Slightly Crazy Ways To Row A Boat

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here we have the dragon boats proceeding south along the Canal skateway.

I headed along the side of the course, which was lined with flags fluttering in the wind.

The skateway went along both sides of the race course, while I took to the side of the skateway, which has a bit of snow making for more steady walking conditions.

Then I found my way down to the south end of the course, where the next race was being set up with the same boats. These would have to be the same people, by and large, who come in for the summer version (it's been going on for many years and has become a big event). And you have to be a wee bit daft to do this, but it's a whole lot of fun to watch.

Dragons On The Frozen Lake

Winterlude saw events held at Dow's Lake again this year. I missed the Bed Race this time out, but attended a more recent addition to the festival. The Ice Dragon Boat Festival took place this year for the third year in a row. An off-shoot of the summer races that take place each year at Mooney's Bay, this one is organized and held on Dow's Lake as part of Winterlude. Teams sign up and go through a series of races to determine finalists on a 200 metre course set up on the Canal skateway. I came up from the north end of the lake and found one such race being set up. The boats are mounted onto an apparatus with a double set of long skate blades, and the paddlers are given sticks with spikes to drive into the ice as opposed to the oars they're used to for summer races. Aside from the paddlers, each boat has someone manning the rudder, and someone at the front manning a drum and yelling at everyone once the race starts.

And so they were off. I have more from this tomorrow.

Sculpted Wonders

Two French carvers sculpted this, titled Dancing Tower, with the Eiffel Tower looking somewhat more loose and limber than you expect of the actual tower.

Japanese carvers sculpted this one, titled Fusion.

I decided to photograph the sculptures in pairs.

I turned during this visit to a view of the Connaught Building and the spires of Parliament Hill off to the west.

Then I photographed more of the sculptures. I will be showing these lit up at night when it comes time to conclude the Winterlude series. Tomorrow we go elsewhere.

Gilgamesh

This impressive sculpture is Gilgamesh, done by a Canadian and Iraqi pair of ice carvers, depicting a hero of Mesopotamian legend.

Here we have another of the photograph pairs from previous years, separating each section.

The next work was done by a pair of carvers from Peru. It is titled The Founders: Manco Capac And Mama Ocllo. These are figures in Incan mythology.

For today I finish with this one from Venezuelan sculptors. The Monarch, Champion Of Migration is its title.

In this case, when I came to photograph it, it was not in complete shape. The shelters do a good job keeping the elements from the sculptures, but gravity or an unforeseen flaw in the design might result in a limb or two being lost. Such is the case with the human figures that are part of the design, but it's still pretty.

An Arrow

This ice sculpture was by a pair of Russian carvers. It is titled Symphony Of Sounds: Violin Stradivari, and depicts a woman playing the prized instrument.

Here we have another of those photo sets from previous Winterludes, between shelters.

This sculpture, which I've included the panel with, is Broken Arrow, by Canadian carvers. I'm assuming either brothers or father and son. It depicts the Avro Arrow fighter jet, a Canadian designed military program that was ultimately scrapped.