A Basin of Success

"Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I'm swimming, sometimes I'm not sure which one it is."

-Demetri Martin
Risk-Taking was the order of the day for the two occasions we visited the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. Staring up at the looming 7.5m diving board, it seemed to be lunacy to walk all the way up to it with no harness or safety device. Jumping off - out of the question. So I started with my familiarity, the 5 metre, which took me about 0.05 seconds for me to jump off. No problem. I had already passed my swim "test", and I was fully confident in my abilities, to a certain extent. For some reason though, the 7.5 bugged me. I just wanted to climb to the top, look down and see how high it was. I finally did, shouting at all, "I'M NOT JUMPING OFF!!!", and, "I'M JUST LOOKING!!!". My classmates respected that. Only two that day had built up the confidence, or used the confidence that they already had, to jump off the diving board, for which "high" was a massive understatement. As I looked, down, though, my mind was wiped. I forgot about the lack of immortality of myself, and, in a simple jump-step, I fell down 24.6 feet to my awaiting death. Death might be a tad overdramatic. In fact I survived, and, as an added bonus, all of my limbs were intact. So I went up again. I gained confidence that day, the confidence to simply stop thinking. Sometimes critical analysis is a serious handicap.



-Derek

Life, Metaphors, and Rock Climbing

"Life is rock climbing. Rock climbing is life. You choose your route carefully, but when you get stuck, you either give up, persevere, or change your mind. You have the support of others but often it is solely your decision. There are dips, slips and falls, but if you have the willpower to continue, to move on, you will embrace your decision in due time. When you get to a hard patch, with no visible support, you know that there is always a way to the top. It is not designed to be impossible, and it is not impossible. A fear will bring you down, but an empty mind is one most likely to make a mistake. Balance is key. The most important lesson, however, is to know that no matter the hardships, no matter the fears or the bad decisions, when you make it to the top, there is victory, and the accompanying feeling. That is when you know that you have succeeded." --Derek MacPherson "The best climber is the one having the most fun. " -- Alex Lowe "Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career." --Abdul Kalam

Cliffhanging With Myself

Cliffhanging Yes, I can say, honestly and with no shame, that I was utterly terrified climbing the walls. And yes, the easy one. The happy side of life (and the wall) is that I did manage to lose the "rainbow appeal" and attempted (with limited success)a strictly white/yellow path to the top. I did, however, make it to the top of all of the walls I tried. I even (with no success whatsoever) tried bouldering, which is simply an inverted little wall with no harness. Back to the big walls, I am confident in my abilities, however my biggest hurdle, which is quite normalish, is my fear of heights. looking down, or even worse looking up, makes me want to stop and just let go, or the opposite, which provides me with a dilemma. In all honesty, my biggest fear is slipping and falling. Not necessarily to my death but, wound up by the hights, just a slip would inject enough adrenaline into me to nearly kill me. Anyways, I am happy with what I have done, but I am eager to advance myself in this process, mentally and physically. My goal - To really rock. -Derek

Pictures @ Fircom

Vitamin N

Vitamin Nature. Yes, we are returning to the "Dark Ages", and this time the name is no metaphor. As technology develops, so does our connection to it, as we become enthralled by modern advancements. We "came from the land" :), and now, we are abandoning it. We must get outside more. No, you won't get sick by being out in the cold. No, a mild sunburn will not kill you and no, your computer is not a reason to forget our true homeland. Derek MacPherson (Idea by Richard Louv)

Tamagawa

"In the early morning we sailed beside dolphins in the ocean. In the midday we collaborated and worked together, connecting the dots of ib. In the evening we rejoined the dolphins sailing towards the setting sun." - Derek MacPherson


Tamagawa was a very interesting day. We embarked very early in the morning to the Nanaimo Campus, and we conducted different group activities to solve global issues. The place itself was quite nice, a quiet, secluded campus lost in the dense forests. After a lunch where we got to know the other students (both from Tamagawa and from the Lower Mainland), we were back at it with more group projects. In the evening we drove back on to the ferry, where we sailed home. That weekend we welcomed the students into our homes, and they got to experience some "Canadian culture". After some partying and some activities, we said our goodbyes and parted ways, even though we still remain in contact with our Japanese friends from that short, but fun, day.

Doubled Up (Kayaking)

Kayaking is a change - so to speak. It's not that I haven't done kayaking before, in fact in one week this month I kayaked on 4 separate occasions, but no, the difference is that the technique has changed. For myself, kayaking has always been a very casual and relaxed sport, without much thought put into it, however now, and especially in regards to the kayaking we had at Deep Cove last week. We were not simply taught the right way but clearly shown how, by focusing strongly on your core. Essentially it is important to use full upper-body strength and not simply arms. As well, double kayaks were a change. I had in fact used double kayaks before, but not normally. In my opinion single kayaks are better and more efficient, as all of the power you put into it is used, and the bulkier doubles take a lot more time to turn. Another switch was that of the rudder, which I had only used once before, if at all. It didn't take too much of an impact, as the paddles were more useful, however it did make it a little bit easier. I enjoyed the Deep Cove day more, however it was fun to get outside and do this. The slightly wavy waters of the North Shore gave us a bit of a challenge, and there was nowhere to look without seeing a 5 million dollar house! I can feel myself improving and I hope I'll stay on this path for years and years to come. -Derek



“No one, in my opinion, should embark on the open ocean, the Antarctic, or any wilderness for that matter, not prepared to get out of trouble by his own efforts. By voluntarily challenging the elements he automatically assumes the responsibility for his own safety. He should not expect anyone to risk life and property on his behalf. The very idea of possible rescue is debilitating to the will; it should be replaced by self reliance.”

