Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak: One Woman's Journey Through the Northwest Passage

Janet Money, formerly the sports editor of the Woodstock Daily
Sentinel-Review, is a freelance writer and editor in London, Ontario.

Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak is a good story, but not a well-told one.
Victoria Jason spent four summers sea-kayaking her way through the
Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. This is a huge achievement,
and the story of how she did it has won acclaim. But as travel writing,
and as autobiography, as a story of personal development the book falls
flat.

Jason began her northern journey in 1990 with trip partner Don
Starkell. The abusive treatment she was subjected to by Starkell
contributed to the serious injuries she endured during the first two
summers. Jason pulled out in 1992, suffering from edema; but she
returned to her quest, in 1993, paddling alone through the Arctic, and
completed the trip in 1994.

Jason says she is entranced by the North; unfortunately, she fails to
communicate her feelings in print. And there’s virtually no reflection
on how the journey is changing her as a person, as a mother and
grandmother. Even an epilogue capturing her thoughts after completing
the journey would have added much to the book. An editor should have
caught these deficiencies and polished Jason’s prose. Instead, the
text consists of short, flat sentences piled on top of one another like
a blizzard; the unvarying rhythm eventually becomes monotonous.

Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak has value as a chronicle of an exceptional
journey by an exceptional woman, but it could have been a better book.