DARTMOUTH – Twelve months after it was shipped over to London for an event at the summer Olympics, Robert Fraser’s war canoe is finally back in the water.
The journey back, however, was far from easy.
After a misunderstanding between the builder and Canoe Kayak Canada, the war canoe was left behind. It took the Canadian canoe association more than eight months to ship it back to Nova Scotia. It was returned in April, but the challenges didn’t end there. When picking up his canoe, Fraser discovered it had filled with rainwater. He was forced to drill holes in its floor to release all the water intake.
“I took it down my shop and basically did a lot of work on it,” says Fraser. “Having sat in the rain over in England for eight months, the floor needed to be replaced.”
That work has since been done, and on Wednesday, paddlers with the Senobe Aquatic Club were finally able to test the locally-made canoe.
“She was left alone in the UK, now she’s back where she belongs,” says Troy Myers, the club’s commodore.
“I consider this one more of a sports car among war canoes, and you know, it’s technically a little more challenging but i think our crews are skilled enough to really make this thing fly.”
Fraser hopes to sell the war canoe, which is valued at $20,000, but until that happens, he says the club can keep using it.
Myers admits the Senobe Aquatic Club is interested in buying the canoe, but says the club needs sponsors to help make that happen.
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