Will…

Sometimes in the face of a great challenge, you must muster the will to go on.

Jay Thurston and Mike Kinziger did that, Monday, portaging two miles to find calmer water near Stevens Point, where they were able to enter the water and paddle near the Biron dam, the half-way point in their 436-mile trip down the Wisconsin River. They stopped for the night between Plover and Wisconsin Rapids.

“We just don’t know what lies ahead of us, but I would have to say it’s been an amazing success getting this far with the wind we’ve faced,” Jay Thurston said Monday night. “I was surprised by how hard the wind blew with that cold front today. There were times if I didn’t paddle just right, I could have broken my paddle. That would have been a disaster.”

Thurston said Kinziger performed brilliantly in the front seat, picking and choosing lines of tact that helped them progress.

Ahead of them lies the Petenwell Flowage, the second largest lake in Wisconsin; and the Castle Rock Flowage, the fourth largest lake in Wisconsin. Without a break in winds gusting over 40 miles per hour, they may not be able to continue.

“We have to consider the conditions, but go from there,” Thurston said. “Dave Carlson (from Northland Adventures) said we may have to wait a day for the wind to die down, but we hope it dies down tomorrow.”

So far, Thurston and Kinziger are well ahead of their record-setting pace from 1983. However, they are six portages short of their itinerary, which calls for them to finish in six days and 10 hours, setting a new record for canoeing the length of the Wisconsin River.

Thurston, at age 75, said just finishing the trip was his first goal. His second goal was beating the time he and Kinziger established in 1983. On Tuesday they will be looking at heading into Wisconsin Rapids and then toward Nekoosa and the Petenwell.

The Petenwell Flowage is a storied piece of water, created in 1948 to provide for both recreation and electrical power at its southern dam. The river’s bed follows the western part of the flowage and even moderate winds are known to whip up three-foot whitecaps on the lake.

The Broadcaster will have its next update on the canoe trip at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. This update was supplemental to the schedule with a map. Website updates will be available subject to cell phone reception and the support needs of Thurston and Kinziger as they head downstream. Jay Thurston, 75, of Viroqua and Mike Kinziger, 60, of Moscow, Idaho, are attempting to paddle the length of the Wisconsin River. Their itinerary calls for them to finish in six days and 10 hours, which would set a new speed record for canoeing the river. Jay and Mike appreciate the support they’ve received from family and friends through the internet posts they’ve received on this chain of stories.