#126 - 189 days around the UK and Ireland by Kayak with Felipe Behrens

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Felipe Behrens is today's guest on the show. He joins me fresh off his epic

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189-day expedition around the UK and Ireland.

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And today, Felipe and I talk about the trip, of course, along with his well-thought-out

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progressive skill-building process that led up to this amazing experience.

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Before we get to Felipe, first, a big thanks to everyone who has helped us out

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with contributions to offset the cost of running Paddling the Blue.

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Enjoy today's episode with Felipe Behrens. Hi, Felipe. Welcome to Paddling the Blue.

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Thank you so much. I appreciate you joining me today. Fresh off a huge trip,

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right? That's right. Yes.

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So many of my guests start paddling as kids.

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Often it seems like scouts is where it comes from, but your story is a little

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different. You started paddling a little bit later in life.

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Yeah, I started a little bit later. When I finished graduate school,

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I moved to South Florida and I hadn't really given much of a thought to paddling

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because I was studying in Gainesville, which is in the middle of Florida,

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far away from the ocean and then when i

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moved to south florida i was living close to the beach and i thought

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well you know maybe maybe paddling might

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be something i want to get into and i bought

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my first kayak on craigslist it

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was a small sit on top kayak one of those maybe eight feet long you know it's

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made of plastic and it's got the the holes where the water just pops in and

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out with the waves yeah And I started paddling around Key Biscayne, which is where I live.

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And I would go around the island on the weekend on this little kayak.

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And eventually...

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Over the years, my mother moved to South Beach after my stepdad retired.

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And one of the things I thought was, well, if I'm going to go visit them,

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instead of getting on the car and being stuck in traffic, why don't I just paddle over there?

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It might be an easier thing to do than to just be riding on the car.

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I might just be riding on my kayak.

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All right. So I started paddling this little kayak. This was maybe nine feet

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long. I would paddle from Key Biscayne to South Beach, spend the weekend with

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my mom, and then eat lunch, and then paddle back. So how long was that trip?

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That trip from my house to South Beach and then back is about 10 miles,

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so five miles each way. It's a short trip.

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Okay. It's a much longer trip on the car.

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Now, intercoastal waterway or open ocean?

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Just going along the ocean side of – what's it called?

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Yeah, it's just on the ocean side, not on the intercoastal waterway.

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But the waves here in Miami are never really very big because the water is very shallow.

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So yeah, unless the wind is blowing 30 miles an hour, you don't really have

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anything in the way of waves here.

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So then you graduated from the sit-on-top?

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Yeah. So after I had that sit-on-top for a while, I wanted to maybe get something

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where I could go on a few trips.

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A little bit south of Miami, about 12 miles,

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there's an island called Boca Chida Key, which has a little campground on it

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and people usually go there by sailboat and they they camp there and i thought

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well you know what it's uh it's close enough that i could probably make it there

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on my kayak but you know a little nine foot kayak i can't really fit any gear in it on a sit on top.

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So i bought a a tempest 170 which is a proper sea kayak,

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and craigslist again yeah exactly

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again on craigslist i bought it on on craigslist

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from a guy who lived up in melbourne and when

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i went to drive there to see the kayak i told him that i would buy it but you'd

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have to drive it back to me in south florida because i only own a prius and

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i can't fit the kayak on a prius and i didn't have anything to put it on the

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roof and i didn't want a drive with a 17-foot kayak on a Prius on the highway on the roof.

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So he drove it back down, and then I graduated to this bigger kayak.

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And I did a couple of trips to Boca Chita, and eventually then I said, well, you know what?

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Maybe I could go as far as Key Largo on this kayak. Key Largo is about 45 miles away.

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And so I thought, well, okay, well, I'm going to pick a three-day weekend,

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see if I can paddle all the way down to Key Largo on this kayak.

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And I found a weekend in the winter and paddled down first to Boca Chita.

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And then on the second day, I paddled down to another small island that's,

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I think it's like a spoil island.

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Army Corps of Engineers was digging and then they piled up the dirt on the side

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of the main barrier island, created a tiny little island there that you could camp on.

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And that was about 14 miles to Key Largo.

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And and so then on the third day i made it all the way to key largo to a place called john penny camp,

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which is a little state park there so that was my my first multi-day trip that

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i managed to do was a three-day trip down to key largo so you had three days

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to do it so you got down there in three how'd you get back three days well the

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way i got back is i asked my mother to come pick me up.

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So she came to pick me up on the she has a bigger car so i put it on the roof of her car and,

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drove it back all right so was that like a a big

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culture shock going from that nine foot sit on top to the

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to the tempest it was because the

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the sit on top is it's a much wider kayak and the tempest is a proper sea kayak

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so yeah it was it was it was a very different feeling to paddle that kind of

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thing it goes a lot faster than the sit on top sure and but the one thing i

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didn't yet know how to do was I didn't know how to roll the kayak.

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And that always gave me a little bit of pause because my thought was,

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well, if I roll over, if I fall in the water, what am I going to do if I can't get back into the kayak?

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Because I never took any kayaking classes or anything.

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So at first, I started looking at some YouTube videos on rolling on the kayak.

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And I was looking, seeing how people did their technique and all.

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And I put the kayak on the Tempest on a swimming pool and I figured,

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okay, I have the video on my phone.

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Maybe I can watch it and see if I can do it.

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So I tried a couple of times and was having absolutely zero success in being able to do it.

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And then I thought, well, okay, so I got to find a place here where I can take

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some classes to learn how to roll the kayak.

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And I found a place in Key Largo that had a little kayaking school where they

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teach you how to roll the kayak.

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So I went there for a few times to learn how to roll with an instructor and

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took maybe three classes before I managed to nail my first roll.

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And then after I managed to roll the first time, I then learned that I had to

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also learn how to roll it on the opposite side and do all the motion backwards,

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which was a little bit disconcerting so so you made the you made that leap that

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good step of of finding an instructor and kind of speeding the process up now

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did you did you continue that education beyond the role.

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Not not in terms of of you know going to towards getting some kind of certification

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because i figured that uh you know i'm not really teaching anybody so i don't

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really need to get certified I just need to know how to do it.

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I did a few other courses with a guy called Tom Nichols.

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He has a company called River and Wind Kayaks, and he sometimes comes to St.

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Augustine to teach a few courses.

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So whenever he's up there in North Florida, I'll attend some of his courses.

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And with them, I'd learn how to do the self-rescue, how to rescue somebody who's

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on the water, how to empty the water out of their boat and that kind of stuff. Okay.

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Yeah, I've been to a few classes to learn that. So you did continue that education

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then? Yes. Yeah, I did continue that education.

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After I learned how to roll, then the next expedition that I decided to do was

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a trip during Christmas and New Year's.

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I decided I was going to go all the way to Marco Island on the opposite side

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of the Everglades. That was a 10-day trip.

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So I started from my house, and then I just paddled down to Key Largo.

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And then from Key Largo, I went to the Everglades, to a place called Flamingo Point.

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And then from there, paddled up the Gulf Coast all the way to Marco Island. That was a 10-day trip.

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So you started, so you went five miles, and then 45 miles, and now in three

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days, and now you're up to 10.

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And then in 10 days, I did 300 miles, which was pretty good.

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Wow. Yeah, that's a big leap.

