Boats!!!

You know those days when you feel like singing "Oh what a beautiful morning...oh what a beatuiful day?" Well, Today was one of those days for the paddling duo. Even though the temps hovered around the mid 20's and we got a couple inches of snow, we could not be discouraged today....

Today, we visited Woods and Water Ectours owner, fellow paddler, and our friend Jessie Hadley in the Hessel, MI. We arrived boat less, paddle less, and skirt less, and we left with two gorgeous valley sea kayaks and the gear that will not only sustain us on our trip, but will make us look good too! Dana got a Nordkapp that was originally designed to paddle around Cape Horn and I got a 16 foot Avocet. These boats are made for lively paddling and expeditions and that is just what they will be used for.

Jessie also met with us to discuss other gear and safety items. We left her with a wish list and I think we'll be returning in the near future for some more fun. Thanks, Jessie, for all of your thoughtful help and expertise!

Have a great week!

Sean

USCGC Buckthorn

Hola!

Dana and I took a field trip to the USCGC Buckthorn on Wednesday to visit a friend on board who was willing to help us with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mapping. While we were there we got the grand tour and even got to pull the ship's horn! All silliness aside it was a very serious session of planning and going through the different scales of maps to choose which size and which number we would order from the oceangrafix website to then cut and laminate. We will use these maps to navigate our way around in case our GPS goes haywire. As in the book I am reading about sea kayaking says, "when they (satellites) run out of batteries, you had better be able to revert to the old ways." You never know, right?

Oh, we were contacted by the National Red Cross chapter who would like to do a story about us. They said they would be in contact with us at the end of April...interesting.

That's all for now....

Sean

Date change

Ok...I kept forgetting to update the blog in regards to our earlier departure date, but that is what I am doing now. 

Our previous date of departure was May 26th. Now we are leaving May 8th. Not a huge deal except for the fact that the water temps will be hovering around the low 40's as opposed to low 50's, on average,  and the air temps will be about ten degrees colder not to mention the freezing nights. I will either be sleeping in my gear or on top of the fire : )  

More meetings tonight to discuss fundraising and lots of training this afternoon. 

Have a great day! 

Sean 

The seams will feel like razor blades...

Well, things are moving along. Every new day reveals another task or item we have yet tend to before the trip. It also brings us one day closer to getting in the frigid water to train, and another day closer to the big departure. 

Last week we were in the university's newspaper and Sunday we were in the Sault Evening News. Every time I turn the corner there is someone else recognizing me and voicing their support. It is really encouraging to feel the sense of community and care through local support. Hopefully, we'll be saying the same thing about our monetary goal...haha!

Tonight I met with Brian Davie (the Red Cross director of the local chapter) and with an avid canoer/outdoorsman, Otto. Otto does wild trips that entail traveling upstream, hiking through miles of rough terrain with canoe in hand, paddling with blue whales, and portaging through miles of traffic to reach the next landing zone. Not only has he had 40+ years of experience, but he is well educated and is considered an expert. He met with us to discuss our progress and to give us some pointers. A few things we picked up from the conversation were things that we hadn't thought of or discussed far enough to devise a plan. One of the things he mentioned was using the Coast Guard as an escort across open water crossings. We are looking at two large open water crossings. One being the 10 mile stretch of Grand Traverse Bay and the other being Green Bay, which is about the same. The challenge with open water crossings is not only that the wind has more area without barriers and therefor is usually stronger which also creates more turbulent waters and can make paddling dangerous, but in some instances we may not be able to see land and will have to rely solely on our compass and not on our own perception. 

Another topic we discussed was "comfort." Otto told a story of when he was paddling through a river and what seemed to be a innocent and important clothing seam turned into a very annoying problem. He said that seams will feel like razor blades after a week. Glad we got the life saving tip before we were sliced.  I can feel the throbbing now. Sometimes you think you have thought about all of the angles when approaching a task, but then someone mentions something way out of left field and you realize you have some planning to do. Like when Otto mentioned the miles and miles of private land. Well, I naively thought we could make a landing to set up camp and if it were private beach we could walk on up to the residence to describe our trip and ask for permission to use the beach, but Otto has experienced otherwise. He told of stories of some friendly waterfront owners and mostly not so friendly ones. We have enough concern for safety on the lake to have to deal with upset residents. So, back to the mapping board to determine safe, public landing sites.   

Tomorrow we are meeting again to get our fundraisers in line and to make sure we are on page and meeting our tasks to leave in a month. 

That's all for now from the East shores of Lake Superior

Sean 

Training and spreading the word

The sun is bright and warm, and the days are getting longer. Spring is here and summer is on its way!

Shortly after spring break Dana and I realized that we have much to do before we depart from the Straits of Mackinac. One area that we are not lacking in is our training. This has been at the top of our list since we committed back in October and is our most dedicated area of preparation, as it should be because it may save our life. Fellow Laker, and Woods and Water Ecotours guide, Tim Gallaway has been helping us prepare for our trip by joining us in the pool to train with us and teach us some important things about extended journeys. His kayaking expertise, especially the step by step breakdown of successful eskimo rolls has been instrumental in helping us acquire skills that will be needed on the expedition. On top of that Dana found an effective resistance routine that requires us to perform repeat sets of chin-ups, dips, handstand push-ups, and weighted overhead squats. Though, nothing can totally prepare us for the trip ahead, hopefully the weight and paddle training, along with the countless hours of swimming and cardio we do, will get us to where we need to be. 

On Tuesday we interviewed with the LSSU's newspaper, The Compass. The article was well written and so were the articles written for the other media outlets. We are also in touch with 9 & 10 news affiliates to video interview for the evening news. Now, that we have officially gone public I think that we will start to see more people wanting to sponsor the cause. And if there is anyone reading this that wants to make a donation to the Chippewa County Red Cross chapter you can contact Brian Davie at 906-632-8111.

Well, I am off to train. I will post some pictures when I figure out how to. Warm blessings!

Sean