An Alberta family that hopes to make hovercraft history will be travelling the province this summer, ahead of their planned cross-country tour.
Their trip through Alberta is meant as a warm-up for the Steadman family's ultimate goal: piloting a hovercraft across Canada in 2016. That journey, which would take them across 11,000 kilometres of waterways, would be a first for the record books, according to licenced hovercraft pilot and father of three Colin Steadman.
"It's never been done," he said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca. "We could actually be first at doing something, and not first in Canada, but first in the world."
By day, Steadman works as a safety adviser for the Alberta Construction Safety Association, but he's been piloting hovercraft in his spare time since 2008. And he's been taking his wife, Ingrid, an education assistant at a local school, and his children; 13-year-old Cordel and 12-year-old twins, Sage and Colton, along for the ride.
Up until this summer, that's meant small trips to local lakes and rivers. But now, the family is planning a 2,000-kilometre "warm up" run around Alberta this July. This summer's adventure will be the craft's first long-distance test run.
Set to launch on July 11, the two-week trip will take the family to Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Lloydminster, Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie, Edmonton, Red Deer, and Calgary, Steadman said.
"We're looking to see parts of Alberta that no one's ever seen on a vehicle that no one's ever used before," Steadman said. "Being able to fly through dinosaur territory on a hovercraft, no one's ever done that."
The Steadmans plan to travel for between four and six hours a day, covering between 400 and 500 kilometres on each leg of the trip. Steadman said the kids will be responsible for navigation, fuelling and cleaning the craft, and plan to take photos to create a book about their experiences.
Along the way, the family will be raising awareness for Threads of Life, an organization that helps families cope with workplace accidents or fatalities. Steadman said he chose the organization because he wanted to raise the profile of a group that does important work.
"(Threads of Life) provides much-needed support services to families who have lost a loved one," he said.
The organization is also closely tied with the Alberta Construction Safety Association, Steadman's employer and one of the main sponsors of his hovercraft trip.
To make the journey, Steadman will be piloting a 4.8-metre long, white Neoteric hovercraft, which he bought from a manufacturer in Indiana.
Fully assembled hovercrafts on the company's website go for anywhere between $20,000 and $60,000, but Steadman says his $35,000 Neoteric has been worth it. Unlike an older hovercraft he purchased, this one can reverse.
To move, the vehicle uses propellers to suck air underneath a black "skirt" that wraps around its base. That air creates a cushion underneath the craft, Steadman said, lifting the vehicle about 45 centimetres off the ground.
From there, Steadman said, piloting the machine is a cross between driving a boat and flying a helicopter.
"It's like being on a bar of soap in a bathtub," he said. "It zips along."
Like a car, Steadman said the craft comfortably fits the whole family. It's open air, but the Steadmans plan to keep going, rain or shine.
Only lightning could ground them, Steadman said.
Steadman's rain-or-shine attitude comes after more than six years of planning his long-distance hovercraft trip.
He jokes that he first became interested in hovercraft when his wife said he could buy a technology "toy," but that it had to be something the whole family could enjoy.
Soon after purchasing the craft, he said he looked at a map of Canada and was inspired to become the first person to take one across the country. He first planned the trip in 2009, but the project repeatedly fell through.
There were numerous setbacks: finding sponsors to back the $120,000 trip, legal restrictions around certain bodies of water, spare parts for the hovercraft, and losing Steadman's father-in-law to prostate cancer.
And yet, Steadman said, "It's been a dream that just won't go away."
For both he and his children, Steadman said the whole process has been a life lesson in patience and frustration. And each year, he said, his family has become more involved and more determined to make the trip happen.
He hopes this summer's travels will be the first step towards finally completing his cross-Canada journey.
"We're really looking forward to kicking it off and making the dream come true," he said.
