Older story - how did he do it?

So I will link to the story (2017) of a guy who paddle boarded from Washington up to Alaska - 750 miles.

I heard of this story about two years ago and for some reason it keeps popping back into my head. What has me wondering is his handling of Johnstone Strait to begin with, thinking wind and current.

https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/post/wow-just-wow-puget-sound-alaska-alone-standup-paddleboard

And what kind of anchor did he use..... lol.

He's one determined Dude, for sure. Sort of like in a 100 mile ultramarathon mountain footrace, where someone with grit can outperform another person who's in better shape but gets mentally defeated.

He must also have a good eye for currents from wind/wave patterns and textures.

There were times near Campbell River, in Johnstone Strait, and Grenville Channel where we were sea kayaking against an adverse current but were making speed over ground faster than commercial fishing boats in mid channel going the same direction as us. We'd hug the shore, milking back eddies, and sprint around points where the current was against us.

Tides also change from the edges of a channel, where the current will be going one way along shore but because there is so much mass and momentum in the middle it'll still be going the other way...or...you can stay mid channel to grab an extended free ride until the current finally turns in the deep water.

I bet if he does it again, good chances are he'll go a bit slower to savour the places he paddles through.

I recall watching him on the tracker as he made his way up various parts of the route. My son texted me one morning to say I should look for him out in front of my house. At first i couldn't find him, then I was hooked. R2AK was (is) a crazy event. Heart of Gold was a brave, adventurous, PERFECT entrant.

Ever see those long, thin foam lines that appear along shore, which then slowly move towards each other and meet in mid channel? That's where the two currents slide along each other when the tide changes, but the current starts moving the other way along shore first.

You can feel the change in current direction easily in a kayak, and you can even feel it a trawler if the difference is big enough.

He'd also be a good judge of what winds will do over the course of a day and how landforms effect those winds and the waves they produce.

The more you think about it, the more impressive it is.

Along similar lines is the story in "Row to Alaska" by Pete & Nancy Ashenfelter, a retired couple who rowed their boat up the inside passage from Seattle to Ketchikan in 1983. I picked up an autographed copy years ago on Orcas Island.

Anyone remember the name of the boat/people who sailed a junk rigged boat they built themselves with hand tools from driftwood all over BC's south coast for decades...without battery banks or engine power at all?

That there's class A1+ seamanship skills.

The Farrell's on China Cloud:

https://tinyhousemovement.wordpress...unk-rigged-42-foot-sailboat-on-the-b-c-coast/

Boy, I remember when I lived in AK I'd watch the paddle boarders and wind surfers just fly around on the bore tides in Turnagain Arm. I thought they were all lunatics, in danger of being eaten by the mudflats on the next puff of wind. Can't imagine the grit it takes to do a long distance trip like that on a little fiberglass board.

(Meanwhile my lazy butt is annoyed that the ice maker drips water on the flybridge.)

Fearless is a good read. Its about a woman who kayaked around Australia

https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-One-Woman-Kayak-Continent/dp/0762772875

rsn48 said:

So I will link to the story (2017) of a guy who paddle boarded from Washington up to Alaska - 750 miles.

I heard of this story about two years ago and for some reason it keeps popping back into my head. What has me wondering is his handling of Johnstone Strait to begin with, thinking wind and current.

https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/post/wow-just-wow-puget-sound-alaska-alone-standup-paddleboard

And what kind of anchor did he use..... lol.

Click to expand...

There’s a documentary on that race. By the time he finished he looked like he was having an out of body experience. That whole race concept is incredible.

kthoennes said:

Boy, I remember when I lived in AK I'd watch the paddle boarders and wind surfers just fly around on the bore tides in Turnagain Arm. I thought they were all lunatics, in danger of being eaten by the mudflats on the next puff of wind. Can't imagine the grit it takes to do a long distance trip like that on a little fiberglass board.

(Meanwhile my lazy butt is annoyed that the ice maker drips water on the flybridge.)

Click to expand...

Those guys are nuts. Many years ago one of the first guys to do it was fished out of the water in the middle of Cook Inlet by the Monopod platform, dead.