big mileage. In 1998 with two friends, Ian Wilson and Jim Morrissey who were both racing paddlers, we set a record for the fastest crossing of the St. George’s Channel of Irish Sea, a straight-line crossing of 45 miles that we completed in just over 11 hours. It was an interesting navigational challenge with very strong tides either side and we ended up pad- dling 65 miles over the ground. The following year Ian and I completed a 500-mile circumnavigation of North- ern Scotland, again encountering huge tides and some ferocious winds and big seas. I learned much from these journeys and finally in 2004 I achieved my childhood dream of completing the first solo circumnavi- gation of the UK and Ireland by sea kayak—the first ever to include all of the inhabited islands. The 4500-mile expedition took 183 days and is the longest kayak journey ever under- taken in British waters. I raised over £10,000 for charity and my kayak, a C-Trek also designed by Rob Feloy and manufactured by Kirton Kayaks, was displayed in the National Mari- time Museum in Cornwall in honor of my achievement.


CKM: Most memorable moment kayaking?


SM: In 2005 I assisted British kayak manufacturer Valley Sea Kayaks with the design of a new High Perform- ance surf kayak called the ‘Rush’. I began participating in kayak surfing competitions in 2006 as a way of promoting the new kayak and moved to California. In 2007 as part of the US West Coast Team I took part in the World Surf Kayak Champion- ships in the Basque Country in Spain where I became the World Masters Champion and gained 2nd place in the Open category of the High Performance Class at the World Surf Kayak Championships. It was a great honor to compete for the US West Coast Team and to have my wife and daughter watch me win a world title.


CKM: Why did you decide to go for the British Columbia’s Vancouver Island record?


SM: I had heard about how several folks had set marks for the fastest cir- cumnavigation of Vancouver Island. Leon Sommes, an instructor from the kayak school Body Boat Blade had completed the journey in 28


days and then in 2007 Joe O’Blenis, a Canadian reduced the time to 23 days. The same year a pair in a dou- ble kayak made the trip in 19 days. I figured it was possible to make the circle in close to 16 days, given the right conditions. The reason Van- couver Island has become the target for record breaking circumnaviga- tions because while it is undeniably challenging, with lots of exposure to wind and swell on the west coast and some very fast tides on the east coast, it is also very [logistically] do- able: it’s not too far (700 miles) and I figured I could get a pass to be away from home for up to one month.


What I hadn’t counted on was how my psyche would be altered by having a wife and young daughter waiting for me at home and that was perhaps the most challenging aspect—that I had to balance risk against responsibility and resist the temptation to hurry home once the going got tough. At the time I felt I was somewhat unlucky with the


Playing on tide races in South Wales during the video shoot for the “This is the Sea II” DVD Photo by Flora Moody


California Kayaker Magazine 19


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