Roxboro couple conquers the “Great Loop�

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD



For 441 days, Claude and Yvette Lussier burned 24,000 litres of fuel and cruised across nearly 15,000 kilometres of water on the way to realizing a dream.

The Roxboro residents prepared to embark on America’s “Great Loop� years ago, but a horrific accident shifted their adventure to the backburner.

In June 2003, a powerful explosion destroyed the couple’s 37-foot boat, Trusty II, which was moored at Dorval’s Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club (RSLYC). The blast killed boat mechanic Royal Maheu and seriously injured Mr. Lussier.

The two men had been inside the craft emptying gas from its fuel tank. A live electrical wire used for a light ignited the gas.

Moments after the explosion, two club members pulled Lussier from the burning boat through a small escape hatch. In July 2005, Pointe Claire’s Claude Lesage and Blainville’s Michel Gauthier were awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery for their heroic act.

The tremendous pressure of the explosion left Mr. Lussier with a ruptured bowel, open fractures of his right tibia and fibula, a shattered left heel, a broken right heel and four or five broken ribs. He needed five operations (over a two-year period), spent three months in hospital and could not walk until the end of 2003.

“We don’t know why he’s alive,� Mrs. Lussier said. “What helped Claude through his rehab is the fact we wanted to get another boat and go on the trip. That was a goal.�

Doctors told Mr. Lussier to start the journey soon, because his legs will likely weaken with age.

“If you always wait until everything is perfect you’ll never get anything done,� he said, while sitting on a couch inside the wood-trimmed cabin of his new 38-foot Canadian-made Prowler powerboat – Trusty III.

“It hurts. It hurts all the time,� Mr. Lussier said of the lingering effect of his injuries, which limits his walking to 10-minute jaunts before the pain becomes too much.

But he remains undaunted in the face of his new challenges. “When you’re so close to death it makes you think,� he said. “It was an accident. Life must go on.�

On July 7, 2005, the Lussiers left the RSLYC on Trusty III. The “Loop� took them through a range of water bodies including: the Trent-Severn Waterway, Great Lakes, Illinois and Mississippi rivers, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River. The couple travelled at a slow pace, so they could visit dozens of cities and even the Bahaman Islands.

They returned to the Lac St. Louis club as official “Loopers� on Sept. 20.

About 60 people celebrated the Lussiers’ feat during a reception at the RSLYC last month, said longtime friend Bob Perreault.

“Following the accident, he’s been the type of person who is very difficult to discourage,� he said. “For him it was a dream and we expected that there would be some difficulties. Although they’ve been married forever, a boat is a very small thing compared to a house.

“Just that is a feat.