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Dear Sea Paddlers

I'm writing to spread the word of a new organisation and website that I am starting called Sustainable Expeditions, and website www.sustainableexpeditions.org which I'm creating just now.

For a while now I've wanted to paddle solo up the Western Isles from Berneray to Lewis - I think I'll be the youngest person to do it, being 24 at time of paddling (please let me know if you know different). I made my kit list and thought I'd have a wee wonder about outdoor shops to see if there was anything I had forgotten, when I saw Peter Storm's One Earth clothing which is made from recycled plastic using sustainable methods, which gave me the idea of taking a sustainable perspective on it. So, having environmental concerns myself, I've decided to use the trip to promote sustainable lifestyles, in particular, by using sustainable equipment and sustainable fuels. For example, I'm going to buy food from local producers where possible, and cook using driftwood, sheep/cow dung, and heather where possible.

So, I'm writing this post for a number of reasons. Firstly, to spread the word about Sustainable Expeditions, secondly, to ask people about ideas for companies that would like to sponsor me, thirdly to ask people for ideas about how I can promote SusExp more, and fourthly, to ask if anyone will be around in the area when I'm doing it up up for some paddling/camping/taking photos. I'll being doing it at the end of October as it's the only time I have time.

Look forward to hearing from everyone with thougts and comments. Cheers

Sounds great - keep us informed.

to know what your paddling,

I don't own a sea kayak suitable for expeditions. So I'll be borrowing a boat from Clearwater Paddling (where I work as a guide).

We just got some new Valley Avocets and Aquanauts, both plastic, so I'll have a play with them and see which I prefer - probably the Aquanaut as they're a bit longer, and I'd appreciate the extra volume, and only 1/2 inch slimmer. Also, want to use plastic because I'm planning on going up the West coast of Lewis, so just incase I have to land on, or set out from any rocky beaches.

Cheers

I'll bring the plastic equipment topic up myself. The reason I'm using a plastic boat, rather than taking the time to make a wooden one which is without a doubt more sustainable than plastic, is because they they are a sustainable way of travelling relative to planes, trains and automobiles. In that no fossil fuels are burned 'directly' as a result of travelling, and the emissions associated with the production of a sea kayak are much smaller than any other form of water transport that gives the same level of storage and is not wooden.

Was that what you were getting at surfkayaks.com?

it was gonna be a much harder battle than that, good luck to you tho.
m

I take it you'll be using local produce from Bernaray to start with? Surely in October that will limit what is available?

As I'm sure you know .. weather at that time of year is ... shall we say (for want of a better word) .. unpredictable!

Good luck Tom - if we do end up anywhere near Harris/Lewis in Oct/Nov we'll certainly take photos .. however, have to say likelyhood of us being there is .. ummm remote - prob be tucked up at home reading website - if you can update it that is!

Great challenge - Good Luck

H - x

ps - We'll be armchair travellers.

Hi Helen

I'll use what there is and will bring my fishing rod. My principle is to use local produce where possible, as you say there may not be much there for me (if there was, I guess there might still be people living on Mingulay!). I will buy stuff from Barra, which I count as local produce as it is not beyond a day's paddling to get to Mingulay from Barra. Obviously there isn't a huge amount of food available to me growing naturally, but what there is, I will try to find - such as cockles/muscles/fish. And I'm thinking that potatoes will be common too. I will have dried food and energy food for emergencies if times are really hard, and will also be publishing my food intake on the website.

Yea, the weather is my main concern. I'm not going to take any risks that I think are very likely to end in death. (Does that mean I should just stay at home in the armchair also??) I want to paddle up the West coast of Lewis, and have never paddled this coast line before so am looking forward to the challenge. Over the summer I'm going to practice some intense rough water stuff, so confidence should be a bit more confident by October.

I'll won't be pushing the speed too much, and will be taking time out in places to do interviews, get photos taken, and update the blog. Where do you live then - near the N end of the OHs?

Thanks for the luck! Cheers

With regard to;
and cook using driftwood, sheep/cow dung, and heather where possible.

