Californie-Hawaii

[Freek]

Een rondje Scandinavie is al heel wat, maar deze man, Ed Gillet, is van
Californie naar Hawaii gepeddeld.

Ed Gillet’s California to Hawaii Crossing, 1987


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On June 25, 1987, Ed Gillet departed from Monterey, Calif., with the intention of mostly sailing his way to Hawaii. However, it was an El Nino year and the anticipated trade winds and currents failed him. Gillet spent less time using his parafoil sail than actually paddling the Bananafish, his Necky Tofino double laden with 600 pounds of food and gear. "His paddle to Hawaii was a real classic," says Jon Turk. "A lot of modern transoceanic ‘kayak’ expeditions are done in very expensive non-production boats. I discount these because the boats aren’t real kayaks...Ed Gillet paddled a production boat."

Gillet was no ascetic, however: He carried desalinization equipment to ensure a fresh water supply. But when he lost his radio on week two, with it went all contact with the outside world for the remaining eight weeks. When Gillet failed to appear by his predicted arrival window his family flew into a frenzy. They unsuccessfully lobbied the Coast Guard to search for him. Sixty-three days after his departure and four days after he ran out of food, suffering from 40 hours of sleep deprivation and subject to winds and currents driving him north, past the islands, Gillet steered in a hallucinatory dawn into Kahului Harbor and landed on Maui Beach.


"He did it solo, and it’s the biggest crossing of all, the longest non-assisted crossing basically," says Malver. "It’s longer than the one from Africa. And he’s humble about it." Gillet lost a mere 25 pounds-as opposed to the 50 or so lost on the following two epics-but most of that occurred in the last week. Legend has it he survived at least partially on toothpaste.


Gillet calls it "A life raft experience. It amazes me, when I think back on it, that I didn’t die," he says. "It doesn’t amaze me that I paddled to Hawaii—that’s more or less a straightforward thing to do. You make the mileage, you paddle your boat, you get there. It’s benign at that time of year: You don’t have hurricanes at the latitudes I was traveling at. But physically, I’m still amazed I was able to withstand that kind of punishment." Despite advances in technology, Gillet’s 2,200-mile Pacific journey remains so epic none have ever tried to match it. A few kayakers have achieved greater mileage, but not on an open-water crossing of the Pacific.



bron; www.oceanplanet.com.

[Freek]

[beachboy]

Ik hoop niet dat hij bij aankomst de bekende golven van Hawaï op zijn nek krijgt

[Freek]

Er is eindelijk een filmpje opgedoken;
http://youtu.be/fZQgQM53zIM