the grain of
the community? The business community supports the event with sponsorships and in-kind donations. Local hotels donate rooms to put up the carvers. Restaurants supply free lunches. The co-founder of the event, Chickite is still involved and each year he hosts a salmon barbecue for the carvers on the final night. Each year, it seems the crowds flocking to the event get bigger. "There's a steady flow of traffic right from the Tuesday before when they set up the logs," Daniels says. No number is kept of spectators to the free event but hundreds happily wander around the carving grounds watching the artwork come to life. The carvers are often happy to talk to people about what they're doing. One of the most popular components of the competition is the Quick Carve event held on the Saturday afternoon. In this event, the carvers carve small carvings quickly – of course – and then they are auctioned off as a fundraiser. In the end, the carvings are judged and awards are given including a People's Choice Award voted on by spectators.
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A different kind of party Seventy-per cent of her loving reptiles are rescues or have been re-homed. “I’ve literally had reptiles dropped off at my front door,” Lestage says. “I’ve woken up and there’s an animal there. Every animal has a back story.”
P
opcorn the albino Burmese, Elsa the savannah monitor, Mr. Pinchy the scorpion, Harvey Dent the bearded dragon, and Stickers the crested gecko. You’d be forgiven for thinking that sounds like someone’s Beanie Babies collection, but it’s not. While they may be full of beans, they’re living, breathing reptiles that are a part of Jennifer Lestage’s family. The young entrepreneur has amassed approximately 60 animals and they all live with her in her home. Lestage has about 40 snakes, ranging from Western hognose to boa constrictors to pythons. She has a collection of lizards – skinks, bearded dragons and water dragons – as well as tarantulas, scorpions, amphibians, toads and frogs.
Dexter the bald python was found in Vancouver tangled up in fishing net while another of Lestage’s bald pythons was living in a college house and was burnt with lighters. Lexi the snake once bit her former owner who then became too frightened to feed her and after being starved for a year, Lexi ate her boyfriend. But with Lestage’s tender loving care, the animals have all been rehabilitated and Lestage takes them on the road to educate people and challenge the myths surrounding reptiles. She founded CR Animal Parties in February 2012 to offer live reptile, amphibian and invertebrate shows across Vancouver Island. “It’s something different,” says Lestage of the birthday party shows she offers. “You can only get a clown or go to the pool so many times. It’s usually that the kids are animal lovers and
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they get this hands-on experience. I call it ‘edu-tainment’. I make the kids laugh but they learn a lot.” Lestage says her blue-tongued lizard Gimli is always a crowd pleaser as is Kyle the box turtle. “Everyone loves Kyle, he’s hilarious,” Lestage says proudly. “He’ll chase you, he’ll chase his toy car around the room. He’s just hilarious.” While a large part of Lestage’s business is birthday parties, her animals are also used for therapeutic purposes. “The Adult Care Facility in Willow Point is one of my more frequent clients,” Lestage says. “The reptiles are great for pet therapy and people with compromised immune systems who can’t be around dander. You have these clean animals and people can still play with them – it’s awesome.” But Lestage says her most memorable experience to date was last summer when she travelled to Nanaimo to do a birthday party for a group of special needs children. “It was really neat, the boy was in a wheelchair and I brought the biggest boa constrictor we had, and wrapped
it around his wheelchair,” Lestage says. “It was the most heart warming show I’ve done. They were so inquisitive and they now want to hire me every year.” While Lestage loves what she does, it unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills. The money she makes through CR Animal Parties only goes far enough to house her reptiles and provide them with food and water. “The animals just support themselves, there’s no room for emergencies,” Lestage says. “Otherwise, I don’t buy groceries that month.” Fortunately, she has enough education that most of the time she’s able to do her own veterinary care. She knows how to make up her own ointment to treat snakes who get dropped off at her door with mites and she can often holistically treat a snake who’s been taken in with a respiratory infection because the owner wasn’t providing the snake with enough light. Lestage has been fascinated by reptiles for as long as she can remember. “I was researching snakes since I was old enough to read. I was missing that gene that told me to be cautious of reptiles,” says Lestage, who grew up in Ontario. “I got my first snake when I was 16 and my mother was out of town – Montey, the spotted python, and I still have her to this day. It was kind of like opening Pandora’s box, all of a sudden I knew that was my passion and my hobby.”
