PROfile by linda daniel
Audrey Sutherland Grandmother and sea kayaking grand master
A
udrey Sutherland is a legend in the world of sea kayaking, but paddling, per se, was never her aim. She was just looking for an inexpensive way to travel. When Audrey first yearned to visit the steep cliffs and waterfalls of Hawaii’s isolated Molokai coast, she got there by swimming the 20-mile coastline, towing her gear in a waterproof box. It was only the threat of sharks that prompted her to mail order a kayak for her next coastal journey.
That was 1962, and a $40, six-foot Sevylor
Tahiti was within the short financial reach of a sin- gle parent supporting four kids. Eight thousand sea miles—most of them solo—and a dozen kayaks later, Audrey has explored not just Hawaii, but also the South Pacific, the Alaska/British Columbia Inside Passage, and European waters including Scottish lochs, Norwegian fjords, Greek isles, and the rivers of France. Now, almost every year, she paddles in Alaska and speaks at kayak symposiums on both North American coasts. Designers of hardshell kayaks have tried to con- vert her and more than one has developed a kayak with her in mind, but Audrey says nothing beats her inflatables for portability. “In the summer of 1985,” she writes in her book, Paddling Hawaii, “after paddling my boat all spring in Hawaii, I took it to Alaska, Maine, Scotland, Norway, and Washington State, travel-
ling by plane, bus, ferry, train, subway and rental car. Taking the boat along was just a matter of sliding my arms through the duffel bag straps and walking off, boat on back.” Audrey’s inflatable kayak weighs 20 to 30 pounds and packs down to less than two cubic feet. In the same duffel bag with her boat, she car- ries her pump, rudder, spray deck, breakdown paddle, tent, tarp, sleeping bag, air mattress, patch kit and stove. The boat is light enough that Audrey can carry it by herself over slippery rocks and up steep banks to a safe spot well above the high-tide line. In Alaska, where the tidal range can be up to 23 feet, that may be a long way. She is in enviable physical shape, but there’s just so much you can make your body do when you’re five-foot-four, 120 pounds, and celebrated your 80th birthday a couple of years ago.
At home in Hawaii. photo courtesy Audrey Sutherland.
8,000 miles and a dozen kayaks later.
18 Summer 2003
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52