Day 5

     Well, it looks like Sean slept on an island last night in between lots of river mouth crossings.  He has squawked me several times throughout the days letting me know that he is still moving and making progress.

     Day 5!!!  We hope that he is feeling well and getting in lots of good strokes.  Looking at the VI, he still has a bloody long way to go.  Will be break the record???

I keep looking at his progress and wondering well, "if he paddled this far today, how long will it take him to get to Tofino?"

     In the town of Tofino, I believe he will have cell phone access.  That could occur by tomorrow or the next.  I will update the blog after I have a conversation with Sean.

     Until then...

     gina

Day 3 at Winter Harbour

     If you all log onto www.riverandocean.blogspot.com and scroll down to the www.findmespot.com/shared site you can actually see the progress and location of Sean.  He is Day 3 into his epic journey and appears to be doing well.

     He has made it around Cape Scott (which was the most exposed) Northwesterly point of VI.  Hopefully now, the wind will be at his back and he can cruise down the Western portion of VI with a smile on his face.

     Sean has a couple big river mouth crossing to cross, so stay tuned...

Sean Departs Port Hardy on 9/24

Hi Folks,

     I am Gina, Sean's wife.  He has given me the task of keeping folk posted on his journey.  I am happy to do so in between work and taking care of our daughter.

Sean departed Port Hardy on 9/24 in the afternoon.  He was reluctant to do so because of some gail force winds, but the weather was clearing and he was eager to get his first two strokes in the water.  

     He is using his Nordcap LV instead of the Rapier 18 by Valley SeaKayaks. He performed a test run in the Rapier in the morning, but felt because of the stormy conditions he will be more stable in the LV.  

     I have been receiving squawk's from his GPS system.  He will squawk me upon arrival to a new destination and in the morning before he departs.  It seems to be working so far.  His first camp out was successful and I will update you all as soon as he makes it around the Northwest corner of VI.

     Cheers for now!!!

     Go Sean!!!  

     Our daughter Shea Bella can now say "Dada Kayak!"  She is 17 months old.

     

 

Starting today

The forecast is looking okay for a start this afternoon to make use of the ebb and the remaining SE winds to carry me towards Cape Scott. The wind is forecast to drop Thursday into Friday and back NW so that should give me the opportunity to get around Cape Scott and then have the wind at my back for a couple of days. I have to say the extended forecast is not good with a big low developing up in the Gulf of Alaska in four to six days time. That could bring some strong wind and big swell to the west coast which is not ideal. I will need to get south of the Brooks Peninsula before all that arrives!

I will of course continue to monitor that and make the right decision if conditions get too big.

So I plan to start as soon as I can this afternoon. Keep watching....

Cheers
Sean

Ready and waiting at Port Hardy

Brian Coggan and I left Port Angeles, WA yesterday evening on the ferry to Vancouver Island. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset down the Straits of Juan de Fuca. We stayed the night with Doug Alderson, author of the fabulous guide book, Around Vancouver Island (see previous blog). We talked through our respective routes and gleaned tons of useful information. Brian is probably going to head NE from Port Hardy and make his way island hopping over to the BC mainland coast before heading south weaving his way through the islands in Johnstone Strait and the Discovery Islands before crossing back to VI and heading south towards Puget Sound. In the meantime I will wait for the weather window I need to make a start on my record attempt. We are Port Hardy, ready and waiting. At the moment there is a big fat weather system, the first of the autumn moving onto th west coast of VI. Whilst I may be able to head up towards Cape Scott tomorrow it may be more prudent to wait a day and let the system blow itself out over the island.

I shall probably be blogging again tomorrow but if I don't it means I have started! Keep checking the Spot Share page (link below)

Cheers
Sean

Route Plan - Vancouver Island

My route plan for my circumnavigation of Vancouver Island is online at http://www.expeditionkayak.com/expedition_kayak_worldwide_kayak_adventures/?q=vancouver_island

Cool new logo!

Check out the new logo on my van - thanks Dom!

Getting Nervous!

So I am busy doing all the last minute preparation for Vancouver Island Expedition.

I will be taking a Spot Messenger www.findmespot.com/ and you can track my progress at:




http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0d2xnkdma8kEkOFlEHZF8RdCltLlDtL2r

I want to say a huge thanks to Kokatat who have once again been a tremendous support providing me with a gorgeous new Gore-Tex Meridian dry suit.


Thanks to Chris Mathais, sales rep for Mountain Hardware who has arranged for me to take a Stiletto tent described as: "Our lightest, most advanced tent for the solo backpacker. New ultralight components developed exclusively for Mountain Hardwear bring the Stilleto in under 2 1/2 lbs: superlight fly and floor fabrics, new Atlas UL poles and 1/4" webbing with molded clips throughout. All-mesh canopy reduces weight and provides excellent ventilation. Innovative hoop design with our patented Evolution Tension Arch delivers strength with a minimum of poles".

I also want to thank Katadyn http://www.katadyn.com/ who have supplied me with an Optimus Nova+ multi fuel cooker http://www.optimus.se/ and a very trick titanium cookset as well as a load of Micropur water treatment tablets.









Thanks too to Gaia who have supplied me with a few dry bags, a very cool stow float and a paddle float (just in case).






And thanks to Valley for letting me use a demo boat for the trip! I will try to look after it!

I still plan to start from Port Hardy on September 23rd if the weather looks good.

Cheers
Sean