discovered she could take up breeding and make money doing it. But after moving to B.C., breeding wasn’t working as well as it did in Ontario and her mind set started to change. “I didn’t want them treated as stock and the more people were brining in sick snakes, the more I wanted to educate and not just saturate the market,” Lestage says. “I was a breeder and it wasn’t rubbing me the right way anymore.” So with the help of the Community Futures
program, which provided Lestage with modest living expenses while trying to start up her company, CR Animal Parties was born. And Lestage’s weekends have been busy with animal parties ever since. “I just want to promote a healthy respect for our natural environment,” Lestage says. “TV shows now are like ‘the top 10 deadliest animals’, like animals are evil now. There’s a lot of sensationalist programming and I miss the healthy love of animals. We don’t need the ‘top ten deadliest snakes.’”
With a little more research, Lestage
Jennifer Lestage hangs with Popcorn the Burmese snake
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Severin Pederson, back left, in a scene from the TV series "The 100".
horse whisperer’ as some of his clients refer to him, she’s showing vast signs of improvement.
hundreds of thousands of dollars of camera equipment. You have to be careful not to wipe out any equipment.”
Pederson has a way with horses. Growing up on Bear Creek Ranch in Black Creek, which is owned by his parents Drew and Leslie Pederson, horses are a way of life for Pederson.
And as if working on a film set didn’t keep Pederson busy enough, he also participated in a trainer’s challenge last year in Smithers, B.C. where he won for the first time in the five challenges he’s participated in.
“I started my first colt that had never been ridden or saddled when I was 10,” Pederson says. “I think it’s been a quest my whole life to be better with them, to have a better relationship with horses and try to understand them better. I’ve spent many hours with clients bringing me horses and I’ve taken clinics from other people to try and educate myself. Like any industry, there’s a cost to get better.” Between Pederson’s own clinics, which he typically travels to Victoria, Nanaimo, Errington and Powell River to host, and his 3 R’s Training program at Bear Creek Ranch, he’s working with horses full-time. A year and a half ago he gave up his full-time job as a faller – a career he had for 25 plus years – to go into full-time training. Pederson’s 3 R’s Training program caters to all types of horses, but he typically works with those who have varying issues, whether it be one of the three most dangerous – bolting, bucking, or rearing – or horses that simply need to be broken in because they’ve never been saddled before. The 3 R’s (Reward and the Right Response) is based on liberty, halter or ground work, and riding. “Horses don’t know right from wrong, they just know when the pressure goes away and it’s our duty to show them and communicate to them what’s right and what’s wrong,” Pederson says. “They are intelligent animals but they think a lot slower than we do so it’s important to start slow. The way we communicate is verbal, the way they communicate is through body language.”
“It’s starting from scratch with a horse that’s never been saddled or rode and you have four one-hour sessions to prepare them for the finals,” Pederson says. “You’re judged on how well they stand to saddle, mount and dismount, walk, trot and lope.” The horses also have to be prepped to drag a rope and navigate ground obstacles. Adding to the degree of difficulty is the fact the horses used in the competition are assigned by a random draw. “It’s something because not everyone can just enter, you have to be invited to most of the challenges,” Pederson says. “And I’ll be going back to defend my title this summer at the end of August.” In the meantime, Pederson is keeping busy seven days a week with his 3 R’s Training program, passing on his knowledge of horse psychology to the animal’s owners who attend the sessions with Pederson and their horse. “They don’t want to send their horse away and just get it back, they want to get some knowledge too. I think that’s why I’m so busy,” Pederson says. And it doesn’t hurt that he knows a thing or two. “Horsemanship has come so far and understanding the psychology of the animal you’re dealing with has changed things immensely for whatever animal you’re training,” Pederson says. “Horses speak equinese and if we’re pulled into it, they give us the opportunity to become fluent in the language they speak.”