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So how did that all then grow into the crazy long distance expeditioning that you've been on here?

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Yeah. So after I did the trip to Marco Island, and I didn't do any trips for a couple of years,

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but I was always looking at some kayaking videos on YouTube and stuff and seeing

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that people do go on these long adventures.

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And I thought, oh, you know what? I would want to do that at some point.

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At the time I was working for this company here in Miami, I decided that if

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I wanted to do a long trip,

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I'd have to bank up some vacation time over a period of a couple of years because

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in the company I was working, they would let you roll the vacation for up two years.

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And so I started thinking, okay, well, what could I do with two years worth

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of vacation time? What kind of trip could I do?

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And my first thought was, well, you know what, why don't I go around Florida

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because I've heard of this race called the Florida Challenge where people race

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around Florida. I started looking at the distance and thought,

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well, okay, well, it's 1,200 miles.

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And if I do the trip at the end of the year, not only can I take my vacation

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time, I can also string in a couple of holidays as well.

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So there might just be enough time to do that.

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So that's what I did. I started just before Christmas.

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So I managed to get the Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the New Year's,

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and the Martin Luther King holiday. And then I bridged all those gaps with vacation

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time from work for two years' worth of vacation time.

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And so that was a 47-day adventure to paddle around Florida.

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So how did you know that you were ready to do a 47-day adventure going from

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five miles to three days to 10 days to 47 days?

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Well, my thought was that paddling around Florida is not going to be technically

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very difficult because if the weather is rough, you can paddle on the intracostal waterway.

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So I thought, okay, this is going to be a trip where I can practice my endurance

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to see if I can go on a long enough trip.

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And since I have the time, it's just a matter of putting in the effort and doing it.

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So that was my first idea was, okay, I'm going to do a long trip,

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and it's going to be just a trip just to see if I can handle the time that it takes to do it.

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So that's how I looked at that. So most of the distance along the east coast

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of Florida, I paddled in the intrapostal waterway.

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There were a few days when I went out in the ocean and it wasn't too rough,

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but then I stayed mostly on the intrapostal waterway. And then once you get

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to the top of Florida, then you have to paddle up a river called the St. Mary's.

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You paddle up the river for about 80 miles until you get to a jump off point

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where you have to do a really long portage to the Sewanee River,

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where you can then get on that river and paddle down all the way to the Gulf.

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That's about 200 miles of river pattern that you have to do.

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And then from there you paddle along the gulf coast

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down to the all the way to the everglades and

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then around the end of florida and then back up to my end

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so i actually started and ended both my house where

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i usually launch to go paddling so for

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those who are not familiar with florida we've made a reference a couple of times

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to inter intercoastal waterway so that's a series of basically barrier islands

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that that are along the coast that allow you to paddle inside those barrier

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islands and protect yourself from the open ocean. Yeah, correct.

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So from Miami all the way to New York, along the East Coast of the United States,

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you have an intrapostal waterway and you can paddle on the sheltered waters

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all the way up to New York, if you want.

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So Florida, 47 days, and you decided, great, you've done that. So what's next?

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Yeah. So after that, then I thought, okay, I did this trip. What could I do next?

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And then my thought was, okay, well, I need to go paddle somewhere where I can

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get a bit of surfing practice.

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Because if you're in Florida, you don't really, especially in South Florida,

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you don't really get very many waves.

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It's very shallow. And yeah, you just don't get surfing waves here.

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So then my thought was, well, okay, well, maybe I can, maybe like,

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what's the closest place I can go to? But I also don't have that much vacation time.

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So I thought, well, okay, well, maybe I can go to Puerto Rico.

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And Puerto Rico kind of fit in nicely because this was also during the time

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of the pandemic. So you couldn't really go anywhere outside the United States.

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So I thought, okay, well, Puerto Rico might be a good place to go because it's

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considered a domestic destination.

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But the problem was, well, how am I going to get the kayak there? It's an island.

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And for that trip, a couple of years back, for the Florida trip,

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I had purchased a... I upgraded from the Tempest...

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A fiberglass kayak because i i don't

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have a place to store the kayak here in my

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house like i don't have a covered place and

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i didn't want to leave the the fiberglass kayak outside so i i started looking

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for a three-piece kayak and i found a company called rock pool that made a three-piece

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kayak called the taran so they had a three-piece variant of it and i thought

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well okay this is And this would be great because if I buy a three-piece kayak,

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I can just keep the three pieces inside the house.

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And in that way, they don't get exposed to the elements when I'm not using them.

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And it's also going to be a pretty good benefit if I want to travel with it.

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So it's going to be a lot easier to transport it.

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So for the Puerto Rico trip, what I did was I wrapped all three pieces of the

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kayak in bubble wrap. And then I had it dispatched on a pallet by container

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ship all the way to Puerto Rico.

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So what I did was I shipped the kayak, topped the plane.

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And then once I arrived in San Juan, I went to the port there.

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And then I picked up the kayak there. And then I had a really good time with an Uber driver.

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He had the Uber extra large van. And I said, look, we're going to fit an 18-foot kayak in your trunk.

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Little did he know it was three pieces Yeah, little did he know it was three

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pieces And it actually fit in with a bit of room to spare, believe it or not

00:16:34.146 --> 00:16:38.506
Oh, that's great So it was actually pretty good I put the three pieces inside

00:16:38.506 --> 00:16:41.466
the kayak and drove back to the hotel All right.

00:16:42.926 --> 00:16:49.846
Wow So using the different logistical opportunities So you paddled Puerto Rico, you get some waves in,

00:16:50.406 --> 00:16:55.566
Exactly, yeah The point of going to Puerto Rico was It's not a very long trip

00:16:55.566 --> 00:16:59.566
It's about 350 miles, so you can do it in just over three weeks.

00:16:59.966 --> 00:17:04.166
But the north coast of Puerto Rico gets exposed to the Atlantic swells that

00:17:04.166 --> 00:17:07.546
roll in from the Atlantic with the trade winds.

00:17:07.726 --> 00:17:10.206
So the north coast of Puerto Rico gets quite a bit of waves.

00:17:11.086 --> 00:17:17.186
And so then I got some good practice there and paddling on some big swells there.

00:17:18.046 --> 00:17:21.886
That was the main objective of the trip. On the south side of the island,

00:17:21.986 --> 00:17:26.566
you don't get as many waves. but the only issue there is that you're paddling against the wind.

00:17:26.786 --> 00:17:31.346
So it's quite a slog to make it along the south side of the island.

00:17:31.746 --> 00:17:35.406
In fact, on the north side, I think it only took me three days.

00:17:35.586 --> 00:17:38.586
It took me two weeks to paddle the south side.

00:17:39.006 --> 00:17:42.306
Wow. Same distance, roughly? Yeah, same distance. Okay.

00:17:43.066 --> 00:17:46.086
Wow, that is a lot of time into the wind then, I guess, if it took you two weeks

00:17:46.086 --> 00:17:48.386
to do that. Now, were there some days off the water for that?

00:17:49.586 --> 00:17:54.546
Yeah, I had six days out of the water because there was a tropical storm that rolled through.

00:17:54.746 --> 00:17:58.146
So I had to sit out for about six days.

00:17:59.203 --> 00:18:03.623
Didn't want to try and brave the waves for that one. No, that was a little bit too big, I thought.