Have you tried to do a trip just using ust driftwood etc for cooking? I am keen on the idea of using locally found fuels and have a firespout;
http://www.occuk.co.uk/outdoor/firespout-100.html
and a storm kettle;
http://www.eydonkettle.com/

Whilst I have found they can work well in good conditions, when conditions are poor, wood is in short supply and wood is wet you can get quite frustrated trying to coax some boiling water out of them. Usually this seems to coincide with the time when I am dog tired and desparate for a cup of soup!

tomthehaggis wrote:Dear Sea Paddlers

when I saw Peter Storm's One Earth clothing which is made from recycled plastic using sustainable methods,

Cheers

Correct me if I'm wrong here but isn't this still the product of the Petrochemical industry in the first place?

You can get Marino wool thermals which I'm told are very good but expensive. In the eighties military helicopter crews wore drysuits made from ventile, a cotton based waterproof material. I don't know if you can still get it but it would cost an arm and a leg if you could. Apart from these materials we as paddlers are a floating advert for the Oil industry. Everything from our boats to our clothing and equipment comes from a non-sustainable source. It's a nice idea but have you thought it through?

Owen wrote:

tomthehaggis wrote:Dear Sea Paddlers

when I saw Peter Storm's One Earth clothing which is made from recycled plastic using sustainable methods,

Cheers

Correct me if I'm wrong here but isn't this still the product of the Petrochemical industry in the first place?

You can get Marino wool thermals which I'm told are very good but expensive. In the eighties military helicopter crews wore drysuits made from ventile, a cotton based waterproof material. I don't know if you can still get it but it would cost an arm and a leg if you could. Apart from these materials we as paddlers are a floating advert for the Oil industry. Everything from our boats to our clothing and equipment comes from a non-sustainable source. It's a nice idea but have you thought it through?

Are you saying Back to Basics then?

Just WHAT does that involve?

H - x

ps - Can of worms springs to mind.

Haha, yea I've thought it through to a certain extent!

I'm aware of the strong petrochemical link. However, the idea of this expedition isn't to do it using only naturally produced equipment, instead just using wherever practically possibe.

The Merino wool is a good point which I'm aware of and funnily enough dealing with. There is a company called Icebreaker who make clothing using the wool from the Merino sheep from the South Newzealand island who I'm in touch with - yes I know, it comes from the other side of the world, but it's still natural. Icebreaker say it's good because the sheep lives at high altitude and hence the wool is finer, so performs well in more extreme conditions (i.e. hotter and colder). I'm also going to get in touch with local suppliers of clothing. Another interesting company is Astral, who use recyclable foam for their BAs.

This is great. I think that there are so many questions that can and will be raised about this expedition that it will spark some interesting debate, and hopefully be a bit of a learning experience.

I think that I should make a few things clear to people:

Firstly, I haven't fully thought the whole thing through as I only thought of it a few days ago, and doubt that I will every have fully thought it through as I try to be efficient with my thinking, only doing it when necessary. However, I do know that I want to paddle up the western isles and that I want to promote a sustainable lifestyle. I have lots of ideas, and am open to criticism, so it'll be interesting to see how it all ends up.

A second important point that I've just thought of is that, although there is the argument of kayaking being heavily petrochemical based - what would we be doing if we weren't paddling? Watching TV? Boiling the kettle? Having a bath? Driving the kids somewhere nice? Cutting the grass? Keeping warm? Flying to a sunny holiday destination? All of which have associated greenhouse gas emissions which (I haven't done any calculations, but) I'm sure would soon outweigh the emissions associated with a sea kayak that could last over 10 years. Pretty much everything we do is petrochemical based - the point is not to completely remove the reliance, but just to reduce it.

I look forward to more comments. Cheers

Correct me if I am wrong but oil is a naturally occuring substance.

John

Yup, but I guess it only naturally occurs over hundreds of thousands of years (after a bit of research, it looks like scientists aren't exactly sure how long it takes to form oil biologically from plant matter). Which is why there is the argument for using wood for equipment and fuel, because it can be grown again over a relatively short period of time.

But, this is a sea kayaking forum used by people who in general, have disposable income and are probably mostly well educated, so I don't need to tell you this. I don't know if I fit into either of these categories (yet)!!

ON ANOTHER NOTE

My philosophy for SusExp is developing, partly to be that in this deindustrialised economy that we have in the UK, people are going to and do take up their time with leisure activities. Why not do those basic activities with the minimum impact on the planet? My aim is to raise awareness and promote responsible and sustainable use of resources. The Sustainable Expeditions 'umbrella' can be used for not only sea kayaking, but cycling, walking, and not just for me, hopefully other people will be interested in doing their bit too!

reply to steve-m

I hadn't heard of the firesprout thing, looks good though - cheap and simple. Though I guess you could make one yourself with a few old bits of metal, a drill, hacksaw, and some wire to join the bits of metal together.