It’s that special understanding of horses that has opened up several doors for Pederson.
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Pederson did stunt riding, wrangling and worked as a special ability extra on five or six episodes of each show. For each episode Pederson filmed, he was on set for roughly 15 hours a day, three days a week.
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A
Facebook group in Campbell River is utilizing the speed of the internet, the connectivity of social media and the power of word of mouth to make the community safe for lost dogs and other animals. "It took a little while to catch on but once it did‌" said Nikki Watts, one of the administrators of Lost And Found Animals of Campbell River. It started back in 2012 when Megan Bereskin saw a "quite thin and straggly" dog wandering around the airport for quite a few weeks.
Facebook group ďŹ nds, posts and searches for lost animals
"I love animals and would do anything for them, they are my passion," Bereskin says on the Facebook site. She decided she needed a little bit of help to find this dog's owners or at least get it some help. So she started the Facebook page and the word got out. Her idea was to begin a page that could share the dog's picture and hopefully get the dog some help. "She posted it and everybody was just 'Oh, let's find the dog,'" Watts said. Many people hopped right on board and the dog was eventually caught by two women from the SPCA. It testified to the usefulness of social media in helping these animals out. "That is how it all began," Watts said. "From April until the following January of 2013, approximately 40 animals were returned to owners via being posted to the page as either lost or found." Bereskin ran the group for a while but it "got kinda big," Watts said, and so she asked
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Watts to come on board and help. The membership of the group has grown to 2,375 members. It is a closed group that requires the administrator to approve each person, which protects the integrity of the group and keeps out the spam as much as possible, Watts said. The group serves as eyes and ears on the streets of the community. If an animal is spotted wandering around the street, people will alert the group and the posting will be reposted until an owner is found. If no owner is found, members of the group will go out looking for the animal. "The members are a variety of wonderful people, many who do not even own pets but volunteer their time by driving to look for animals," Watts said. "Some help coordinate posts between those that are out looking and the online sightings and always cheer when an animal is found." It is not a standalone entity but a culmination of other pages in the community which includes Lost Pets CR and others including Comox Valley lost and found and Vancouver Island Pet Database. Many of the participants don't even live in Campbell River but assist by cross-posting and checking other Facebook pages or online venues like Craigslist and CR Buy, Sell and Trade. When the whisperings of a new animal control contract in Campbell River began in January 2013 and the resulting announcement followed in March by the SPCA that they were leaving, the group's purpose was
truly realized, Watts said. To date, there are more than 513 animals that have found their way home. "Megan and I both believe that the LFACR is not a means to keep animals away from the proper authorities but rather a way to keep wandering and stray animals safe and also for owners to get their animals home safe and, in most situations, faster," Watts said. People are always urged to check with the proper authorities, whether it is Coast Animal Care (which got the animal control contract from the city) or the SPCA (which found a way to stay in the community as an educational and animal advocate group). They are often called for advice. The SPCA even posts their strays and founds to their webpage which can be shared with the community on the other pages in case someone does not see the SPCA post. The group is more of a cooperative than anything. "Nobody's really in charge. Everybody just works together," said Bonnie Fulton, a volunteer with the group. "Everything comes down to what's good for the animals." As an example, consider a lost dog. On many occasions, the lost or found animal is posted to the page, details are given, one or more people will search and, in most cases, the animal is found. "Sometimes it can be six or eight people (involved in the search)," Fulton said. The group has evolved to include cats, small animals, dogs and even farm animals. The success stories include kittens found in the engine
of a car from Merritt. There was SPCA manager Stephanie Arkwright getting her cat Thomas back after it had been missing for two years. Another woman's dog had been lost in the woods for a week before it was found by campers. "The whole idea stemmed from one person and has become a community project," Watts said. Watts gets involved in the searches because her work schedule involves one week on, one week off. She can also do her job from her car, so she's usually mobile, driving around town. There are ideas and plans in mind to improve the process. Walkie talkies would be useful during a search when not everyone has internet access. The Facebook page has a lot of information available to help with searches or what to do when you have found an animal. Fulton and Watts have a lot of experience themselves with finding animals. They say they always carry treats and one of their top tips when you try to recover a dog is to not chase it. Instead, walk or run away from it. The animal's curiosity will compel it to follow you but if you chase after it to try and grab its collar, it will run away. An example of a successful search is this story posted on the Facebook page: "Mimi is back and is resting! She has been bathed, dewormed, vaccinated, fed and cuddled and is now resting! Stressful day for her. A huge thanks again to the people that found her and the ones that
spend their time searching and rescuing cats. Thanks to everyone that kept an eye out for Mimi for the last five months. Mimi and her sister will be kept indoors for their safety." The "found our way home" folder on the Facebook page boasts 490 photos (with 10
still waiting to move) and more than 23 in the new folder. The group has proven to be a runaway success but they can always use more eyes and people willing to make sure Campbell River's animals are safe.
