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The hot weather has people digging canoes and kayaks out of their sheds to go for a paddle on Wascana Lake.
Bright orange and yellow boats dot the lake while a few kids in lifejackets stand near the dock watching instructors.
Paddlers on Wascana Lake. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
Mattea Patterson, an instructor with the Wascana Racing Canoe Club, has helped kids learn to paddle all summer long. She said being on the lake is one of the best ways to spend a hot summer day.
“It’s just really nice to be out on the water,” Patterson said Monday, when the mercury reached 33 C in Regina. “It’s just so relaxing.”
On her breaks, Patterson goes out for a short paddle around the lake. Her favourite area is the bay closest to the Legislative Building.
Under Wascana Park bylaws, people can’t swim in the lake. But Patterson said over the many years she has paddled, she has fallen into the lake a few times.
“It’s super-nice for a hot summer day,” she said. “You just tip out of your boat and you get to cool off.”
Patterson thinks Wascana Lake’s dirty reputation is due to the large amount of mud at the bottom of the lake. Patterson said after the lake was dug deeper in the early 2000s, it became a lot cleaner.
“It’s just like any other lake in Saskatchewan,” she said.
The 19-year-old moved to Ontario for post-secondary education, but still comes home in the summer to work at the club. She has paddled ever since her aunt and uncle began coaching at the club when she was younger.
“I’ve been paddling since I was nine years old,” said Patterson.
Patterson competed in a variety of different canoe sprint events throughout the years. Patterson was on Team Saskatchewan for the Western Canada Games in 2019 and attended nationals in 2018 and 2019.
“It’s a bit more stressful when you are competing,” said Patterson. “You want to do well.”
Regina hosted the National Canoe-Kayak Sprint event in 2019. According to Patterson, a huge part of preparing the lake for the championship was putting the buoys into the water. It takes many hours split up into six sections to fully prepare the course for competition.
Despite the preparation, Patterson insisted Wascana Lake is one of the best places for canoe practice.
“This is one of the nicest race courses in Western Canada,” she said.
The view from a kayak on Wascana Lake. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
Patterson has not competed in two years and is now an assistant coach with the Wascana Racing Canoe Club.
“It’s been really good,” she said. “A lot of my old coaches I work with now and they have helped me become a better mentor.”
In the years Patterson has paddled, she said she has seen it all, like funnel clouds over Wascana Lake and even a moose that inhabited Pine Island for a year.
“The moose popped its head right out the water where we were paddling,” said Patterson. “We didn’t get too close because we didn’t trust it.”
