Chasing a record, at the whims of the sea, 2 kayakers paddle around Newfoundland in 49 days
A typical day for David MacKay and Jack Kotaska this summer started at Newfoundland’s first touch of sun. They slipped into their kayaks in the fragile silence of dawn. If they were lucky, they were already out tracing the rugged coast while the wind still slept.
As sandy beaches turned to rock and cliffs into fjords, the kayakers finally got to witness lands they had only dreamt of. They filled long days with stories of old arctic expeditions, Harry Potter audiobooks and good conversation. Out at sea, just the two of them, Kotaska and MacKay rejoiced when a new idea popped into their heads, having assumed they’d exhausted all avenues of human thought.
With dozens of kilometres to go until sleep each night, their paddles gripped the current. Like good teams do, they propelled each other toward their big goal of the summer: to circumnavigate the island of Newfoundland by kayak, and to do it in record time.
“Four years ago, I was a sea kayak guide in Cape Broyle, and I had the idea that it would be a crazy kind of trip to kayak around Newfoundland,” MacKay told CBC News.
At the time, it felt like an insurmountable challenge. The fastest trip around the island was completed in 45 days, a record held since 2008. Besides, the trip itself is gruelling. So he kept it in the back of his mind: “Maybe one day it’ll happen.”
MacKay met Kotaska while the two were posted for work in Whitehorse last year. Both experienced kayakers, MacKay reached out to Kotaska around Christmas with an offer he couldn’t refuse. “I’d always wanted to visit the East Coast,” Kotaska said. Both were up for the challenge.
It would be uncharted territory for the both of them.
“I’ve spent most of my life on the Avalon Peninsula, so it was cool to get off the Avalon Peninsula and see some more remote parts of Newfoundland,” MacKay said.
As a whitewater kayaker, this was Kotaska’s first ocean adventure. “It was all new,” he said. “Every day, seeing the world from that perspective was cool.”
But there is no real way to prepare for weeks of living out of a kayak.
“You can have all the safety aspects down, but it’s hard to train for 60 kilometres a day for almost two months,” MacKay said. They embarked from Quidi Vidi harbour in St. John’s on June 18, heading south to circle the Rock clockwise.
At the whims of the wind and sea, there is nothing one can do other than accept when the weather turns against you.
“There’s two sides to the deal that have to go right to achieve a goal like that,” Kotaska said, “and for the most part we held up our end of the deal.”
The two were putting in up to 14-hour days. But when the wind swept away their chances of a record by the last two weeks, MacKay and Kotaska weren’t too bothered.
“It was kind of a relief to be able to slow down and enjoy some time off in places like Fogo and LaScie,” MacKay said.
David MacKay and Jack Kotaska had hoped to break the kayaking record of 45 days to circumnavigate Newfoundland, all 2,0000 kilometres of it, but came up a little short. But it wasn’t just about a deadline. See the highlights from their adventure and what they say about it now that it’s over.
Visiting Newfoundland’s outport communities was the highlight of the trip for Kotaska, who’d heard so much from MacKay, who holds this part of his province’s culture dear.
“Most of the trips I’d been on before were completely isolated,” Kotaska said, “so it was cool having connection with people on a near daily basis.”
And people welcomed them warmly. One man in Bonavista gave them a free night in his Airbnb and dropped off warm meals. Another in LaScie lent them the keys to his truck for the day to restock in town and offered his shed to sleep in that night.
“That day we were also welcomed to a singalong to play some good Newfie music and learn some history of the area,” Kotaska said. “There’s lots of people that I’m going to have to go back and visit again, for sure.”
Even at their slowed pace, they arrived back in St. John’s on Aug. 9 to a singing and cheering crowd of friends and family — 49 days after their launch. Still in recovery mode, MacKay says he’s already beginning to look back with rose-tinted glasses.
“We’re good at having fun and not taking stuff too seriously,” he said.
For him and Kotaska, prioritizing enjoyment is what makes challenges like this sustainable. They don’t know what adventure lies ahead — but they’re sure it won’t be their last.
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