A Calgary man will embark on a solo rowing journey in the next few days across the Atlantic Ocean while raising money for Alberta cancer patients.
Laval St. Germain is rowing as part of his project Confront Cancer Ocean Row and will be starting from Halifax and ending in France.
St. Germain is an airline pilot and self-proclaimed adventurer. He has been on many trips and adventures around the world, including climbing the Himalayas, the Rockies and mountains in Nunavut.
“This is one thing I’ve wanted to do just for the challenge of it. Something completely new, something out of my comfort zone,” said St. Germain. “I think I kind of specialize on stepping outside of my comfort zone.”
His rowboat isn’t the typical wooden open boat that most people would imagine. Instead, it’s made of fiberglass and composite material. The cockpit is waterproof with a full collection of communication and navigation equipment, including an emergency locator and a radar enhancer to make it look bigger than it is.
St. Germain will be packing freeze-dried mountaineering food to eat, along with a fishing spear and fishing rod in an attempt to catch food on his journey.
“I’ve had a lot of positive support from people,” said St. Germain. “I mean obviously my mom is concerned, she always is… but my friends and family have generally been behind me.”
John Beeden, also a solo ocean rower, had some words of advice for St. Germain, particularly to keep himself on track and to stick to a solid rowing routine. He also told St. Germain to relax and not get too caught up in his course.
Beeden has rowed across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. According to him, he faced some of the same comments as St. Germain, particularly that his adventure was crazy.
“It’s not crazy, it just needs good planning,” said Beeden. “I’m sure that Laval as a pilot is good at planning for these kinds of things. So just good luck and leave well prepared.”
According to St. Germain, he chose to raise money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation because he believes that cancer is something that has touched nearly everyone, whether a family member, a friend or an acquaintance.
“After years of travelling all over the world and always taking stuff home -- taking pictures, taking stories,” said St. Germain. “It’s time for me to give something back.”
