The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 85

Sarah is one of the most determined, tough people I know

but at that stage she didn’t have a reliable roll, wasn’t able to read the water and had very limited experience of
rough conditions, surf landings or controlling her boat in strong winds. I’d love to go to the Aleutians myself but
was it reckless to go with Sarah?

After some research and a lot of faith in Sarah’s ability to train and to cope mentally with challenging situations,
we decided to do it. Over the winter in the UK, Sarah learnt to roll and her rough-water skills improved
dramatically.We decided to take Flat Earth kayak sails which would increase our speed and therefore make us
more likely to land in the daylight on the longer crossings. If we couldn’t paddle for any reason, we may be able to
raft up and use the sails to take us towards land (whether that was in front of us or behind us).

In April 2014, we flew to Adak, the westernmost inhabited community in America and got ready for a paddling
journey to the mainland that hadn’t been attempted since Aleut people used kayaks to hunt from 300 years
ago. It was exciting (and at times nerve wracking) to discover the conditions for ourselves, figuring things out
along the way. While there are a few small communities dotted along our route, it’s primarily a large swathe
of untouched wilderness and we felt lucky to spend several months weaving our way along the shores,
watching her burst with life during the short summer season, and seeing the landscape turn from the
treeless, rocky volcanoes of the Aleutians to the lush, green spruce-laden slopes of Kodiak.

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