CHAPTER 2: THE PLAN

I met Norm at the Multiplicity (Whistler World Ski & Snowboard Festival) in 2016, where we were both speaking about past adventures. We shared a paddleboarding background. Norm was a successful racer who had transitioned to long coastal journeys. I had recently paddled solo around the outside of Vancouver Island.

When Norm called me a few months later, and asked if I’d be interested in trying to paddle across Hecate with him, I felt deeply honoured—and said YES unhesitatingly.

Soon we began planning, and watching weather. Over the winter, we met a few times in Squamish to paddle. The next spring we drove to Prince George, planning to carry on towards Haida Gwaii. But with a series of storms forecast to crash on the BC coast, we turned back and went home. Thank goodness, because in retrospect we weren’t ready.

For the next five years, we continued to watch Hecate’s weather patterns, while tackling increasingly challenging SUP expeditions together; a Gitgat Grease Trail, Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula, Cape Caution. As our skills and sense of trust and teamwork grew, we felt increasingly ready.

Knowing that Hecate was ultimately in charge, and nothing less than a perfect weather forecast would do, we planned a journey down the northern BC coast this summer, both aware that if the stars aligned, and a weather window magically appeared, we’d drop all those plans and hightail it to Haida Gwaii.

CHAPTER 3: GETTING