A few of Bill Mason’s famous pieces of gear are being auctioned off on eBay. The bidding ends this evening with four more lots to go up for auction in the future. The following is excerpted from an article in the Ottawa Citizen:
“People ask me, ‘How could you possibly sell these items?’ Well, he was a filmmaker and he always bought traditional gear, maybe half a dozen of each,” says daughter, Becky Mason.
His red PFD (personal floatation device), many times recovered, “saved his life many times on Lake Superior, (once) specifically in Waterwalker,” she recalls.
It’s for sale, and so are canoe parts: A thwart and a yoke — the wooden parts that go from gunwale to gunwale and keep the canoe rigid. The yoke rests across a person’s shoulders on a portage.
Becky says her father liked portaging almost as much as canoeing.
“He loved that vision of Canada that you still can go from waterway to waterway. He didn’t find it a drudgery; he just loved being out there.”
Seeing the auction items together “makes me hear the laughter,” she said.”
Read the full story on the Ottawa Citizen website here or visit the bid on eBay here (expires at 9p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 11).
