LADYSMITH, B.C. — Before he ever considered carrying his paddle board to this beach, Paul Verchere was struggling to simply walk after badly breaking his ankle. “[A doctor] looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to be in pain for the rest of your life,’” Verchere recalls with a laugh. “And I’m like, ‘No, I’m not! What are you talking about?!’” But the doctor was right, Verchere had done extreme skiing and endurance mountain biking for more than a decade until he had no choice but to get an ankle transplant. “It can be depressing,” Verchere smiles. “It was horrible.” The man who defined himself by moving, was stuck. But Verchere maintained his mental health by dreaming of doing something special on his stand-up paddle board when he recovered. “People had paddled sections around Vancouver Island before,” Verchere says. “But nobody had tied it together.” So, Verchere decided to circumnavigate the Island in one trip. He mapped out a route that was about the same distance as Vancouver to Saskatchewan, packed his board with the basics to stay safe and camp along the way, and paddled off. But things did not go according to plan. “It was pretty scary,” Verchere admits. “I got my butt kicked.” He wrote notes like “terrified” on his map, near the places where he faced waves more than three metres high, or head winds more than 35 knots, or bears who preferred their beaches empty of people planning to camp there. “At the end of the day, I would be like, ‘Wow’! There’s no day that will be like that day I just went through,’” Verchere smiles. “And then the next day arrives and it’s like, ‘Hold my beer!’” But Verchere persevered by doing three things. First, being motivated to move forward by looking back. “Don’t look how far you still have to go,” Verchere says. “Look how far you’ve already come.” Second, being inspired by your surroundings. “Even though every day was challenging, there was always beauty,” Verchere says. “This is one of the most beautiful places in the world.” And finally, instead of being daunted by one big goal, staying focused on every moment. “One metre becomes a kilometre. A kilometre becomes 10,” Verchere smiles. “The next thing you know, you’ve paddled 1,300 kilometres around Vancouver Island.” Verchere finally achieved his goal after 36 days, returning to the same beach he’d left. “I was expecting [to be greeted] by a crowd of thousands,” Verchere jokes. “But there were three or four people here.” But then again, Verchere’s expedition was never about recognition. It was a journey about of overcoming adversity and discovering gratitude. “To look at what I’ve done,” Verchere smiles. “And appreciate every day I had.”
