Sean Morley to Attempt Record Breaking Circumnavigation of Vancouver Island

In September 2008 California based British sea kayaker Sean Morley will attempt to break the record for the fastest circumnavigation of Canada’s Vancouver Island. The records currently stand at 23 days 10 hours for a single kayak set by Joe O’Blenis and 19 and a half days for a double kayak set by Kieron Tastagh and Jeff Norville, both in 2007. Paddling a Rapier 20 single kayak manufactured by Valley Sea Kayaks, and representing Kokatat Watersports Wear, Sean aims to complete the 700mile journey in less than 18 days.

"Vancouver Island can present some of the most challenging conditions a kayaker can face including fierce winds and huge waves off the notorious headlands of Cape Scott and the Brooks Peninsular, high surf and treacherous reefs guarding the remote beaches of the west coast and raging tidal rapids reaching speeds of 15knots in the myriad of channels separating the Vancouver Island from the mainland" says Sean.

Sean now lives in California where he runs River and Ocean LLC; a sales and customer service agency in the paddlesports industry, and is the Western region sales representative for Kokatat. He has been a member of Kokatat’s athlete team since 2006 and is the current World Masters Surf Kayak Champion in the High Performance category. In 2004 Sean completed the first solo circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland and all the inhabited islands; a six month, 4500mile expedition and the longest journey ever undertaken by kayak in British waters.

Sean will begin his attempt to break the record for the fastest circumnavigation of Vancouver Island immediately after the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium on September 22nd 2008.

You can follow his progress by following the links on the expedition website:www.expeditionkayak.com and his blog http://riverandocean.blogspot.com/

From Sean' blog

I will be travelling fast and light and hope to knock out 50 miles a day. In theory that means I could complete the 700 mile journey around the island in two weeks but the weather may have other ideas!

I will be starting at Port Hardy, up on the north east corner, the idea being to wait for a good weather forecast before starting the 'clock' and knocking off the crux moves around the most northwesterly point, Cape Scott and the notorious Books Peninsular before any bad weather arrives.

September and October are traditionally are good months for weather up there. The land is cooling off so the big thermal winds of the summer will be easing off and hopefully I will complete the circle before the winter storms arrive. I hope to use a Spot messenger: www.findmespot.com/Home.aspx so you will be able to track my progress.