adventuresofgreg

enjoy the ride

Inside passage sea trials

On Feb 15th - this Monday, my buddy Bryon Howard and I are driving 1000 km west to Nanaimo, a small city on the east coast of Vancouver Island. On Tuesday, the 16th, we will depart from Brechin public boat launch in WiTHiN as we attempt to navigate the inside passage between British Columbia main land and Vancouver Island. Our goal is to pedal non-stop, 24 hours per day, rotating between the pedals in the cockpit and the sleeping cabin. On our right will be the Olympic games in Vancouver and on our left, mountainous and natural Vancouver Island. In the middle - one of the most breathtaking places on the planet consisting of lots of water, currents, tides, harbor porpoises, sea otters, bald eagles, killer whales, islands and plenty of salmon. It's going to be awesome.

Discovery Channel is coming out to film our departure from Nanaimo early Tuesday morning, and will be filming our arrival in Port Hardy 4 to 5 days later. If we make it that is! My last attempt to circumnavigate the island ended after only 5 hours when a shear pin on a gear in the gear box for the drive leg broke. We had to spend the night on Denman island and then paddle (limping) back across the straight to VI the next morning. My partner for that adventure was ocean rower Jordan Hanssenn.

Read about that adventure here:

http://adventuresofgreg.com/blog/2009/10/30/vancouver-island-sea-trial-photos/

Read Jordan's most EXCELLENT report about that mis-adventure here:

http://adventuresofgreg.com/blog/2009/10/28/the-best-worst-luck/

Watch the YouTube videos (part 1 and part 2) right here:

</object>

</object>

When you are doing something that has never been done before, there are no blueprints. I have learned over the years that trial and error is the preferred method of education. Well, I'm done with the error! Lets bring on the successful TRIAL!!

If you are in the area (if you were, then you should be attending the Olympic games in Vancouver!), then please feel free to stop by the boat launch in Nanaimo to say hello and see WiTHiN. We should be in Port Hardy 4 to 5 days later and you are welcome to visit then also. Watch the blog, Twitter or the Pedal The Ocean Facebook page for updated information and photos of our progress. We might be stopping briefly in Campbell River for a photo shoot and we'll certainly be ready for a beer or two if and when we make it to Port Hardy.

As a quick review, the reason I am doing this inside passage sea trials trip is to conduct a good endurance test of my human powered ocean crossing boat WiTHiN. It will be a good test of the living environment, the drive leg, electronics such as the mast light, VHF radio, GPS, Sat phone, water makers, solar panels and wind turbine.

The next test will be at the beginning of April and will consist of a 2 to 3 day, over-night trip out into the Pacific ocean from Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It will be an opportunity to get a feel for how WiTHiN handles the swells, waves, and wind. Also I need to test the sea anchor and drogue.

On July 1st, I depart from Tofino and head to Honolulu, Hawaii. I will be accompanied by a safety yacht piloted by my good friend Clive McGowan. The objective is to make the passage from Canada to Hawaii solo and unsupported, so Clive is there only for my safety.

WiTHiN was designed by naval architect Stuart Bloomfield and human powered boat engineer Rick Willoughby - both from Australia. The photo log of how she was built is at the photos tab on the Facebook fan page - here. It is based on a prototype test boat that I built over 3 years ago. The prototype boat was a tandem sea kayak with a full top deck cover, and windows. I conducted 2 sea trials with the prototype boat - both on the west coast near Tofino - the second trials in some pretty large waves. Read that blog post here.

While out on the coast next week, Bryon and I can be contacted by cell phone or email: 403-651-2748 greg@pedaltheocean.com

(download)