Re: the kelly kettle...yea I've got one, really like using it. Great for keeping warm as well, while boiling the kettle. I'm thinking I might try and bring some kind of metal grill that could be mounted above the kettle for cooking and drying wood - have you tried drying wood on a trip before?

In answer to your question...no I haven't spent a whole trip trying to just burn driftwood. Good point you've raised though, it may be wishful thinking on my part to think that I can cook completely using driftwood/other stuff, however I will do as much as possible, and will have a petrol stove for back up. It will no doubt be one of the many challenges on this trip!

Just to let people know a few quick things about my wee project (SustainableExpeditions.org).

1) I'm going to try and either build or get a hold of a wooden sea kayak. Does anyone have one they'd like to lend me, or can you recommend any manufacturers/techniques?

2) I've changed the dates for the expedition to around May time, rather than October, to increase the chance of success and to give me more time to organise sponsorship/media stuff.

3) The website (www.sustainableexpeditions.org) will have something on it by Saturday, so keep checking. Just now it'll just be less dramatic stuff, like planning/training/philosophy/other stuff.

Happy paddling...

Hi Tom
Glad your project is taking shape. It may be out of your price range, but you can go on holiday to Norway on one of Anders Thygesen's courses and come back with a traditional kayak you build yourself.

I recorded a PodCast with him when we were on Skye which won't be live until the end of the year, but Anders' website is here.
S

An interesting idea but as Owen says, we're a paddling advert for the Oil industry.

If you are building your own kayak then you should do a whole-life cost calculation. For example the wood should be sustainable and from the UK, as should any other materials you use. Any items you take with you should be sourced in the UK. Merino wool is good stuff but the carbon cost of flying it from South Island far outweighs the benefits of using it over something produced closer to home.

Sea kayaking is a leisure pursuit, we do not *need* to sea kayak, therefore the most sustainable way to sea kayak is to not do it. Ultimately this is what reducing our impact on the planet means, not that we find crafty ways to do the same things we have always done (I'll plant a tree so I can still fly to the Seychelles), we are not learning anything by doing that. Of course there are the deep Greens who believe that people are the problem and the sooner we get rid then the better, one way of doing that is to keep on doing what we are doing.

The words 'can' and 'worms' springs to mind!

I was initially going to suggest getting in touch with Brian Wilson (hey where is my copy of ocean paddler?) - his round Scotland trip was for a charity working on sustainability (yes even way back then) so he probably has a lot of thoughts he could share with you. I can't remember if he paddled the full length of the western isles (trying to picture the map and I think he didn't) and I can't remember how old he was at the time, possibly younger than you so great inspiration from that angle too.

Wooden kayaks - just look around the forum!
Geyrfugl makes his own, there is a company down south making and selling them for a very reasonable price (I've forgotten the name but they contributed to one of the threads), there are all sorts of plans and kits available so you could also build your own. There are 2 main construction methods - use ply and stitch and glue to make a quick and easy hard chine hull (sustainablility of plywood?) or strip build for any shape (within reason) where you make formers up and then lay strips of cedar over nailed edge to edge and glued in place - this takes much longer. Both you will want to sheath in petrochemical products....
Less popular now you can make a wooden frame and cover in canvas (unless you find a lot of dead seals...) for a much more back to grass roots boat. I'm sure the PBK plans are still available but I reckon if you ask around enough you will find people here with info on building these sorts of boats.

As for carbon footprint of imported goods - cheap goods still go by sea. If big enough ships are used the carbon footprint is minimal. Yes the ship has a big carbon footprint but shared between all it's cargo it is the most efficient way of transporting anything. More carbon will be used getting it from the port to the shop! Of course I have no real interest in the carbon emissions, just the fuel costs - shipping is way more economic than other forms of transport, and once we re-invent sails it will be even more so.
Not wholly sustainable but think about promoting shipping over air freight!

Jim

Hey Tom, good to meet up with you and the CWP team last week, had a great time, and can recommend your camp cooking! Good luck with your trip, hope it all works out..

Regards

DavetheSheep!