Ian Player, nature conservationist and founder of the iconic Dusi Canoe Marathon, passed away at the weekend, just days before the Commemorative Dusi Canvas Journey, a four-day trip from Alexander Park in Pietermaritzburg to Durban’s Blue Lagoon, begins.
The inaugural Canvas Dusi was held in the 50th year of the Dusi, now in its thirteenth edition, it features a select group of invited paddlers and takes place in crafts similar to those used in the first Dusi Canoe Marathon in 1951. Sticking to the traditional theme, the participants dress in khakis and bush hats, some of which include a leopard skin band which harks back to the first Dusi when Ernie Pearce cut up a leopard skin carpet at home and added it to his hat.
In December 1951 the Dusi Canoe Marathon was first discussed at a meeting of five men, which included Ian Player. The Natal Canoe Club was also founded that day and the minutes of that meeting note: “The objects of the club would be to foster the sport of canoeing, promote self-teaching in the art of bush craft, map reading and compass reading and veld lore. Also to encourage young Natalians to gain knowledge about the outbacks of their province, by canoeing down rivers and meeting the native peoples in their natural habitat.”
Only doubles were allowed in the first Dusi and they were solely used in the first year of the Canvas Dusi, but the challenges of yesteryear quickly came to the fore and ever since the commemorative journey has featured singles only.
“They are very buoyant,” Anton Venter, who builds the boats, explained recently at Natal Canoe Club’s weekly Dice. “They are very stable. If you hit rocks from the front, it is no problem. When you hit them from the side, it breaks. You get an idea of what the guys had to do in the old days. We’ve got it very easy now.”
Smiling, he recalled how race founder Ian Player nearly made an unwanted mark on the very first Commemorative Dusi.
“Ian Player came to see us off the first year and nearly shot us! The shotgun was not on safety and he put it down and was fiddling with it and it went off. I was straight in line with him and said ‘I’m getting out of here’. Fortunately, Doug Burden ran and grabbed the shotgun from him, put it on safety and said ‘you shoot up there’ pointing at the sky.”
The lessons about conservation taught by Doctor Ian Player continue in the Valley today. He has passed the torch on to younger generations and among their number is Doug Burden, a Canvas Dusi regular and the General Manager of the Duzi Umngeni Conservation Trust (Duct).
Venter explained the role Burden plays and said, “He takes note of all the illegal sand mining and reports it. We look at what is being dumped into the river and take record of that, we check out for any damage to the river, so there is a benefit to us doing this trip.
Doctor Player loved the Dusi and the wildlife and flora along its route. It’s a love that has been passed on to many others.
Natal Canoe Club General Manager Brett Austen Smith said, “Doctor Player nearly abandoned the inaugural trip down the uMsunduzi and Mngeni rivers. If he had, we may never have enjoyed the unbelievable experience of The Dusi Canoe Marathon. The Dusi is now an integral part of KwaZulu Natal heritage and folklore. Doctor Player will never be forgotten by the people who do the Dusi.”
