On a crisp November morning along Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Harold Aune ambles down the dock, cautiously avoiding a slick coating of frost on the wooden planks beneath his feet.
Stopping next to a half-dozen gleaming white rowing skiffs, he dials up his company’s website on an iPhone and makes a one-hour reservation.
Seconds later, the automated system replies with a four-digit code providing access to a key in a lockbox. Mr. Aune unlocks our vessel, slides the two-person skiff into the water and within minutes we are paddling across the glassy Gorge Waterway.
The Whitehall Spirit Rowing Club, as the operation is called, is the first of many franchises Mr. Aune and his long-time partner Marie Hutchinson hope to launch across North America in the next three years. Read more.