00:18:05.023 --> 00:18:10.183
Yeah. All right. So now you've decided you've got some waves in.

00:18:10.583 --> 00:18:13.423
And so is that when you made the big leap to go to Vancouver?

00:18:14.083 --> 00:18:19.363
Yes. Then I decided I was going to make a big leap to do a trip where I wanted

00:18:19.363 --> 00:18:21.463
to get some cold weather experience.

00:18:22.483 --> 00:18:26.423
And I thought, well, okay, well, where could I go paddle and get some cold weather

00:18:26.423 --> 00:18:30.503
experience? And I knew that there's a big kayaking community on the Pacific Northwest.

00:18:31.143 --> 00:18:35.283
And I started researching and I saw that there have been lots of people that

00:18:35.283 --> 00:18:36.743
paddle around Vancouver Island.

00:18:37.183 --> 00:18:40.103
And I thought, okay, well, maybe I can do that.

00:18:40.423 --> 00:18:47.563
My concern was, okay, well, from the Pacific side, the waves get really big there with big storms.

00:18:48.183 --> 00:18:53.023
So one of the things I thought was, well, maybe I try to find somebody who I

00:18:53.023 --> 00:18:57.643
could do that section with me. And I found this company called Skills,

00:18:57.983 --> 00:19:01.983
and they were running a summer trip from St.

00:19:02.103 --> 00:19:07.343
Joseph Bay all the way to Cassis on the Pacific side.

00:19:07.623 --> 00:19:10.483
And the trip went around the Brooks Peninsula. So I thought,

00:19:10.583 --> 00:19:15.483
okay, well, if I book a trip with them, I can have some paddling partners to

00:19:15.483 --> 00:19:20.663
do the most isolated and dangerous portion of the trip, which is going around the Brooks Peninsula.

00:19:20.663 --> 00:19:26.863
Which I was told at the time was that you need to plan for about five days of

00:19:26.863 --> 00:19:31.263
sitting around waiting for a weather window to make it around the peninsula

00:19:31.263 --> 00:19:37.583
because it sticks out into the Pacific and it catches a lot more of the swells and winds.

00:19:39.075 --> 00:19:42.955
The only issue though, was that because their trip left from St.

00:19:43.055 --> 00:19:46.395
Joseph Bay, which is on the northernmost side of Vancouver Island,

00:19:46.595 --> 00:19:51.035
and I was going to be starting my trip from Seattle, Washington,

00:19:51.035 --> 00:19:55.235
I had to make sure that I got there in time to catch them. Otherwise,

00:19:55.335 --> 00:19:56.975
they were going to leave without me. Okay.

00:19:57.315 --> 00:20:00.275
You had to time it perfectly. Exactly. I had to time it perfectly.

00:20:00.495 --> 00:20:05.995
So I gave myself, I think it was 25 days to get there, starting from seattle

00:20:05.995 --> 00:20:10.715
and yeah it worked out with just one day to spare oh wow okay.

00:20:12.475 --> 00:20:15.335
So now how long was that trip total so that

00:20:15.335 --> 00:20:18.215
trip was two months that was it was just over a thousand

00:20:18.215 --> 00:20:21.515
miles so it was a little bit shorter than florida but but

00:20:21.515 --> 00:20:24.255
the weather is a lot rougher so yeah you don't

00:20:24.255 --> 00:20:26.915
you take a lot more rest days than you do

00:20:26.915 --> 00:20:30.295
in florida sure you're you're dealing with big swell you're

00:20:30.295 --> 00:20:33.495
dealing with big swells on the on the pacific side

00:20:33.495 --> 00:20:36.615
and when you're paddling along the

00:20:36.615 --> 00:20:39.555
the johnstone strait you're dealing with a lot of headwind as

00:20:39.555 --> 00:20:42.235
well so the progress is very slow and you're dealing with

00:20:42.235 --> 00:20:47.695
very big tidal ranges as well yes so you have to time the tides to be able to

00:20:47.695 --> 00:20:54.075
make it through the the the sounds on the on the east side of the island yeah

00:20:54.075 --> 00:20:56.975
and cold water which is much different from what you're dealing with in florida

00:20:56.975 --> 00:21:01.255
yes it's a lot it's a lot colder Especially for someone from Florida,

00:21:01.515 --> 00:21:03.375
the water feels a lot colder.

00:21:03.555 --> 00:21:07.655
I remember doing my first roll in the cold water with the dry suit.

00:21:07.795 --> 00:21:10.555
And I think I managed about three rolls before I said no more.

00:21:10.655 --> 00:21:13.575
My head is starting to get brain freeze.

00:21:15.415 --> 00:21:18.895
So how did you know that you were ready for that one? Just because of all the

00:21:18.895 --> 00:21:20.915
differences of what you've experienced in Florida.

00:21:21.135 --> 00:21:23.615
And yeah, you had Puerto Rico, but it's still warm water.

00:21:24.215 --> 00:21:26.515
Right. Yeah, it's still warm water. But I thought, well, okay,

00:21:26.595 --> 00:21:29.235
well, I'm going to try to do a trip on cold water this time.

00:21:29.235 --> 00:21:33.135
So I bought a dry suit just especially for that trip. All right.

00:21:33.595 --> 00:21:38.775
I hadn't used a dry suit before. So that was an interesting experience there,

00:21:38.935 --> 00:21:43.175
having with the dry suit, learning that you have to burp all the air out, all that. Yeah.

00:21:44.155 --> 00:21:47.395
So you go from that one. So there's two months.

00:21:47.555 --> 00:21:54.575
You make the huge leap, 189 days around the UK and Ireland, doing the whole

00:21:54.575 --> 00:22:00.955
thing. So I guess the first question is, how much vacation time did you have to bank to get 189 days?

00:22:01.975 --> 00:22:04.815
So I didn't, I left my job. Okay.

00:22:07.355 --> 00:22:10.895
Permanent vacation. Yeah. Yeah. Permanent. Yeah. It's a permanent vacation. Yeah.

00:22:11.755 --> 00:22:14.475
Yeah. One of the things I was always thinking was, you know,

00:22:14.575 --> 00:22:20.335
I turned 40 this year and I'm not married. I don't have a wife and kids.

00:22:21.335 --> 00:22:22.435
And, you know, I don't.

00:22:23.654 --> 00:22:32.094
Need a lot of money to live. I don't have very expensive habits, except for kayaking.

00:22:32.774 --> 00:22:36.934
I thought, well, you know what? Maybe I can afford to take an extended break

00:22:36.934 --> 00:22:43.454
from work and go do something interesting that most people will never do in

00:22:43.454 --> 00:22:46.434
their lives, is what I thought. That's a big one.

00:22:47.114 --> 00:22:50.134
Yeah. I thought, hey, you know what? I'm turning 40. I'm going to give myself

00:22:50.134 --> 00:22:54.774
this trip as a birthday present for me for turning 40. That's what I thought.

00:22:55.174 --> 00:22:57.694
Cool. So how long did it take to plan the trip?

00:22:58.274 --> 00:23:04.194
So I started planning the trip almost as soon as I finished the Vancouver Island trip.

00:23:04.434 --> 00:23:10.394
In fact, I had been talking with Justine during the trip and she's paddled around Ireland before.