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Story by Alistair Taylor
Courage & determination:
Kim Wood (nee Black) hands Rod Brind'Amour his "club"
the little girl and the hockey player team up to fight cystic fibrosis
It all began when a little 12-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis (CF) sent a letter asking a big hockey player for help. "I said 'I am Kim and I have CF and this is what we're hoping to do,'" said Kim Wood. Cystic Fibrosis is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Canadian children and young adults. It is a multisystem disease that affects mainly the lungs and the digestive system. What she was hoping to do, was have Rod Brind'Amour, at that time a player on the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, come back to his home town and boost a fundraising golf tournament with his presence. Brind'Amour was a young player then, just beginning to establish himself as a star power forward. He would later go on to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup victory in 2006 before retiring and taking up his current coaching position with the team. In 1995, Wood was a young girl struggling with a disease
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that killed people in their 20s, giving the youngster a life expectancy then of approximately 10 more years. That was 20 years ago. Brind'Amour said yes to the little girl's request and agreed to lend his name and his presence to a fundraising golf tournament. The Campbell River chapter of Cystic Fibrosis Canada was at that time attempting to establish a fundraising event to raise money for research that would hopefully find a cure for the disease. "I remember the Campbell River chapter kind of wanting to do a big fundraiser," Wood said. "They were brainstorming ideas of who could be a celebrity spokesperson. The name Rod Brind'Amour was rolled around because he was from Campbell River."
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With the pluck that Wood is known for, the 12-year-old said she would contact Brind'Amour to see if he would like to help. With her mother Chris Black's help, she drafted up a letter and mailed it off, care of the Philadelphia Flyers. Lo and behold, the letter "got through" to Brind'Amour, Wood said. Brind'Amour remembers getting the letter. "Back then I was a younger kid in the NHL," he said. "I never really viewed myself as a role model." Wood's letter described her condition and what she was going through on a daily basis, Brind'Amour said. At that time he knew absolutely nothing about CF but the little girl's story got through to him.
Wood and Brind'Amour have developed a close friendship over the years.
Brind'Amour hoists the Stanley Cup in 2006.
"It touched me a little bit," Brind'Amour said. "I had no idea what (CF) was. I didn't know anyone who had it." But he did a bit of research and got to know what the disease was and decided he would help. He didn't see himself as a celebrity but he saw the value in getting an NHL player involved because it would attract attention to the event and the disease. "I think at the outset, it was just to create awareness," Brind'Amour said. Brind'Amour and others felt it was just going to be a one-time event. One of the event organizers, Todd Peachey, said the local CF Chapter had been looking to grow its fundraising golf tournament into a bigger event because "the small thing wasn't really working." It was decided that if Brind'Amour was coming home for a visit in the summer anyway, he might be willing to help. So, Wood sent her letter to Brind'Amour. "That letter reached Rod and it resonated with him," Peachey said. "And that's basically how it got started." The length of the commitment was up in the air. "Our idea was we would do this every year," Peachey said. "Rod's idea was he was going to do it once. Once we did a first one, we asked 'What did you think about doing it again?'" Brind'Amour agreed if his initial conditions for coming were continued, namely that it be a classy event and that all the money goes toward CF. Brind'Amour's standards were high and they applied to himself. He has been to every Rod Brind'Amour Cystic Fibrosis Golf Classic/Dinner and Auction, which grew to include a gala evening that includes a silent and a live auction. "He's been to every one," Peachey said. "He pays for his own way here. Rod said not one penny that was supposed to go to
the charity would go to sports figures." Brind'Amour has often brought friends and playing colleagues with him. The golf tournament itself is set up to take the focus off the competition and put it on participation. The teams are set up to be evenly based on mixing handicaps so that the chances of winning prizes are high for everyone. After the second year, a major portion of the event became the dinner and auction which actually raises more money than the golfing. The golf tournament accommodates about 155 golfers at Storey Creek Golf Course, which is about as many as can be handled on the course. The evening gala, meanwhile, brings in about 350 people and the focal point is Brind'Amour's speech. "Most of the money in the tournament is being raised through corporate sponsorship and the silent auction and the live auction," Peachey said. In the first year with Brind'Amour's involvement, $17,000 was raised.
