Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 28/99) - Have you ever thought of sailing down the Mackenzie River in an inflatable dingy with a 1.5- horsepower outboard motor?

A team from Denmark is doing just that.

Dubbing their mission The Mackenzie Expedition, Fenn Morbech and Kurt Gammeltoft are travelling down the Mackenzie River in a dingy with only the barest essentials as part of a research effort to test equipment they are using for their eight different sponsors.

Some of the items they are testing include the boat and motor they are using for their journey; watches for their durability; survival rations; new types of camera film; clothing and tents and titanium eyeglass frames.

"We take a lot of pictures and magazines use them for the products that sponsor us," Gammeltoft said.

"Normally we do this every year," Morbech said. "We came to Yellowknife before in 1982 to test market Coleman canoes on a trip down to Coppermine.

"We do these trips for both business and pleasure."

Morbech and Gammeltoft have been partners in wilderness test market adventures for the last 25 years. Their journeys have taken them all over Europe and North America and have resulted in some interesting tales through the years.

"One time we did a test with watches," Gammeltoft said. "We paddled for 2000 kilometres on the Yukon River with watches mounted on paddles, Danish time on one and Canadian time on the other.

"We were experimenting to see how they would do exposed to water for long periods of time. They both still worked at the end."

The team, besides the food rations and fuel pick-ups they will be making along their way down the Mackenzie River, intends to live off the land as much as possible.

"We meet natives and trappers along the way who've showed us some survival skills," Morbech said. "We will eat fish and small game."

Not all of their adventures have been fun and games. There is the hint of danger peeking around from every corner.

"Most of the time our trips have gone well," Gammeltoft said. "But one time, we misjudged a river and we went down rapids for five or six kilometres before we could get out. We were pretty wet."

The elements are not the only concern for the voyagers. Occasionally, the wildlife has caused the hair on their backs to stand.

"One time we parked the canoe along a river," Morbech said. "A large bear came out of the woods towards us. We had a gun in the canoe, but it was between us and the bear. Every time we walked (towards the canoe), the bear walked. Eventually, he just sat down near us like a big dog."

"We've learned to live with bears though," Gammeltoft said. "We've had them in the tent, in the canoe. They don't normally bother us."

The long journeys, despite the thrill of adventure, does take a personal toll on the two comrades and their families.

"We have families at home and they are waiting for us," Morbech said. "They don't want us to do this.

"But we will keep this up as long as we can."