00:23:10.934 --> 00:23:16.414
And she was suggesting, if you can take 30 or 40 days off of work,

00:23:16.534 --> 00:23:17.494
you can go around Ireland.

00:23:18.034 --> 00:23:20.934
And i thought well yeah but no i want to do something

00:23:20.934 --> 00:23:23.654
i want to do a big trip so i thought well you know what

00:23:23.654 --> 00:23:26.754
maybe maybe i can go around uh the uk and then

00:23:26.754 --> 00:23:29.414
i thought well you know maybe i can do both then if i

00:23:29.414 --> 00:23:33.454
if i if i leave work you know i can you know take maybe six months and try to

00:23:33.454 --> 00:23:37.114
go around both so then the first thing i started looking was you know has anyone

00:23:37.114 --> 00:23:41.134
ever done that because i saw the people have gone around ireland they've gone

00:23:41.134 --> 00:23:46.574
around the uk but have they them both and i saw that there was the the first

00:23:46.574 --> 00:23:49.174
people who did it was a group of three guys,

00:23:49.714 --> 00:23:52.914
back in the 1980s and they wrote a book about their adventure

00:23:52.914 --> 00:23:55.754
so i i bought that book and started reading to try

00:23:55.754 --> 00:24:01.294
to get some idea of well first of all where would i start the trip from you

00:24:01.294 --> 00:24:05.294
know i wanted to see where they started from and maybe i try to do the same

00:24:05.294 --> 00:24:10.694
thing so i saw that They started in London so that they could get to the west

00:24:10.694 --> 00:24:14.154
coast of Ireland in June when the weather is more settled there.

00:24:14.614 --> 00:24:17.974
That was their logic. So I thought, okay, well, if I do that,

00:24:18.094 --> 00:24:20.734
if they did that, then I probably have to do something similar to that.

00:24:22.097 --> 00:24:26.597
And then I did some more research and I found out there was another guy called

00:24:26.597 --> 00:24:32.937
Sean Worley who did the kayaking around the UK and Ireland. I think he did it back in 2004.

00:24:33.817 --> 00:24:39.217
He's got the entire trip written up on his website. I think it's called Paddling in Circles.

00:24:39.457 --> 00:24:43.117
I read up about his trip to see how he did his trip.

00:24:44.277 --> 00:24:48.957
He went quite above and beyond because he also went to the Orkney Islands and

00:24:48.957 --> 00:24:50.637
the Shetlands on his trip. Yes.

00:24:51.357 --> 00:24:55.317
Originally, I thought maybe I could do that as well. But when I was on the trip

00:24:55.317 --> 00:25:00.897
and when I got northern Scotland, my thought was, well, it's already August.

00:25:01.317 --> 00:25:04.177
It's probably going to take me another month to go all the way up the Shetlands

00:25:04.177 --> 00:25:07.197
and back. And the weather isn't quite cooperating.

00:25:07.557 --> 00:25:11.597
So I said, you know what, I think I'm going to start heading back to London to finish the trip.

00:25:11.997 --> 00:25:17.737
He gave me a lot of contacts of people for me to reach out to when I would be

00:25:17.737 --> 00:25:22.317
paddling around the UK and Ireland. And so he was a very useful contact to have

00:25:22.317 --> 00:25:23.597
to give me help along the way.

00:25:23.917 --> 00:25:26.677
Yeah. Sean's a good guy. Yeah. Yeah. He was a good guy.

00:25:27.377 --> 00:25:31.757
And another person who also reached out to me and told me that they would help

00:25:31.757 --> 00:25:34.217
me out was a guy called Mike Conray.

00:25:34.577 --> 00:25:40.357
I think you might've interviewed him. I did. He actually paddled around Ireland.

00:25:40.397 --> 00:25:43.777
I think it was, was it last year or the year before? Last year. Yeah.

00:25:44.357 --> 00:25:48.677
Yeah. Last year. And he was giving me some pointers as well about the West coast

00:25:48.677 --> 00:25:53.777
of Ireland. and I think he was saying that one of the things he told me that

00:25:53.777 --> 00:25:57.557
gave me some reassurance that I could do the trip was that the west coast of Ireland.

00:25:58.556 --> 00:26:04.736
Because the coast has a lot of indentations and sounds and fjords.

00:26:05.076 --> 00:26:11.416
You can always find a place to tuck in that's sheltered from the swells and the wind.

00:26:12.056 --> 00:26:14.636
And he said that when he was paddling along the west coast of Ireland,

00:26:14.756 --> 00:26:17.776
he didn't have to do a single surf landing. And I thought, wow, really?

00:26:18.416 --> 00:26:21.236
And in fact, that turned out to be the same thing for me as well.

00:26:21.416 --> 00:26:24.196
Or even though when you're paddling out in the swell, you're paddling through

00:26:24.196 --> 00:26:27.616
some really big swells. when you actually come in for the landing,

00:26:27.616 --> 00:26:32.616
you can find a good sheltered place that you don't have to do a surf landing with 10-foot waves.

00:26:34.016 --> 00:26:40.196
That's great. That's great. So you started in London. So kind of walk us through the trip in brief.

00:26:40.436 --> 00:26:44.396
Yeah. So I'll walk you guys through the trip. So the first thing that I had

00:26:44.396 --> 00:26:48.456
to decide was, am I going to bring my kayak all the way to the UK and then bring it back?

00:26:49.036 --> 00:26:54.236
Or do I just get a kayak there in the UK itself? And the kayak that I used for

00:26:54.236 --> 00:26:56.176
this trip was the Rockpool Terran.

00:26:56.916 --> 00:27:02.456
And because the factory of the Rockpool is in the UK, I thought, well, you know what?

00:27:02.636 --> 00:27:05.596
Maybe it might just be easier for me to just buy a kayak there.

00:27:06.256 --> 00:27:09.496
And then I don't have to go through the hassle of shipping the kayak across

00:27:09.496 --> 00:27:13.876
the Atlantic because when I shipped my kayak to Puerto Rico, it took five days.

00:27:14.156 --> 00:27:17.996
If I shipped it to the UK, it was going to take at least a month to get there.

00:27:18.296 --> 00:27:20.796
Plus, I'd have to deal with customs and all that. So I thought,

00:27:20.876 --> 00:27:23.476
you know what? It's probably easier to just buy the kayak in the UK.

00:27:24.536 --> 00:27:30.096
So about a year and a half before the trip, I called Mike Webb,

00:27:30.276 --> 00:27:36.356
who's the owner of Rockpool, and I told him that I wanted to put in an order for a new boat.

00:27:36.596 --> 00:27:40.616
All right. So yeah, I put in the order for the boat. And then the first thing

00:27:40.616 --> 00:27:44.476
I did when I got to the UK was to drive all the way to Wales to pick up the kayak.

00:27:45.496 --> 00:27:52.836
I rented an SUV with a nice, good, big flat top, and I brought some sponges

00:27:52.836 --> 00:27:56.196
to put on the roof of the car to put the kayak on.

00:27:56.556 --> 00:28:00.296
So I got to London, got the car, drove all the way to...

