Put In // mission
OVER THE HORIZON: The modified Necky Nootka Plus that John Craig plans to use for his California-to-Hawaii crossing in April, shown equipped with the lash-down dodger tent and dock fenders that attach to his partner’s kayak.
Robert Zaleski
LOCK STOCK
Two vets set sights on Ed Gillet’s untouched Hawaii crossing By Dave Shively
When most paddlers consider Ed Gillet’s historic 1987 California-to-Maui crossing, they ask one question: “Why would anyone do that?” John Craig doesn’t think like most paddlers. His question: “Why hasn’t anyone else?” The 37-year-old security professional hopes to recreate the grueling 2,200-mile crossing, leaving from Monterey on April 20, with his flight scheduled out of Maui and right back to work on June 4. And true to the spirit of Gillet’s 63-day crossing in 1987, Craig will go low-profile, without sponsors and using stock gear—with a few key pieces of technology unavailable 26 years ago. The twist? Craig plans to paddle with a partner, R.W. Hand, in separate kayaks, rafting up to rest. Since December 2011, the pair have rigged separately, accumulating gear, vacuumsealing meals in 5,400-calorie packages, and until recently, exercising heavily. Since early this year, Craig has been packing on pounds, estimating his 60-mile-per-day pace will melt
20 pounds off his frame. With Craig retired from active Naval duty in special warfare, and Hand a retired Army Ranger, the expedition aims to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project and the Navy Seal Foundation. The military background explains Craig’s no-failure, can-do mindset, and detailed planning. Craig talks of risk mitigation, redundancies, contingencies for contingencies. He guesses there’s a 5050 chance he and Hand will become separated at sea. Contingency plan? “We’ll just press on,” he says. “We can sustain ourselves individually.” Craig’s respect for Gillet runs deep, and he has an encyclopedic catalogue of lessons learned from the trip that nearly killed Gillet. He’s also analyzed Wave Vidmar’s ill-fated solo California-to-Hawaii attempt, which began on Christmas Eve and ended 15 hours later with a Coast Guard rescue. “I could tread water for 15 hours,” Craig says. (Vidmar declined to comment.)
Hand and Craig also followed Gillet’s lead in buying a pair of stock Necky tandem kayaks. Craig removed the seats and rearcenter bulkheads from his 22-foot Nootka Plus model, leaving a 6-foot-long rear cockpit cavity to sleep in. Other notable modifications include molding over the front cockpit with a Pelican box lid—crucial to storing a 12-volt battery to power an inverter and an AIS ship ID system— plus installing two three-gallon ballast tanks in the bow. Finally, he’ll use a hand-pump reverseosmosis desalinator. Craig’s telling view on the manual desalinator? “It’s military, so you know it works.” The hardest part of the preparation thus far, Craig says, was getting his wife’s approval. “This is a final bucket list thing, then I can go relax in suburbia-land,” says Craig, a father of three. “I’ve got a family. I’m not suicidal. I know I’ll get it done. “It’s just a major endurance test, but anybody is capable of that.”
— Go to CanoeKayak.com to follow the expedition and to read more on Craig’s preparation and outfitting. 28