By Theo Jones, Project Manager of Team Forces of Nature
I am part of team that will be attempting to kayak 2,000km up the West Coast of America. We will be navigating a stretch of water called The Inside Passage, a coastal route that starts in the US, just south of Seattle, then weaves north through the islands of the Canadian coast all the way to Alaska in the north.
The trip is expected to take us around 90 days and is bound to be challenging, with heavy tides giving potential for rapids, falls and whirlpools throughout the route. It may be tough, but will be worth it in so many ways. We are aiming to raise £250,000 for The Not Forgotten, a charity that has been supporting veterans since 1920.
We are a team of 12 from a whole range of different backgrounds, including doctors, adventurers, engineers and former service personnel. We are all different ages, and some of our the guys have suffered battlefield injuries and PTSD, so it will be amazing to see how everyone pulls together to help each other, as I’m sure they will.
Although we won’t be literally in the same boat, we will be operating as a crew. There will be careful reading of the tide charts to make sure we move with the current and avoid getting caught out. And it is not just the tides we have to worry about, with the weather having the potential to cause trouble of its own. The rainfall is very high and there is a risk of poor visibility and storms.
We will need to stay alert during the day, but at night we will also have our work cut out finding a place to stay. We will be camping the whole way and not all of the islands along the route are particularly hospitable, with dense forests and rocky shores.
We also need to pack our provisions very carefully. The team is entirely self-supported and we’ll need to carry everything we need for several weeks at a time. We will only be able to pick up supplies at certain points along the route.
The trip will be tough, but promises to be stunning and everyone is really pumped. The coastline is lined with wildlife, and apparently we might see eagles, bears, otters – maybe even humpback whales.
We are also very proud to have REORG as a sponsor in this challenge. We really appreciate the support and can’t wait to make the trip happen. The money couldn’t be going to better cause and we really hope more people can help support us and raise as much as we can for The Not Forgotten.
• Theo is Project Manager of the Forces of Nature team. For more information please visit the website or the JustGiving page.