00:28:01.050 --> 00:28:03.970
Anglesey picked up the kayak and then drove

00:28:03.970 --> 00:28:06.770
back to london to to start

00:28:06.770 --> 00:28:10.190
the trip and i found a just

00:28:10.190 --> 00:28:13.310
well at first my idea was i was going to start on

00:28:13.310 --> 00:28:16.490
the thames west of london before

00:28:16.490 --> 00:28:19.130
getting into london because i figured that it was

00:28:19.130 --> 00:28:22.870
going to be way too difficult to drive into london the

00:28:22.870 --> 00:28:26.030
problem is if you are west if

00:28:26.030 --> 00:28:29.110
you're west of london then you have all of the the locks

00:28:29.110 --> 00:28:32.670
on the thames that you'd have to paddle through

00:28:32.670 --> 00:28:35.650
and i when i

00:28:35.650 --> 00:28:38.610
got to the first lock i i actually walked up

00:28:38.610 --> 00:28:41.850
to the first lock to see what the situation would be there when i when i got

00:28:41.850 --> 00:28:45.930
to the lock how i was going to have to deal with it and the first thing i discovered

00:28:45.930 --> 00:28:51.550
was that you're not allowed to paddle through any of the locks and and from

00:28:51.550 --> 00:28:55.550
where i was there were going to be 13 locks to be able to get to the a place

00:28:55.550 --> 00:28:56.890
where the river becomes tidal.

00:28:57.370 --> 00:29:01.590
And I thought, well, you know what? That's going to be 13 fortages that I have to do.

00:29:01.830 --> 00:29:09.450
So I don't think that's going to work. So I drove into London to pass the last lock.

00:29:10.530 --> 00:29:15.870
The last lock, I think, is called Teddingson. So I started just downstream of

00:29:15.870 --> 00:29:18.050
the last lock on the Thames.

00:29:19.100 --> 00:29:24.480
And yeah, so I started my trip from there. And the first day when I paddled,

00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:30.500
the first thing I discovered was that even though I was past the last lock,

00:29:30.780 --> 00:29:35.720
there's a big barrier on the Thames that they've built on the river to protect flooding.

00:29:35.900 --> 00:29:40.420
And whenever the high tide is coming, they raise that barrier.

00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:45.160
And I actually got to the barrier when it was up. So all of a sudden,

00:29:45.220 --> 00:29:49.000
I discovered that there was no place to go because the river was blocked. Oh, no.

00:29:49.460 --> 00:29:53.260
Yeah exactly i had to you know for a while i was just sitting there wondering

00:29:53.260 --> 00:29:57.960
what to do until i i just i saw that i started looking on the on the gps map

00:29:57.960 --> 00:29:59.500
and i saw that there was a yacht club.

00:30:00.180 --> 00:30:03.260
Just on my side of the barrier and so

00:30:03.260 --> 00:30:06.600
then i went there and stopped there for the night i basically

00:30:06.600 --> 00:30:09.540
just showed up at the yacht club and said hey guys i i'm paddling

00:30:09.540 --> 00:30:12.380
around the uk and island this is my first day and i got nowhere to go

00:30:12.380 --> 00:30:16.740
because i'm not going to be able to get to the place where i was planning to and and

00:30:16.740 --> 00:30:21.280
and this was it was early march so it was still getting dark fairly early and

00:30:21.280 --> 00:30:24.860
yeah i got to the yacht club just already after sundown it was already getting

00:30:24.860 --> 00:30:28.700
dark okay they were gracious enough to take you in they were they were gracious

00:30:28.700 --> 00:30:35.000
enough to take me in there all right so take us give us a couple of highlights of the of the trip,

00:30:35.620 --> 00:30:41.260
so a couple of highlights let me think i mean i would say that one of the highlights

00:30:41.260 --> 00:30:45.140
of paddling around the uk is that the coastline is very varied you get all kinds

00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:50.080
of different environments that you you paddle through so you got you got white

00:30:50.080 --> 00:30:54.260
sandy beaches you got cliffs you have tidal.

00:30:55.800 --> 00:31:00.820
Races and you have and you have big swells as well from from the atlantic so

00:31:00.820 --> 00:31:05.820
paddling around the uk you get exposed to pretty much all the different types

00:31:05.820 --> 00:31:09.460
of paddling of sea kayaking conditions that you can imagine.

00:31:09.840 --> 00:31:14.080
So that's one of the highlights of paddling around the UK. And then the other

00:31:14.080 --> 00:31:19.420
thing that's also really good about paddling in the UK is that there's a lot

00:31:19.420 --> 00:31:22.140
of people in the UK that practice the sport. So...

00:31:23.421 --> 00:31:27.221
Because I was posting on Facebook every single day about my journey,

00:31:27.221 --> 00:31:31.201
a lot of people reached out to me and said, Hey, you're coming close to where

00:31:31.201 --> 00:31:33.481
I live. Come stay with me for one night.

00:31:34.121 --> 00:31:41.721
Or if you need to do laundry or something like that, come on up and we'll get you sorted. Okay.

00:31:42.581 --> 00:31:46.061
Yeah, so that was one of the things that was really surprising and really nice

00:31:46.061 --> 00:31:52.921
to find out is that the folks in the UK and Ireland are really happy to help you on your journey.

00:31:53.441 --> 00:31:56.541
I thought that was, it was, it was really nice. Yeah.

00:31:56.801 --> 00:32:02.941
Now, did you do a full circumnavigation of, of each island or did you do the

00:32:02.941 --> 00:32:06.401
whole complex, I guess, the whole archipelago? Yeah, I did the whole complex.

00:32:06.681 --> 00:32:11.121
So, so I started in London. I paddled along the South coast all the way to Cornwall.

00:32:11.321 --> 00:32:13.441
Then I paddled up the coast of Cornwall.

00:32:13.881 --> 00:32:17.221
Then I jumped to Wales across the Bristol channel.

00:32:17.661 --> 00:32:21.901
And then after going all the way around Wales, I went out to Liverpool.

00:32:21.901 --> 00:32:27.321
And then from there, I went almost to the border with Scotland before I jumped

00:32:27.321 --> 00:32:30.301
across the IRC via the Isle of Man. Okay.

00:32:30.721 --> 00:32:37.601
So instead of doing one really long, something like 75 miles to paddle across

00:32:37.601 --> 00:32:41.961
the IRC in one go, I did in two chunks.

00:32:42.281 --> 00:32:47.161
So the first chunk from England to the Isle of Man is fairly short. It's 35 miles.

00:32:47.601 --> 00:32:52.261
And then from the Isle of Man to Ireland is about 50 miles. So both of those

00:32:52.261 --> 00:32:56.581
are pretty doable with daylight in the late spring, early summer.

00:32:57.261 --> 00:33:00.421
And prior to this trip, what was your largest open water crossing?

00:33:00.961 --> 00:33:05.421
So prior to this trip, my longest open water crossing had been...

00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:12.239
My longest paddle had been 50 miles. I did 50 miles on one of my Florida legs.

00:33:13.139 --> 00:33:18.359
But in terms of crossings, it was probably 25 miles when I crossed from Vancouver

00:33:18.359 --> 00:33:21.259
Island back to Washington State.

00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:31.459
My longest crossing had been 25 miles. So on this trip, my longest crossing was 50 miles.

00:33:31.719 --> 00:33:36.639
And my longest paddle was just under 60 miles in one day.

00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:40.099
All right. So, you'd had some experience with longer crossings.