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Brind'Amour calls her whenever the CF or its complications overwhelm her and she gets particularly sick. "It's a special relationship," Brind'Amour said. "It's something I hold dear to my heart." Through it all, Brind'Amour has nothing but admiration for Wood and what she has to go through in dealing with her disease. "It's just the courage and strength that she shows," Brind'Amour said. The ultimate goal of the golf tournament was to help find a cure for CF. That hasn't been reached. Yet. "To be honest, I was kind of hoping we wouldn't have to have so many events," Wood said. "I really had in my mind that we would find a cure by now."
"Every time I go to the golf tournament I see that everybody there is supporting CF. I take that very personally and I have so much gratitude for everyone." "That blew away any expectations that we had," Peachey said. On average, the Rod Brind'Amour Golf Classic raises $80,000$100,000 each year. The best year was 2006 when $140,000 was raised. In total, the event has raised about $1.3 million. It has become CF Canada's biggest single fundraising event. "It's unbelievable. When you consider CF isn't a high profile fundraiser, so when a little town like Campbell River can raise that kind of money…" Peachey says. "It's an unbelievable amount of money."
But research has resulted in some exciting progress and great strides have been made in the treatment of CF patients. Children who weren't expected to live past their 20th year are now living into their forties and longer. There are now more adults with CF than children, a testament to how long people with the disease are living now. Wood is amazed that the golf tournament has been running for so long and you could be amazed that Brind'Amour has been involved the whole time. But knowing him so well, Wood said that commitment and loyalty is typical of Brind'Amour. "It's an honour that he's come to show his support for it but, honestly, it's no surprise to me," Wood said. "That's just the kind of guy he is." Wood said Brind'Amour is a selfless, giving person who places others before himself. And Brind'Amour brings the same level of commitment to this cause that he brought to his playing career. "I think because of his background, he knows how much it takes to get something you want," Wood said.
Toss into that mix a committed community and you shouldn't The classic has become a high profile event in the community be surprised by anything that results from this. that garners massive support from businesses and individuals. "Every time I go to the golf tournament I see that everybody there is supporting CF," Wood said. "I take that very personally "It's become a community event," Peachey said. "It's as much and I have so much gratitude for everyone. a part of Campbell River as going to the (Discovery Fishing) Pier for an ice cream." "I really would like to just thank not only the sponsors and supporters of the event but volunteers and the people who Brind'Amour's wholehearted support is unwavering. During buy the tickets…every single person who is involved." the golf tournament he plants himself at the 17th hole – 17 was Brind'Amour's sweater number – and greets each and The once-little girl, now a grown woman, and the big hockey every golfer that comes through. They get to talk to him and player are two of a kind and you get the feeling that if have a picture taken with him. anybody is going to provide the drive toward finding a cure it Not only did the golf tournament start with Wood's personal is those two. letter to Brind'Amour but so did a strong friendship that has The 20th Annual Rod Brind’Amour Cystic Fibrosis Golf Classic/ lasted 20 years as well. Brind'Amour and Wood have been to Dinner Auction will be held June 13 - 14 at Storey Creek Golf each other's weddings. They see other once or twice a year. Course. 30 |
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