-David Lewis

Sailing on the Ocean Blue

Sailing is a thing of its own. It is so different, so out of routine that it really changes all of how you feel. Any good or bad thoughts you have been thinking vanish as you yank the tiller left and right, or pull the sail hard in the turn known as a tack. There are advantages and disadvantages to the number of people in your boat, however with any more than one cooperation is the biggest must. If communication is not properly achieved, multiple bad things can - and will happen. The swinging boom is a perfect "baseball bat" for the head of an unfortunate steerer, and switching sides can not only sway the boat but tip it right over - not very fun when you are about a kilometer off the shore. In fall, the Pacific Ocean is not Hawaiian warm, and climbing into the Zodiac, let alone righting your boat, can be too much. However, all in all, it is fun, and the feeling of the water gently (or roughly) lapping at your back, the wind in your face, you feel something that you almost never get to feel in the urban environment we know as Vancouver, BC - freedom.







http://www.google.ca/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=924&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=epIJTpQfSnGssM:&imgrefurl=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/42724245/HYPOTHERMIA-COLD-WATER-KILLS&docid=a85u375vjPU2iM&itg=1&imgurl=http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/42724245.png&w=1754&h=1240&ei=A39jUNSZN8LIyQG8kICoBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=214&vpy=143&dur=2378&hovh=189&hovw=267&tx=57&ty=218&sig=109644732666991663566&page=1&tbnh=110&tbnw=156&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:71

"The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective." -Henry David Thoreau

Camp Fircom - Reflections

Camp Fircom is way, with a more than strong emphasis on WAY, different than I expected. To begin with, I hadn't even been spelling it right, as I thought it was Furkham, and I had no real idea whatsoever about where in BC Gambier Island was. When I was told of the correct spelling - Fircom, and the direction of the little water taxi that drove us to the camp told me very slightly the area the island was, I soon found out that was just the beginning. In my mind I had a cross between Elphinstone and, well, I don't know what. I pictured a long flowing field of my-height grass leading up to a picturesque little mess hall, and the cabins like that of my Air Cadets barracks on Vancouver Island. When the MV Mercury IV pulled into the little bay, and we unloaded on the little dock, it was not at all what I expected. We all walked past the two tipis, and unloaded into our first community circle, which gave me some insight into what the camp would be about. I learned what I had been hoping for, which was swimming, and it still pressed into my mind about how short the camp was, basically a Gambier Island Sleepover, although later on I realized that with all we did, it felt like much, much more than that. After swimming, which was quite relaxing, I might add, we had a great lunch then unpacked into our (in my honest opinion mixed and out of style) little room, which was laid out instead of rows, in a square formation, with large-matressed comfortable modern beds in the middle, but tacky, blue, out of style, small uncomftorable beds off to the side (in which me, the 5'10'' biggest person in the classroom happened to sleep in). Anwyay, once our stuff was in we began the activities, which included Primitive, a survival style activity which worked on co-operation and task dividing, and kayaking, which was truly my highlight. After sliding on a grass-burn-inducing-120-foot-slip-n-slide adventure, we had a great beef/chicken dinner filled with amazing salad dressinged salads, before a campfire with songs and smores, a movie, and one of the top ten worst sleeps in my entire life. In a stiflingly stuffy and hot room, all the grade 8 boys were cramped together, and at least two thirds had successfully, or in my case unsuccessfully, tried to get to sleep with the remaining third telling jokes that were not all too funny, causing another third to start laughing, preventing me from that amazing land of sleep. When I finally got to sleep, well after a few times of getting back to sleep, I was awoken by a light beeping and the commencing of the polar bear dip, of which the all-too-willing avid swimmers had dropped out, due to the cold water and early morning. Only a friend and I managed to brave it out and swim in the freezing water, after which we were treated to go first for an amazingly delicious breakfast. The day of archery and farming went by fairly quickly and before I knew it I was on a boat back home, with the bags in the back, leaving Camp Fircom behind, but in my memories, as the one-night camp that surpassed camp Byng by 700 kilometers and really mixed up the way I camped, as not to be forgotten, ever.



PS - I learned that Fircom actually stands for First Community, and it is roughly a tenth of the size of Stanley Park, however it felt much larger and I believe it to be the largest camp I have ever been to.