00:33:40.539 --> 00:33:43.459
It's not like going from five miles to 50 miles.

00:33:44.199 --> 00:33:48.879
No. Although the 50-mile crossing was the first time when I started a crossing

00:33:48.879 --> 00:33:50.319
where I couldn't see the other side.

00:33:50.439 --> 00:33:54.119
So, I was paddling out into the horizon. That was a little bit unsettling at

00:33:54.119 --> 00:33:59.039
first because you're just paddling and you don't see absolutely anything. Yeah.

00:33:59.399 --> 00:34:04.739
It's just the horizon line that you're paddling into. So you made the leap across

00:34:04.739 --> 00:34:06.759
and then went around Ireland.

00:34:07.019 --> 00:34:09.359
And then I went around Ireland. So I started going south.

00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:12.499
I arrived in Northern Ireland, a place called Newcastle.

00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:17.799
And then I paddled south past Dublin, then along the south coast of Ireland.

00:34:17.979 --> 00:34:22.979
I stopped for two days in a place called Kinsale, where there's another contact

00:34:22.979 --> 00:34:24.559
there called John Hines.

00:34:24.879 --> 00:34:30.159
He's a big paddler and he's paddled around Ireland. And so he also gave me some

00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:36.599
very good information along the West Coast there for me to keep an eye on certain places.

00:34:36.919 --> 00:34:38.839
Yeah. Also another previous guest of the show.

00:34:39.279 --> 00:34:41.479
Oh, okay. Good. Yeah.

00:34:42.439 --> 00:34:46.699
It was funny. We were going over the map of the West Coast of Ireland.

00:34:46.839 --> 00:34:50.919
And he was saying, look, on this point, you have to watch out for clappers against

00:34:50.919 --> 00:34:56.559
the rocks. and when I passed by that section I was getting huge clappers with

00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:59.379
the swell reflecting off the walls of the cliff.

00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:02.479
Then I came to another section that he pointed on the map and said look,

00:35:02.659 --> 00:35:06.699
over here on this place you need to watch out for big breakers and boomers on

00:35:06.699 --> 00:35:11.899
the rocks because when the swell comes in, it barrels in and lo and behold when

00:35:11.899 --> 00:35:12.959
I paddled right by there,

00:35:13.179 --> 00:35:18.019
yep, I saw the barreling waves that I had to stay away from and then,

00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:22.459
I was planning on going on the the outside

00:35:22.459 --> 00:35:25.719
of the bell mullet peninsula and he said nope don't go there that's

00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:28.639
where all the surfers go it's not a good place to go if you

00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:31.579
have even some moderate wind so i followed

00:35:31.579 --> 00:35:34.899
his advice and stayed on the inside of bell mullet peninsula

00:35:34.899 --> 00:35:41.579
there to go around i wasn't gonna after he got the first two places where he

00:35:41.579 --> 00:35:46.539
warned me about were exactly the way he he said they were it wasn't about to

00:35:46.539 --> 00:35:51.639
go to the places he said don't go here yeah local knowledge Always a win Yeah,

00:35:52.359 --> 00:35:57.239
Local knowledge is always a big win So you made your way around Ireland Yeah,

00:35:57.299 --> 00:36:01.039
made my way around Ireland I went all the way, as far as Belfast So I didn't

00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:04.939
quite complete the circle around Ireland We won't tell anybody Yeah.

00:36:06.785 --> 00:36:11.365
And then from there, from Belfast, then I jumped back to Great Britain,

00:36:11.565 --> 00:36:13.485
but already in Scotland there.

00:36:13.885 --> 00:36:19.145
And then I paddled up the west coast of Scotland. I went around the west coast

00:36:19.145 --> 00:36:22.745
of the Isle of Skye because they had some very interesting rock formations there.

00:36:22.845 --> 00:36:27.065
They have some really big stacks that you can paddle really close up to,

00:36:27.265 --> 00:36:29.505
which are quite impressive to see.

00:36:29.765 --> 00:36:34.505
And then I continued north, and then I went around two capes on the north of

00:36:34.505 --> 00:36:38.125
Scotland. So you have on the West Coast, you have Cape Wrath,

00:36:38.225 --> 00:36:41.945
and on the East Coast, you have the Pintman Firth.

00:36:42.225 --> 00:36:47.125
And both of those capes have massive tidal flows there, so you have to time

00:36:47.125 --> 00:36:51.725
it exactly right for when you're going to go around each one of those capes.

00:36:51.845 --> 00:36:56.205
I actually got kind of lucky that the weather was very cooperative when I was there.

00:36:56.545 --> 00:37:00.305
So when I went around Cape Wrath, it was exactly slack tide,

00:37:00.525 --> 00:37:03.145
and it was dead calm wind, so it was perfectly flat.

00:37:03.785 --> 00:37:09.665
And then when i ran around the pentman firth in two hops so i left from the

00:37:09.665 --> 00:37:14.345
northernmost town in scotland called the torso and i went from there to a little

00:37:14.345 --> 00:37:16.285
harbor called the john o groats,

00:37:16.985 --> 00:37:22.865
where i paddled with the tide on that section and it was one of the most surreal

00:37:22.865 --> 00:37:25.325
experiences paddling with the tide.

00:37:26.590 --> 00:37:31.110
For, I think it was a distance of about 20 miles, which I covered in less than three hours.

00:37:31.830 --> 00:37:34.910
I think it was two hours and 40 minutes of paddling with the tide.

00:37:35.190 --> 00:37:38.250
Wow. And the, yeah. And the interesting thing is that you don't really feel

00:37:38.250 --> 00:37:40.970
that you're going very fast because you're going with the water.

00:37:41.150 --> 00:37:43.990
So relative to the water, it doesn't feel like you're moving very fast.

00:37:44.570 --> 00:37:50.850
It's only when you look at a fixed point, like at the lighthouse or the cliffs

00:37:50.850 --> 00:37:52.690
that you realize just how fast you're moving.

00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:56.770
So i paddled to the this little harbor called

00:37:56.770 --> 00:37:59.690
john o'groats and then i waited there for

00:37:59.690 --> 00:38:02.870
two days until i had the calm weather and the and

00:38:02.870 --> 00:38:05.690
the slack tide and then i paddled around the pentland first with the

00:38:05.690 --> 00:38:08.610
with the slack tide so i got very lucky

00:38:08.610 --> 00:38:11.570
there all right i didn't have to deal with the

00:38:11.570 --> 00:38:14.770
massive tide races there is uh if the

00:38:14.770 --> 00:38:17.510
if the flow is against you there you there's no way

00:38:17.510 --> 00:38:22.310
that you're going to make it through against the tide and then

00:38:22.310 --> 00:38:25.370
made your way down the east coast and then i made that and

00:38:25.370 --> 00:38:28.470
then i made my way down the east coast which i thought was going to be the easiest

00:38:28.470 --> 00:38:32.310
portion of the trip but that was the portion of the trip where i got the most

00:38:32.310 --> 00:38:37.610
amount of headwind of the entire trip especially on the on the east coast of

00:38:37.610 --> 00:38:44.310
scotland the the coast it's it goes from northeast to southwest which is exactly

00:38:44.310 --> 00:38:48.150
the the direction that the prevailing wind goes.

00:38:48.290 --> 00:38:51.770
The prevailing wind goes from the southwest to the northeast. Oh, perfect.

