: Hello Robert,

: The first time, my wife and I met Victoria was at her slide show presentation
: at the Fort White Center. The slides and the trip were from her last trip.
: The one she partly traveled with her “Prince” fellow kayaker Martin. There
: was a mishap on that trip, she was rescued and at that time, (slide
: presentation) found it very hard to talk about it. We saw her many times
: after; she was only living less then a mile from us. I never had the
: pleasure paddling with her, but I was curious on her paddling style. She
: must have been very efficient. What struck us the most with Victoria was
: how easy she was to talk to. She had a gift with people. Very friendly,
: down to earth…..super nice. She got my respect. To bad her time was cut
: short, I would have loved to have her second book.

: This summer, Tony, Ken and I paddled on Lake Winnipeg’s north basin. Not far
: from Grand Rapids. We paddled around the Long Point up to the hole in the
: wall and back down to the South Bar. We had some big waves, biggest one we
: ever paddled. One wave caught me sideways and I ended up, big eyed, side
: surfing, bracing on the wrong side, all the way in to the shore. Tony is
: writing a trip report in our MRCA, paddling club’s magazine the Ripple.

: Thanks for the invitation, I can’t tell you yet! I have to be in Switzerland
: on August 14. My brother’s daughter is getting married. Take care and wear
: a wet or dry suit for your next paddle. This week, three canoeists
: capsized in the freezing water, two dead- one survived, near the Manitoba
: border on shoal lake this week.

: Roland

I wish I could have met Victoria but my timing wasn't right. I named my expedition kayak after her, the V.J. Guardian Spirit, to engender some kind of connection with her spirit. I don't wear a dry suit on the North Sask because (a) I don't have the cash yet (pathetic reason, I know); and (b) the river is so shallow if I go in all I have to do is stand up and walk to shore. There are many places I can run to to get warm. My very high metabolic output has saved me before (rapids accident) and possibly will again. If I ever find myself wanting to go out on a large body of water (or deeper) I will most certainly dress properly for it. I am very conscious of what I do when I'm out there and there are no surprises where I paddle so I know I'll be ok.

Robert N Pruden