The Latest Plan for Inside Passage

There have been more than a few iterations of the general plan since Peter and I started talking about this last Fall. Here's the latest and most likely the plan that we will be following. 

June 2nd-Denise will drive me and Peter to Eugene to get a rental car. We'll put home-made crossbars onto the car's rails (the rental must have rails). At some local park or parking lot, we'll fabricate the crossbars onto the rental, then strapping the kayaks onto the vehicle. Oh, and pack the rest of the car with all the stuff we'll be toting along. We're almost sure it'll all fit into the holds of the boats.

From Eugene, Peter and I will drive to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsyla of Washington to take the ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island, B.C. We'll probably just sleep in the car as best we can, as trying to find a hotel room that will accommodate 17-19ft boats is damn near an impossibility.

On the 3rd, we take the ferry across to Victoria. I think the ferry leaves early, like 0830. It'll take us several trips between the boats and stuff to get it all on the ferry. Tricky. Nathan will pick us up in his mini-van at the ferry and take us the 8-9 hour ride to Port Hardy, which is on the NE corner of Vancouver Island. Where in Port Hardy is a question still.

From wherever Nathan drops us off, we pack the boats and head out to a camp spot nearby (<5 miles).

The first few days we'll listen to our bodies (cough) and keep the mileage on the lower end of our 10-20 mile expected target. On day four, we'll reassess those unrealistic targets.

Keeping Vancouver Island on our right, we paddle, camp, eat, wonder, rinse and repeat for about 30 days.

When we hit Victoria again, we pack the boats onto the ferry for Port Angeles.  Depending on how we manage our realistic or unrealistic targets, we may continue paddling from there to a Washington State Park near DesMoines, Washington.  

At our ending point, wherever it may be, I am hoping to sell the Tesla (kayak). It will sell easier up in Puget Sound than it will in Florence. From there--again, wherever there is--we rent another car, somehow affix crossbars to the rails (rental car must have rails), load at least one boat, and drive back to Eugene. With luck and sufficient coaxing, we can get someone to pick us up for the ride back to Florence. Trip complete. 

It's Just a Paddle

 I started kayaking around 8 or 9 years old on a swim team outing on the Sacramento River, up near Redding, California. These were Fold-a-boat knock-offs that were made by one of the parents. He had made enough of these plywood and canvas boats to fill a pick-up truck bed up to the ceiling of the shell. The paddles for these ingenious kayaks were made from a closet rod with paddle blades made from pieces of plywood fitted and bolted into slots at the ends of the closet rod and secured with a couple of bolts each. They worked great as we paddled around the edges of the river. They were so popular that we had to take turns with one of the parents being the timer, so everyone got a turn on the river. 

Over the years, my kayaks were mostly "Tupperware" varieties of different shapes and sizes with the paddles being purchased new from the lower end of the cost spectrum. The used paddles were often the prizes being slightly higher quality and accompanying a used kayak purchase. The really good ones allowed you to offset or feather the blades. Fancy!

On one of our first trips together this last Fall after we had made the decision to do the journey together, Peter brought a "practice" Greenland paddle with him. What the practice was about was that he had made the paddle from a Douglas Fir 2x4 to practice making a paddle. I loved the shape--long and narrow--but was it heavy! I flailed about clumsily using it like one would use a "Euro" style paddle, because it would take several YouTube videos before I realized that paddling using the Greenland style paddle is done completely differently than using the "Euro" style paddle. I put "Euro" in quotes because up until the introduction of the Greenland paddle, it was only known to me as a "kayak"
paddle. 

I'm not sure which came first Peter telling me about Brian Shultz and Cape Falcon Kayak or my telling Peter that I found this set of plans on the interwebs and he told me about his conversations with Brian. Either way, I ended up following Brian's lead in building a Greenland kayak paddle. https://cape-falcon-kayak.thinkific.com/collections/greenland-paddle-building 

Peter smuggled over a Doug Fir 2x4 one day that he said would be perfect to build a paddle. Clean, straight, and so pretty that it seemed like he was showing his latest shipment of Cocaine from Canada. (Just to be clear, Peter is not involved in the Cocaine trade and it wouldn't come from Canada anyway.) The two paddles on the left are Peter's "practice" paddle and his broken paddle. I don't think I've gotten the story yet on how he broke it, but it impressed upon me the need to build at least two.

Armed with my $12 set of plans from Brian Schultz' web page and having watched his videos several times, I set out to carve me a paddle. 

