A Necessary Expedition: 81 Miles81 Miles of paddling separate the Mt. Fairweather, currently resting high and dry at Belcarra Regional Park in British Columbia, from Boulevard Park in Bellingham, WA. 81 Miles out through Burrard inlet, under the Second Narrows and Lion’s Gate Bridges, past Stanley Park and into English Bay. Past Jericho Beach with [...]

Iconic boats like the Mount Fairweather, when talk of a voyage is circulating, attract iconic paddlers. Read below as two such paddlers weigh in with their thoughts of the upcoming “Necessary Expedition”… From Chris Cunningham, Editor of Sea Kayaker Magazine: “I met George quite a while ago, in the 1980s I think, at a private [...]

Earlier this summer, Heather, Hayden, Reg Lake and I drove up to Belcarra Regional Park in BC to visit in person, for our first time, the Mount Fairweather. As I wrote in an earlier blog, she is stored hull up, resting on several sets of beams not 100 yards from the water’s edge, nor any [...]

A Necessary Expedition… Part II “I am unable to explain the Mount Fairweather, a 48-foot-long baidarka, in terms of anything except the art of boat building itself.” With these words, George Dyson opens the chapter in his book “Baidarka” devoted exclusively to his largest baidarka – indeed, the largest ever built. Six cockpits line the [...]

A Necessary Expedition….. Part 1 George DysonIn the spring of 2000, Heather and I were living in a rental on the American River in California. Our roommate at the time, Scott McGuire, was a sales rep for Teva sandals and was scarcely home. When he was there, though, Heather and I would listen like children [...]