00:38:52.250 --> 00:38:59.930
So, yeah, exactly. So, you're paddling dead-headed into the wind for quite a long distance there.

00:39:00.150 --> 00:39:05.570
So, I think I had a few days there when I was only doing about five miles in one day.

00:39:05.810 --> 00:39:08.470
Wow, but working as hard as any other day.

00:39:08.970 --> 00:39:10.930
Exactly, yeah, working as hard as any other day.

00:39:11.970 --> 00:39:16.690
Yeah, what you have to do there in those days is you have to pick your weather

00:39:16.690 --> 00:39:22.790
window during the day and paddle during that weather window when the wind is not quite as strong.

00:39:23.210 --> 00:39:29.090
Otherwise, you also have to sit out for a few days there, waiting until you get better conditions.

00:39:29.930 --> 00:39:33.510
So of the 189 days, how many days off the water?

00:39:34.150 --> 00:39:43.250
I think I was out of the water maybe one out of every four days because of the wind.

00:39:43.890 --> 00:39:48.990
The longest I was out of the water was 10 days, and it was around March.

00:39:49.090 --> 00:39:51.250
It was along the south coast of England.

00:39:51.710 --> 00:39:55.070
I started fairly early in the year because I wanted to give myself enough time

00:39:55.070 --> 00:39:57.490
to make sure that I would finish the trip.

00:39:57.950 --> 00:40:02.050
I didn't want to feel like I was pressed for time because I started in March.

00:40:02.050 --> 00:40:06.490
I was still getting some of those winter storms rolling in from the atlantic

00:40:06.490 --> 00:40:11.930
and i was in a town that i was stuck for 10 days and they were having,

00:40:12.650 --> 00:40:18.070
there was a really big storm that rolled through and we were having something like 20-foot waves.

00:40:19.146 --> 00:40:22.906
From the storm. So yeah. That's a reason to stay off the water.

00:40:23.046 --> 00:40:24.746
That's a reason to stay off the water. Yeah.

00:40:25.566 --> 00:40:28.886
The thing is though, if you stay out of the water for too long,

00:40:29.666 --> 00:40:35.906
your head starts play a few tricks on you and you start feeling a certain lack

00:40:35.906 --> 00:40:39.706
of confidence because you keep looking at the weather forecast,

00:40:39.866 --> 00:40:43.886
like you're looking at a slot machine almost, hoping that you're going to get better weather.

00:40:44.506 --> 00:40:46.906
And then after 10 days, you start thinking, man, you know what?

00:40:46.906 --> 00:40:50.506
I waited so long, I kind of want perfect conditions now to get out.

00:40:50.966 --> 00:40:54.566
And in the UK, you hardly ever get dead flat conditions.

00:40:54.806 --> 00:40:57.826
So you just have to, at some point, you just got to tell yourself,

00:40:57.966 --> 00:41:02.246
okay, these conditions are good enough that I can do it. All right.

00:41:02.786 --> 00:41:07.206
The most difficult decision of deciding whether to go or not,

00:41:07.246 --> 00:41:10.506
it's not when the weather is really rough or when it's really calm.

00:41:10.506 --> 00:41:18.146
It's right when it's in that in-between kind of condition, when you look at

00:41:18.146 --> 00:41:21.406
the conditions and you think, yeah, you know what, I can probably do it,

00:41:21.486 --> 00:41:24.226
but if I get into some kind of serious trouble,

00:41:24.386 --> 00:41:27.126
I'm not going to have anybody there to help me out because I'm paddling on my own.

00:41:27.666 --> 00:41:31.606
So I would say that the difficult decision in paddling is not when it's very

00:41:31.606 --> 00:41:35.606
rough, it's when it's marginal, when you have to make the call,

00:41:35.746 --> 00:41:37.526
do I go or do I not go? Okay.

00:41:38.166 --> 00:41:41.146
It's making that right choice. It's making that right choice.

00:41:41.346 --> 00:41:43.446
What's the most memorable part of the trip for you?

00:41:44.046 --> 00:41:49.126
Most memorable part of the trip? I would say that the times that when I think

00:41:49.126 --> 00:41:54.346
back on the trip, the part that I enjoy the most was probably the west coast of Ireland.

00:41:55.488 --> 00:41:59.348
Just because you have the big swells. But I remember one day in particular when

00:41:59.348 --> 00:42:03.508
I was paddling there, where I had left from the Aran Islands,

00:42:03.608 --> 00:42:06.188
and I was going to make it around this peninsula.

00:42:06.188 --> 00:42:11.128
It was right on the section where John Hines warned me about the big breakers.

00:42:12.028 --> 00:42:15.868
And when I was paddling there, and I was looking at those breaking waves,

00:42:16.048 --> 00:42:19.608
and I was thinking, gosh, this is a really rough place to be,

00:42:19.628 --> 00:42:20.748
to be paddling on your own.

00:42:20.928 --> 00:42:24.768
Because I think the forecast had said that the waves were going to be seven feet.

00:42:24.768 --> 00:42:28.348
I was thinking that seven feet is close to the coast, but because there was

00:42:28.348 --> 00:42:32.348
this peninsula that jutted out into the ocean and you have to paddle around

00:42:32.348 --> 00:42:34.748
the peninsula, at the very tip

00:42:34.748 --> 00:42:38.968
of the peninsula, the waves must have been closer to 12, 13 feet there.

00:42:39.648 --> 00:42:44.088
And I felt that I was kind of at the limit of my ability of what I'm comfortable paddling.

00:42:45.188 --> 00:42:48.188
Yeah. What would you do different if you did it again?

00:42:49.028 --> 00:42:54.688
Probably maybe would want to paddle more sections with folks along the way.

00:42:55.188 --> 00:43:00.188
Rather than solo yeah rather rather than just solo yeah the the few times when

00:43:00.188 --> 00:43:04.828
i paddled with people i i thought those were some of the most enjoyable times

00:43:04.828 --> 00:43:08.408
of the trip where i could you know talk to somebody else on the water rather

00:43:08.408 --> 00:43:11.588
than just being out there for 10 hours just,

00:43:12.428 --> 00:43:18.228
stuck with my own thoughts did you go into the trip with the expectation of doing it solo.

00:43:19.348 --> 00:43:23.028
I thought that i would probably get to paddle with a few folks here and there

00:43:23.028 --> 00:43:26.508
but But the expectation was that I was going to paddle most of it solo. Yeah.

00:43:27.308 --> 00:43:31.988
All right. All of my adventures have always been solo just because it's difficult

00:43:31.988 --> 00:43:34.568
to find somebody to go with you for the whole way.

00:43:34.828 --> 00:43:39.008
Sure. Yeah. Hey, how'd you like to do a 189 day trip? That's the trouble. I just got the time.

00:43:40.828 --> 00:43:46.148
So what's next? My thought is that probably next I would want to paddle somewhere warm.

00:43:46.988 --> 00:43:51.688
Yeah, one of the things that I felt paddling around the UK is that paddling

00:43:51.688 --> 00:43:56.428
in the cold day after day after day, it gets a bit difficult.

00:43:57.528 --> 00:44:00.428
So my thought is I would want to paddle somewhere warm.

00:44:00.568 --> 00:44:06.368
I was thinking of maybe of paddling around Cuba because it's right next door to me.