At my friend Steven's workshop, he helped me shave a bit off the length and width of the paddle blank. When we tried to use the bandsaw, it was clear that I didn't have the skills to cut such an unwieldy piece of wood using that tool. I used a jigsaw instead. Like Brian said in one of his videos, the quality of tools helps tremendously! It was a joy using some of Steven's nice tools.

The act of focusing on shape while carving, scraping, and sanding was very therapeutic. I was able to work for hours at a time, which for me is usually an effort. I didn't track hours or costs in building these paddles. On purpose. It didn't matter. The Western Red Cedar blanks were $41 each, but they were perfect. I'm glad that Peter picked them out for me, as I would have fussed and fussed over the choices. 

Lots of shavings were produced in carving the three paddles. The fir shavings went to pathways in Steven's yard and the cedar shavings went to making bee homes, which were a project Steven had underway. 

I used Rubio Monocoat, which was suggested by Brian in his videos, to put the final finish onto the paddles. I did all three paddles at the same time, and they came out great! Now, they just have to sit for a week before I can use them. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5iVbqo3SRcMCSNucA

 Link to entire photo album

"INSIDE One Woman's Journey Through the Inside Passage"

The memoir by Susan Marie Conrad is an excellent read. Let me get that out of the way right off. Published in 2016, it documents in a very personal way her 2010 trip from Anacortes, Washington to Juneau, Alaska in a sea kayak. While the imagery conveyed was stunning through her words, the personal journey she traversed was where it became real. Good read.

It begs the question for me is why this journey for me? What drove me to so quickly say, "yeah" when asked if I wanted to accompany Peter on this trip? I hope to find out.

The Planning Spreadsheet

Lists have been around since men had more than three things to think about. After three, our poor little minds are overwhelmed and overloaded. Some special cases can handle less. It's decent club. We meet on Tuesdays at noon at the park. Join us!

This spreadsheet workbook is a collection of lists that will be massaged until the electrons fall off from being so worn. It will never be finished,  but there will be a time when a version is used to pack the boats.

Inside Passage Planning Workbook

Things are going to have to change

I'm awake at 3am to go pee for the third time since collapsing at 9pm the previous nite. It wasn't just the urge to pee that woke me up, but the realization that Peter and I would be embarking on our voyage in about six months. A half a year to prepare for a 4-6 week trip seems like plenty of time, doesn't it? Yet, I try to start filling in the holes with what needs to be done and the time slots become scarce.

Besides the paddles to create from blanks of western red cedar,  the Tesla to prep, the gear to purchase and learn to use, the biggest time such lurking in my mind is the necessity to get my body prepared. 

I still am able to work hard for a guy that is woefully out of shape, yet this picture taken today with my mom is a clear indicator my river DeNile is running strong. I could list the reasons, sure. A quick calculation,  though,  tells me I don't have enough time. 

I don't do well with prescriptive regimens generally. They tend to fall apart on day two. Still, things have got to change.

Let the Planning Begin

An old box of charts and photographs printed on copy paper was dropped on the counter of our community clubhouse as my back was turned to the sink getting water for a cup of coffee. While I was negotiating with the Krueg machine to brew me a cup of coffee, Peter was emptying the box layer by layer. Kind of like finding an old box in the attic and discovering the secrets it held. As each layer emerged, a story, a comment, excitement, regrets. Then he found the charts.

Laying them out on the tables that had been arranged end-to-end for the up-coming board of directors meeting, a mish-mash of laminated 8 1/2 x 11" copies of someone who had made the voyage before Peter and his twin boys had attempted their journey, a  found marine atlas of the area, and some good old-fashioned marine charts covered two tables. 

A voyage adventure is never just about covering miles across the surface of the globe. We talked,  planned, swapped stories, asked hard questions, and set expectations. We agreed that either of us could bail on the trip at any time, a strong overlying imperative is that we are able to at least be cordial to each other as neighbors when we're done, and the slowest, weakest, or member wanting to take pictures sets the pace. 

Strong, important first step of the journey.

"Yeah," I think that would be a cool trip

I'd heard through Pam that my new neighbor Peter was looking for someone to go with him on a 400-mile kayaking trip through parts of the Inside Passage. She told Denise that Peter should ask Jay, because Jay is crazy enough to go, or something to that effect. The next day at a garage sale, Peter and I ran into each other. He started in immediately telling me about his planned trip. I listened patiently and interested. After taking a breath, he asked, "You want to go?" "Yeah." "Yeah?" "Yeah." 

The adventure begins.