By Arjun Baghela, Graduate Student, Hancock Lab, CBR
Each month, the Health and Wellness Committee (H&W) of the CBR organizes a fun activity for CBR members to leave their bench, learn new skills, and exercise. On September 12th, they all ventured down to Jericho Beach for a relaxing evening of paddleboarding at the Jericho Sailing Center.
Everyone arrived, ready to jump onto a paddleboard and voyage through Vancouver’s harbour. After thoughtfully selecting the right paddleboard, we took to the ocean. Sam Hinshaw, a graduate student and notorious show-off in the Hancock lab, entered the water with ease and quickly paddled away. The rest followed cautiously, as the ocean currents were choppier than expected. After several paddles, most CBR members became comfortable maneuvering the board through the waves and coincidentally began to warm up to Sam again. Many members even had the courage to stand up on the paddleboard and drop into oncoming waves like professionals. There was a noticeable camaraderie growing amongst the group as we explored Vancouver’s harbour in this somewhat unconventional way.
As appetites grew stronger, the hungry CBR members began making their way back to shore for some well-deserved snacks and refreshments, generously provided by the H&W Committee. Approximately two and a half minutes upon landing on shore, the group had polished through the snacks. Moments passed before the group noticed that Abhinav Kumar and Marta Ordoño, graduate students in the Côté lab, had not made it to shore with the rest of the group. It seemed as though Abhinav and Marta were not able to fight the combined forces of the choppy waves and certain shamelessly hungry students. After several minutes of only slightly frantic searching (the onshore group started feeling rather sleepy), the pair was spotted in the far distance, slowly, but surely, paddling toward the shore. It was a close call, but thankfully the $30 dollar rescue fee did not need to be spent!
The sight of the North Shore Mountains, Vancouver’s skyline, and the setting sun made for a memorable experience on the water. The minor incident involving the brief disappearance of two group members was quickly forgotten by all but Abhinav and Marta. After all, the CBR’s paddleboarding excursion was a great bonding activity in a beautiful, marine backdrop. Sarah Mansour of the Hancock lab even claims she was greeted by a pod of orcas that, shockingly, no one else witnessed. Naturally, Sam Hinshaw recounted a tale of single-handedly fighting off a great white shark. This surprised no one, of course.
Many thanks to Bernard with Windsure Adventure Watersports for his paddleboarding guidance and assistance!