Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 21/99) - Obviously, taking a trip across the Great Slave and up the Mackenzie River on a dinghy does not come without a certain element of danger, but a boating duo attempting the trip never thought they would need a lock and key to guarantee their success.

Outdoor survivalists and test-marketers from Denmark, Fenn Morbech and Kurt Gammeltoft, have been stewing in their heels ever since someone in Norman Wells made off with their experimental boat motor last Thursday, July 15, while camping near the town.

The duo had survived the elements and numerous bump-ins with submerged reefs only to wake up and find their already damaged 1.5 horsepower Yamaha motor had been made off with during the night, one-quarter of the way complete from their final destination in Inuvik.

"We've been coming to the North for 25 years now and nothing like this has ever happened," Gammeltoft said. "We've never had to stop before.

"Now we're going to have to go back to the company (Yamaha) and say the trip went great, we're fine, we got lots of pictures but unfortunately, we have no motor."

Morbech and Gammeltoft began their trip in Yellowknife, June 25 for a month-long journey product testing several items of equipment they had brought with them, including the dinghy and motor. Living off jackfish and army rations, the travellers experienced many hair-raising ordeals along their way.

"We broke six bearing pins and two props crashing into rocks," Morbech said. "It was very difficult when we broke a pin because we would be unable to move in the water and the waves were going over the back and into the dinghy.

"We had to refill the motor every hour too. It was only a 1.3 litre tank and it had no fuel pump. You had to feed the gas into the engine manually."

The motor itself is a prototype that cannot be purchased in Canada. Companies like Yamaha regularly send new designs through rigorous endurance tests like the one that the Danish pair were attempting.

"The police in Norman Wells think that the person that stole the motor might try and sell it," Gammeltoft said. "This will be very difficult because you cannot get parts for it and one of the wings on the prop is broken."

As for any change in views towards the North, the pair claim that the robbery has not changed their opinion of its people.

"The people up here are very special, very nice and kind," Morbech said. "But there is one bad guy in Norman Wells."

According to Corporal Tom Kasdorf of the Norman Wells RCMP detachment, there are no suspects in the theft and the investigation is still ongoing.

Morbech and Gammeltoft, meanwhile, have since returned to Denmark.