Meet the ‘Forces of Nature’ preparing to take on a huge kayaking challenge.
An 8-man team of two able-bodied men and six war veterans with various injuries, training for their monster 2000km kayak challenge up The Inside Passage.
dsnm first heard about this challenge from Superyacht Navigation Officer, Theo Jones, who is one of the team members embarking on this epic journey, in between his onboard duties. Theo visited dsnm along with teammates Markus Strydom and Skipper Cayle Royce MBE, to talk a little bit more about their impending adventure.
How did they meet?
Theo and Cayle met after racing across the Atlantic as rowers. They completed the race on the same day (Theo insists it doesn’t matter who got there first) and spent the next few days celebrating their achievement together. From this point, they were both keen to find a new and exciting challenge to test their physical and mental fortitude.
Where did the idea come from?
The team got together to discuss a new challenge and originally planned out a 70-day, 4000km trek, kayaking down the Amazon for 2020. This was postponed of course, due to Covid and when the restrictions started lifting the journey was advised against due to logistics along with safety concerns.
Back to the drawing board they went.
The Challenge
Cayle put a list of destinations together and the team decided upon what is, most probably, the toughest challenge on that list – The Inside Passage.
The Inside Passage – a 2000km stretch from Olympia, Washington State to Skagway, Alaska. The team will be using 4 single kayaks and 2 two-man kayaks to travel the entire distance, unsupported, in 100 days.
Along the way, they’ll be contending with tides of up to 18 knots, 75ft whirlpools and the possibility of 10-metre swells. And that’s just the water. They will be camping wild, which brings the added concern of bears and wolves. The challenge is incredibly difficult as it is, and when you throw in the war injuries that some of the veterans are also dealing with, it makes it exponentially harder. It’s at this point that you understand the mental strength that these guys truly have.
Although many have kayaked the Inside Passage before, this group endeavours to be the first team of disabled and able-bodied people to undertake it unsupported.
When does the challenge take place?
The team aim to set off on the 1st of May 2023 with the goal to complete it in 90 to 100 days, dependant on weather. Their chosen charity for the challenge is “The Not Forgotten”, a military charity that they raised funds for in their Atlantic row.
We are pleased to offer our support to the team and wish them well in their journey.
Read more – kayak-insidepassage.com
Follow their progress on Instagram – @kayak_the_inside_passage_2023
Donate to the cause on their Just Giving page
