We are attempting a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island during May, June and July of 2008. We are paddling NDK Explorers, British skeg kayaks. Doug Taylor and Jonathan Reggler
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=49.6816,-124.9842&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
When Don Lockwood, the owner of Comox Valley Kayaks, a fine kayaking emporium stuffed with goodies, learned of my plan for a solo circumnavigation of Vancouver Island (I did not imagine I would find anyone willing to join me) he put me in touch with Doug Taylor. We met, gelled, and the trip was on.
We leave on May 4th, weather permitting. Vancouver Island is a fantastic kayaking destination and we both feel extremely lucky to live here and to be able to undertake this expedition. We are not racing around the island. We want to be able to make safe decisions each day and to stay on dry land when that is the sensible thing to do. We also want to take the time to nose into inlets and thoroughly explore some of the more remote parts of the island.
We have lots of safety equipment. Doug and I will be wearing dry suits. We will have incendiary flares, laser flares and GPS. Both of us carry VHF radios. We each have a personal locator beacon which allows us to alert the emergency services in case of disaster, via satellite.
Doug's personal locator beacon is a little electronic wizard called "Spot". Spot will send an email message out twice daily, via satellite. Each message will appear on the blog. Clicking on the link in the latest message will allow you to see where we have got to - maps.google.com will open in all its glory, showing you a satellite image of our last notified location. If we appear to have stayed in the same place for more than a night the possibilities are:
- The weather is foul, we are hunkered down under a tarp waiting for a storm to blow through
- The weather is great, we couldn't resist a day lazing in the sun
- Doug lost Spot on the beach.
JR
8 comments:
OK, I will be watching for you here at the blogsite and on the W. Coast.
Steve Millar ('Silas Crosby')
We'll keep an eye and an ear out, Steve. JR
Yeah, that Spot thing is pretty cool technology.
How are you going to be posting travel logs, etc. on this site, are you taking a laptop with some sort of wireless phone connection?
Cathy and I look forward to following your progress (and seeing the pics!), and we both hope you have a fun, enjoyable, safe, and rewarding trip.
All the best!
Rob Dutton (one of Doug's brother-in-laws)
D'oh! I'm not a hick, I meant to write "brothers-in-law" not "brother-in-laws", LOL.
Hey Doug, thanks for the link. Best of luck to you and Jonathan on the adventure. BTW, just so you know, your location updates open up in maps.google.com, not Google Earth as you indicate in the red text on your webpage. Thought you might like to know...
Ron
Hi Guys,
You know i'l be watching you all the way right!? Anyway i hope you have a great time/trip! Just wondering,you are brining a camera right? I'd love to see the pictures =D
Your nephew Julian!
Ron
Thanks for the correction re maps.google.com vs Google Earth. I've corrected it.
Hi Julian,
Thanks for your message. Have my waterproof camera so lots of pics. Thinking of you and Ben.
Uncle Doug
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