00:44:06.568 --> 00:44:11.548
But for that, I would have to figure out how you can go there legally as an American.

00:44:12.328 --> 00:44:16.388
There are ways to do it, but you have to get special permission. So that would be,

00:44:17.256 --> 00:44:20.576
That would be something I would like to do is probably maybe one day out around Cuba.

00:44:21.176 --> 00:44:25.796
And there, the big challenge would be how to make it across the Strait of Florida

00:44:25.796 --> 00:44:29.376
because that would be by far my longest crossing if I did it.

00:44:29.476 --> 00:44:32.236
That's about, I think it's about 110 miles.

00:44:32.556 --> 00:44:39.116
I don't know if I could paddle for 30 hours. My longest paddle on the UK trip was 13.

00:44:39.456 --> 00:44:42.956
So that would be about double. Okay. Yeah. In terms of time.

00:44:44.296 --> 00:44:47.756
That's a big commitment. That's for sure. That would be a big commitment.

00:44:47.956 --> 00:44:53.116
Yeah. I was thinking like, okay, if I paddle from Florida to Cuba,

00:44:53.396 --> 00:45:01.616
I'd have to go as far west as the Dry Tortugas because the tide is going to carry you eastward.

00:45:01.776 --> 00:45:04.256
Sorry, not the tide, the Gulf Stream is going to carry you eastward.

00:45:04.356 --> 00:45:08.056
So I would have to go as far as the Dry Tortugas. So then I can paddle due south

00:45:08.056 --> 00:45:11.936
and drift east to get to Cuba.

00:45:12.596 --> 00:45:16.976
And then to paddle back, I'd have to leave from Cuba and then paddle due north

00:45:16.976 --> 00:45:19.696
and then just drift and then arrive somewhere on the Keys.

00:45:20.096 --> 00:45:26.576
I saw that there were three guys who paddled from Havana to Key West. So it is doable.

00:45:28.296 --> 00:45:31.116
There's somebody who's done it. So I'm not trailblazing that.

00:45:31.416 --> 00:45:34.256
Yeah. They were previous guests of the show as well. Oh, really?

00:45:34.316 --> 00:45:35.916
They were previous guests of the show? Yeah. Okay.

00:45:36.476 --> 00:45:40.736
Yeah, so I've seen that people have paddled from Cuba to Key West,

00:45:40.876 --> 00:45:43.076
but never from Key West down to Cuba.

00:45:43.276 --> 00:45:46.116
So if I did that, I would be the first one to do it, I think.

00:45:46.536 --> 00:45:49.076
It might be. It sounds like you've already put some thought into it,

00:45:49.156 --> 00:45:54.336
thinking of the dry tortugas and your route and all that. So maybe we'll hear about that one someday.

00:45:54.856 --> 00:45:56.636
Yeah. Very cool.

00:45:58.396 --> 00:46:04.696
So how can listeners connect with you? So I have a website called aroundonmykayak.com.

00:46:04.696 --> 00:46:07.636
So people can log on to the website.

00:46:07.816 --> 00:46:13.016
They can find my email there, which is fbarons at aroundonmykayak.com.

00:46:13.496 --> 00:46:18.956
And they can also connect with me through my Facebook page with the same name, Around On My Kayak.

00:46:20.443 --> 00:46:24.923
And if they're in Miami, I would love it if they could call me up because the

00:46:24.923 --> 00:46:29.203
kayak that I used in the UK, I am bringing it home with me by container ships.

00:46:29.263 --> 00:46:30.823
And I'll have two kayaks here at home.

00:46:31.043 --> 00:46:34.623
I'll have my three-piece and I'll have the kayak that I use there.

00:46:35.163 --> 00:46:38.003
All right. Well, if you're listening and you're thinking of going to Florida,

00:46:38.783 --> 00:46:44.363
connect with Felipe and you can paddle one of those two boats. Yep. All right.

00:46:44.963 --> 00:46:48.863
Felipe, thank you. This has been great having an opportunity to hear about your

00:46:48.863 --> 00:46:53.343
trips, hear about where you started, hear about Florida, hear about Vancouver,

00:46:53.343 --> 00:46:57.963
and then making the big leap to 189 days around UK and Ireland.

00:46:58.163 --> 00:46:59.363
That's a pretty cool trip.

00:46:59.703 --> 00:47:04.503
Congratulations on a great accomplishment and an amazing set of life experiences

00:47:04.503 --> 00:47:05.543
from it. That's for sure.

00:47:06.403 --> 00:47:09.943
Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah. Got one final question for you.

00:47:10.063 --> 00:47:13.323
Who else would you like to hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:47:13.963 --> 00:47:19.023
I would like to hear from Jay Rose. He's a kayak dealer here in South Florida.

00:47:19.203 --> 00:47:25.243
He lives in Naples, and he is a master craftsman for repairing boats.

00:47:25.463 --> 00:47:30.443
He's the go-to guy if you ever have cracks on your boat that you want fixed.

00:47:30.463 --> 00:47:35.223
He's the go-to person to get your boat fixed here in South Florida and all over

00:47:35.223 --> 00:47:37.523
the United. People send him boats from all over the U.S.

00:47:37.823 --> 00:47:41.223
Super. Well, we'll connect with Jay and see if we can get him on the show.

00:47:41.703 --> 00:47:44.543
All right. Thank you. You're welcome. So thank you again. This has been great

00:47:44.543 --> 00:47:48.063
talking to you and I look forward to maybe paddling together sometime in Florida

00:47:48.063 --> 00:47:49.523
or somewhere else in the world.

00:47:49.963 --> 00:47:52.203
For sure. Yeah. Thanks. All right. Thank you.

00:47:53.887 --> 00:47:57.367
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:47:57.367 --> 00:48:01.007
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00:48:01.007 --> 00:48:05.427
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The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

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strokes more efficient.

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00:48:39.187 --> 00:48:43.167
Thanks to Felipe for sharing this trip and for talking through his impressive

00:48:43.167 --> 00:48:46.687
and very smart skill building process that he used to make this dream happen.

00:48:46.687 --> 00:48:49.947
It was well thought out and put him in a position for success.

00:48:50.207 --> 00:48:55.007
He also made great use of some very experienced resources for all these trips,

00:48:55.227 --> 00:48:58.807
showing what a great and giving community of paddlers that surrounds us.

00:48:59.287 --> 00:49:02.807
Felipe has got a book coming out detailing his trip around Vancouver Island,

00:49:02.847 --> 00:49:05.007
and we're going to add a link to the show notes for this episode,

00:49:05.147 --> 00:49:07.267
number 126, when that book is available.

00:49:07.487 --> 00:49:12.187
And we'll also include links to some of the resources Felipe used for his trips

00:49:12.187 --> 00:49:15.987
in those show notes. A big thanks again to our partners at Online Seek Hiking

00:49:15.987 --> 00:49:17.687
for extending a special offer to you.

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Visit OnlineSeekHiking.com and to the code PTBpodcast to check out and get 10%

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off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.

00:49:25.767 --> 00:49:29.847
Until next time, thanks again for listening. I really appreciate you and I look

00:49:29.847 --> 00:49:32.847
forward to bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

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Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

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the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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along with replays of past episodes, contact information, and more at paddlingtheblue.com.

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Music.