Audrey modifies her kayaks by adding a spray deck, attached to the boat with Velcro, and a built-in collar that snugs up around her waist. A separating plastic zipper makes it easy for her to get in and out. Paddling alone, Audrey tethers herself to her boat with a nylon line for safety. “I call it my life line,” she says. “It’s a 10-foot length of half-inch nylon line. At one end is a fixed loop that goes loosely over my head and under my right arm. At the other end is a bronze snap hook that clips onto a D-ring on the gunwale by my right hip.” In an inflatable kayak, there’s no such thing as an Eskimo roll. A capsize means a wet exit.
“I practiced with the rig in two-knot open- ocean currents and 20-knot winds,” she says. “The boat was packed with 60 pounds of gear. I wore knee-high boots, pile pants, and full rain gear, simulating Alaska conditions except for the 74°F ocean here in Hawaii. The paddle was teth- ered to the boat by a snap hook on a D-ring and left to float free as I dumped, righted the kayak, and climbed back in 10 times on each side. I would lead the line over the center of the capsized kayak, put one knee on the hull, then pull on the line to right the boat, rig the paddle float, and climb back in. There was never a problem of tan- gling in the lines. Any risk of entanglement is far less than the risk of losing your boat.” She has capsized once, in Alaska, “due to wind and surf and a top-heavy folding crab trap on the deck,” she recalls. “Using the life line, the tethered paddle, a pre-rigged paddle float, and the practice, I was back in the boat in 23 seconds. Only the crab trap and my pride were lost.” In her unconventional boats, Audrey has become one of sea kayaking’s grand masters. But for her the kayak is still mainly a cheap, low- impact way to get into the wilderness. “How many people have spent even one night alone at least 10 miles from the closest other person?” she asks. “It’s something everyone should do. A primitive power comes with standing and watching alone in a dark and silent solitude. Whatever you’re afraid of – bears, solitude, capsizing – you need to learn more about it to overcome that fear.”
Audrey Sutherland is the author of Paddling My Own Canoe and Paddling Hawaii, both from the University of Hawaii Press. Linda Daniel, author of Kayak Cookery, is an Alaskan kayaker who has known Audrey since her early trips there.
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www.otsport.com ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 19
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