Whitewater Forum: Alaska to Seattle (and other salty adventures)

Alaska to Seattle (and other salty adventures)

Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8840
Printed Date: 18 Sep 2025 at 7:21am

Topic: Alaska to Seattle (and other salty adventures)

Posted By: jP
Subject: Alaska to Seattle (and other salty adventures)
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 12:44pm

This site is called Professor Paddle, and while it is rooted in whitewater (as is my own paddling background), that doesn't mean it can't branch out of that theme from time to time.

One of the goals in my paddling life is to paddle from Alaska to Seattle someday. Yeah, I'm still preoccupied with running some more class V here and there, dicking around w/ toyboats, ect, but to paddle some 1200 miles in 3 months or whatever it would take sounds like a great thing to experience form a kayak. (IMEKINHAMO)

Different parties have done this trip before, it's not anything new at all-- I mean, obviously the natives paddled all up and down The Inside Passage. But here's a link to a film two dudes made about their trip...

http://www.dudesonmedia.com/PADDLE_TO_SEATTLE.html - http://www.dudesonmedia.com/PADDLE_TO_SEATTLE.html

To me this is the appeal that sea kayking holds. Sea Kayaking has a bad rap for being some wimpy sport for office-dwellers who don't wear spray skirts, don't have eskimo rolls, and don't paddle beyond Lake Union. I'm drawn to the possibilities of Sea Kayaking as a legitimate long range vehicle because those possibilities are feuled and enhanced by my kayaking skills. Skills developed by years spent running whitewater make one so comfortable in a kayak that it frees a person up to focus on all the added skills and risks associated with such an adventure as paddling from Alaska to Seattle.

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Replies:

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 1:00pm

...And after years of cultivating a deep love for kayaking, (for me anyway) you can't help but yearn to live out of, in or on a kayak. This just isn't possible in the contemporary whitewater sense because the whitewater run and the boats used to run it simply can't accomodate a sustained life lived out of a kayak-- whitewater kayaking is inherently dependent on the automobile, and most whitewater runs aren't long enough to spend more than a week on, with the exception of the most arduous expeditions.

Still, One only needs to read about Ed Gillette's adventure from Cali to Hawaii to dispell any romance about long distance open water paddling...

His personal account:

http://www.legendinc.com/Pages/MarbleheadNet/MM/Articles/EdGillette.html - http://www.legendinc.com/Pages/MarbleheadNet/MM/Articles/EdGillette.html

An awesome interview in Canoe & Kayak (Plug:buy their mag!):

http://www.canoekayak.com/features/stories/gillet/ - http://www.canoekayak.com/features/stories/gillet/

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Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 1:22pm

Then of course, Paddler Magazine has a top ten list of Sea Kayaking expeditions that make for an interesting read...

http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/2003_4/article_221.shtml - http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/2003_4/article_221.shtml

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Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 4:01pm

Kinda cool how they built thier pygmys then paddled them on that trip. I was thinking it would be fun to build a pygmy during the winter months. Just for a fun light weight day cruiser.

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Nomad

Posted By: justin
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 4:30pm

That looks like a good movie.

Posted By: chipmaney
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 4:38pm

man, that's sounds great jp. i think it would be a hard choice between a sea kayak trip and a long trip down a Canadian river in tandem canoes...

the potential for sea kayaking, however, is almost infinite....

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sitting all alone on a mountain by a river that has no end

Posted By: catwoman4cfs
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 7:52pm

I think that sounds like an awesome idea. I have always dreamed about some kind of long distance epic boating adventure, most people look at me like I have two heads. Back before the North Fork Sky road got washed out, I had an idea called "Row to Monroe" where we would launch at Drumbeater way up on the North Fork at some high thousand cfs flow and go all the way to Monroe. Peak snowmelt, plenty of daylight, should be good to go. I NEVER could convince anyone that it was worth more than a good laugh (and, well, perhaps that is true).

The longest contiguous period of time that I've lived out of my boat was three weeks on the Grand (twice) and both times it seemed like it was only three days.

--Shelly

Posted By: KBfree
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2009 at 8:50pm

I'm in.... Just give me enough time to build my Pygmy.

Whitewater gives you that immediate rush and the thrill of quick, decisive paddling. But there is something to be said for the isolation and complete harmony of being in the open ocean.
The San Juan trip was the best vacation I've had in years.
Let me know if you want to take a lap through Deception pass....but I still need to get a sea kayak.

Kirk

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Kirk B

Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2009 at 10:33am

I would love to get into Ocean Rowing someday. I watch updates on the ocean rowers of the world like I do mountaineers on the big peaks. I'm not as bad as some folks are with football but I do look for updates daily!

There are some guys doing some amazing solo-rows across oceans!

check out the history of design of ocean rowing boats:

http://www.oceanrowing.com/statistics/Boats/index.htm

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MORE RAIN PLEASE

Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2009 at 12:42pm

Originally posted by KBfree

I'm in.... Just give me enough time to build my Pygmy.

Whitewater gives you that immediate rush and the thrill of quick, decisive paddling. But there is something to be said for the isolation and complete harmony of being in the open ocean.
The San Juan trip was the best vacation I've had in years.
Let me know if you want to take a lap through Deception pass....but I still need to get a sea kayak.

Kirk

Yup.

The San Juans are RIGHT HERE in our backyard, and they offer up some awesome paddling, no matter what your skill level or taste for adventure is. Today or tommorow would suck up there though because they're suppossed to recieve 35 mph winds gusting to 60! Yikes!!

Deception Pass: I'll keep you informed, Kirk. A friend and I like to go up there for day paddles sometimes in the winter. Then there's also the Deception Pass Dash- an annual race held up there in December- often stormy conditions which adds to the fun!

Sounds like you need to get a sea kayak soon, though. Personally, as beautiful as wooden boats are, and as much as I'd love to build/have one, I think that production models built of fiberglass or even plastic (yeah they flex, but they are cheap) are superior. I don't always like the designs of the wooden boats. And while plastic boats aren't as stiff, they take a beating better for sure (obviously). I dunno. I say buy a boat on CL and be done with it. Then if you still want a wooden boat you can start building one.

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Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2009 at 12:45pm

Shelly- if you ever want to do a high flow marathon run "Row to Monroe"--let me know. I'd take a long boat and a lunch. I'm sure there are a few kayakers on this site who would also sign on.

If I did that, I'd be comfortable putting on where ever. I'd probably want to run all the way to the confluence of the Snohomish.

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Posted By: dblanchard
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2009 at 12:58pm

Too cool. That looks like a great deal of fun and adventure. I read more about http://www.oceanrowing.com/statistics/Boats/boat_design.htm - Tori Murden , who raced in the Atlantic Rowing Race in late 1997. First she got food poisoning, spent three days in the hospital, then grabbed her racing partner and started after the other racers, a week behind. They suffered electrical failure and finally called it off for that race.

On a later occasion she got caught by a hurricane while trying to become the first American and first woman to row solo across the Atlantic. She had to scrub that trip as well, but she did make it across in December of 1999. Talk about commitment to a goal....

I would may be laid off soon and before I find something new in software, I'd like to do something epic during my "time off." It will likely have to be mountain biking since my wife is not too comfortable with me being on the water for days at a time while she is expecting.

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