For years now I’ve dreamt about traveling the inside waters of Vancouver Island from one end to the other, fantasizing about the experiences I’d have, the amazing scenery, and the places I’d visit. Having lived in the Port Hardy area for over twenty years, I had picked up a few coastal skills by working and playing on the waters. I was also inspired by the many books I’d collected and borrowed over the years on coastal history, beginning with the First Nations, to early exploration and trade and on to the settlement and the lives of some of the early pioneers. I wanted to see some of the places I’d read about, and experience the coast in the same way that some of the early inhabitants did. A kayak seemed to be the perfect vehicle to give me that perspective.
Although I started kayaking about 20 years ago I had never been on a trip for more then a few days at a time. This trip would cover 500 kilometers and take about three weeks and I was going solo. There were friends and relations worried about my safety and sanity. I knew that I would have to meticulously plan and prepare for this trip months in advance.
First on the list was a route, and then I could figure out what potential problems I might encounter along the way and how I’d deal with them. I scoured the library and Internet for material regarding kayaking and boating on the BC coast. “The Wild Coast 3” by John Kimantas proved to be an invaluable source of information for the areas I wanted to travel through.
Next was physical fitness, I knew my 58 year old out of shape body wouldn’t be able to stand a 500 km trip. I needed to lose weight (about 40 lbs.) I needed to improve my strength, cardio and also my flexibility. Six months before my trip I hired a personal trainer at the local recreation center and started working out 3 times a week, combined with both yoga and power walks up the steep side of P’KOLS (also known as Mount Doug). This turned out to be the greatest benefit of this trip, not only did I lose weight and gain endurance but my physical reaction time improved considerably and I feel 20 years younger.
I also needed to work on my Kayaking skills. I felt they were not up to a solo trip of this size so I started challenging myself in different weather and tidal conditions around Victoria, always ending my paddle by practicing my high and low bracing technics. I’ve never learned how to do a roll in a kayak so instead I worked on self-rescues. I opted to bring two inflatable paddle floats rather than a single bulky foam float. I wanted two floats incase one got lost or damaged, but I had also come up with the idea of attaching a float to both ends of my paddle, creating pontoons on both sides of the boat, making it easier to self rescue in rough water. This system seemed to work quite well. I could even stand up in the kayak when it was all set up. In addition to the self-rescues I made a coaming stirrup from tube webbing to assist in reentering the cockpit in case I got too fatigued to climb up on my own. This stirrup was clipped to the boat and doubled as a safety leash by attaching it to my lifejacket. Of course I always paddle with a life vest with a VHF radio attached to it, along with a whistle and flares. For cold-water protection I prefer to use a farmer john wetsuit with an optional neoprene vest to wear under for added thermal protection if the weather conditions called for it.
I would like to thank all the people I met and helped me out on my trip, Trish for being so supportive, my trainer Corrine for getting me in shape, my Daughter Laureen for looking after me and finally to my Grandson Jimmy for lending me his ukulele after my mandolin had an major misshape just before the trip.
NOTE: In the first leg of my journey from Telegraph cove to Quadra Island, I’ve pointed out a few Kwakwaka’wakw villages and resource sites that I passed along my way. The information I have provided for these sites comes from the book “Kwakwaka’wakw Settements, 1775 – 1920 A Geographical Analysis and Gazetteer”, written by Robert Galois (1994). I wanted to give a sense of the extensive use of the land and resources by First Nations and a their connection to the land. These sites have names and a history that go back thousands of years.
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