Don Starkell, the Winnipeg paddler who claims to have logged more distance in a canoe than any other paddler in history (some 120,000 km) passed away on January 28 of cancer at age 79. Don and his son Dana made the Guinness Book of World Records for their 1980 canoe voyage from Winnipeg to the Amazon, a distance of 19,200 km. Don started his canoeing career in 1948 at age 15, and then went on to become a top sprint and marathon racer in the 1950's. Other notable trips included participating in the 1967 Centennial trans-Canada paddle, and an attempt to kayak the Northwest Passage in 1991-92 which ended just 58 km from the finish with a rescue after being trapped in pack ice. You can read about his exploits in his books "Paddle to the Amazon," and "Paddle to the Arctic." Don remained an active paddler all his life. In a 2010 Canoe & Kayak magazine interview he complained that due to poor weather he only put in 2400 km the previous year. His parting words in that interview would make a great epitaph for him: "I've travelled three times around the world. If someone wants to beat that, I don't give a damn."
If there's a Paddler's Heaven where there's always sunny skies and a tail wind, we know you must be there, Don.
Bill.