Like everyone involved with the David Thompson Brigade, I am struggling to decide what is my single best photo. At this point, this blurred-in-camera shot of the Canadian Voyageur crew doing a switch is my favourite. For me, this captures the essence of the experience - a blur of people working together in complete synchronization. Often it wasn't obvious who was doing the work. Often you only saw it briefly while you were focused on something else. Often it seemed like others were able to effortlessly do something you could not.
In the beginning it was frustrating to see a crew like the Voyageurs slip past at what seemed an impossible rate while we struggled to make our boat respond to clumsy efforts. The first revelation was a clean switch which in time became simple even in high winds, big waves and rapids. One day on the Rainy River we snuck up on the Canadian Voyageurs and beat them to shore at a crew change - it wasn't really a race, but to everyone on the crew it was a small victory which we will probably remember (and boasted of) for a long time.
