The Elephant in the Boat – Part I
“The definition of kidnapping is moving someone from one point to another point against their will, and that’s exactly what had happened to us,” says Ben Stookesberry. “But, to me, the most noteworthy part of the day was that, for the first time in the entire trip, we were actually all working together as a team and we were all spending an entire day together.”
Ben and Chris Korbulic are the expedition kayakers. The two of them have what is perhaps the longest running, most successful partnership not just in kayaking, but in the world of outdoor adventure. They’ve been at this together for over a decade now.
And, yet, in April of 2017, the two boaters wound up on an expedition on which the interpersonal dynamics grew so strained that being held hostage by an armed rebel group in the remote Amazon didn’t necessarily seem like the worst thing that could have happened.
We’ve broken today’s episode into two parts. Today, for Part I, we’ll follow Ben and Chris down a stretch of Colombia’s remote Apaporis River. In Part II, we’ll get into the history of this epic partnership, what went so wrong, and what happens moving forward.
Music: Fog by Sergey Cheremisinov • If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Nogales by Cleod9 • Olympus Mons/ We Are Happy Chemtrails by The F*cked Up Beat • The Undefeated by Vienna Ditto • The Deal by Hopeless Jack • Crow Jane by Hopeless Jack • Brand New World by Kai Engel • Global Warming by Kai Engel • Mercy by Kai Engel • Hollow by Hopeless Jack
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
First of all, I have been listening since Episode 1. I tell anyone who will hear me how much I love the Dirtbag Diaries. This is the first time that I am commenting. I feel it is warranted. Correct me if I’m wrong but, this is your first, “To be continued”. You’re killin me. I can hardly wait for your podcast anyway, let alone a Part ll. Thank you in advance for what I’m sure will be another beautiful episode.
Let me preface by saying, I love your podcast. I enjoy the refreshing emphasis on interpersonal growth and life lessons amidst the hardcore adventures. But this latest episode left me feeling mildly perturbed. Jesse seems to be portrayed as the expedition sand-bagger (missing the crux eddy, turning her headlamp on and jeapordizing the group’s safety etc.), or worse, the divisive femme fatale, the one thing that could rattle Ben and Chris’s rock solid adventure partnership. Having been the sole female on wilderness expeditions myself, I know what a tough role that is to play. And maybe she did make some mistakes, but, this is where I feel your piece is really lacking, why don’t we hear from her? Her voice is desperately missing here.
I agree with Suzie. I understand this story is based on the relationship between Chris and Ben, but we would like to hear from Jessie, Maybe in part II? Or maybe part 3? The story is uber compelling and extremely well done. But there is at least one interesting component missing – Jessie’s viewpoint.
We appreciate your feedback, Suzie and Cliff. We have connected with Jessie, who thought about it and decided that, ultimately, she did not want to be interviewed for this story. We’ve done our best to incorporate her perspective into Part II of the story.
I spent some time in San Vicente del Caguan in 2003. It would be a really weird place to go on an adventure sports vacation. I was there right after the govt retook the town from the farc. There were literally thousands of foreign reporters who visited there but these boaters wee pretty unique. The farc controlled the roads then and I spoke to them numerous times but was never detained. I think it is still dangerous since the coca growers might think you are looking for their crops.
Pingback: Kayaker Ben Stookesberry Just Turned 40 and Ran the Hardest Whitewater in America | The Inertia