It started sometime in April when Aivar showed up in FB and said that dugouts will take Song Festival fire from Võrtsjärv to Pärnu, using ancient (and currently totally unusable) waterway that goes up the Tänassilma river to Viljandi Lake and from there down through Soomaa wetlands along Raudna, Halliste and Pärnu rivers. Little later he posted this. I was sold the very moment I heard this. I just happen to be an owner and maker of a dugout that has been standing in a shed without much of an action for 11 years. And my 12-year son Lauri has been with me canoeing and kayaking in Estonian rivers and islands for last three summers. Not yet full-blown paddler, but useful enough to help out when daddy gets tired. No surprise - he was hooked immediately as well.
Following months were spent tarring the boat, caulking cracks and making Tõrvatud Välk (Tarred Lightning) ready for the trip.
And so it was that on June 18 my dear wife helped me to haul the boat to the riverside in Oiu and escaped as fast as she could. We had arrived a day too early - to test the boat for last leaks and train together with Lauri. The thing is, dugouts are notorious for being quite unstable. Famous saying goes that you must keep your tongue in the middle of your mouth or you would keel over. What is especially crazy is that traditionally they were paddled standing - quite unbelievable feat, unless you've done this since you learned to walk. To make things worse for me, I had not touched the dugout for years and my own darling happened to be unstable even for an average dugout. Therefore we had taken with us an enormous amount of clothes for change - I was pretty darn sure we will get wet more than once.
I had identified the only possible campsite on the other side of the river and the only way to get there was by boat as the narrow road had become an unpassable mudhole after recent rains. So I first loaded all our equipment and carried that over. Piece of cake, paddling alone. Now it was time to take the boy. He sat in, we pushed away and started paddling. Why we did not keel over, I do not know - boat rocked like crazy until I asked Lauri to sit tight and stop paddling. Oh boy, was I lucky when we got to the riverbank...
Rest of the evening was rather boring. We were immediately attacked by gazillion mosquitos and even though I saved myself by taking a boatride on a river and Lauri attempted heroically to do some fishing we were forced to retire to our tent very soon.
The next day started with tar. Last evening had revealed some pesky leaks that I had not managed to repair so out came the bank of tar. Second and much bigger (about 3 meters) problem was that I had forgot my "parade paddle" - traditional long pole with one end flattened. I had planned to use kayak paddles for actual ride and parade paddle in case there was need to show off (or in low water where any other paddle becomes useless). So now I had to make a new one. Stupid idea. Result was superheavy, ugly as night and after 2 days I left it promptly to a lonely jetty somewhere on Tänassilma river. Thank god, no low water.
Lauri took the boat and went to train. Alone he seemed quite confident an
d competent and after a while I even managed to stop worrying. Most of the day he spent fishing, though. Result - 1 roach, many lost hooks, tens of meters of lost fishing line and as much happiness, boyish anger and despair as one nice summer day can hold. Meanwhile I had discovered that my mobile was nearly empty and went to search for a kind soul who would allow me to recharge the battery. Found an old lady who was happy to help. During the conversation I found that her relative is going to Valma, where Turm, the viking boat was coming the same evening. There was to be a big party, boy was already going crazy with tousled fishing lines and I wanted to have a word with the organizers of the event. Fortunately the relative was ready to give us a
ride.Turm was late. For a good reason, as the wind was strong and wave on a low-water lakes like Võrtsjärv is nasty - short and sharp. When it finally appeared in a tow of another boat locals watched its mast waving crazily and commented that soon we will encounter little green men. Not so. Those who landed where in a good form, surprisingly and party was fun. I was told that we will start from Oiu at 900 next day and all the unnecessary stuff can be put to a bus. What a relief. Back in the camp we had our first loss. Fishing rod had mysteriously disappeared from the camp. Fortunately, al the rest of the stuff was still there.
