2022 Wooden Boat Festival

The size of the adventure is not dependent on the size of the boat and my presentation will be a demonstration of that. It will feature stories, images and maps from journeys that I describe in a book I published just before the pandemic hit. The book is called “Becoming Coastal”, sub-titled “25 years of exploration and discovery of the British Columbia coast by paddle, oar and sail”. The journeys cover everything from short getaways to multi-week expeditions, all in wooden boats I built. I’ll show how I built 5 different boats over the years, beginning with a solo kayak, and culminating in a sail and oar boat of my own design, which I rowed and sailed the length of the Inside Passage. I’ll speak of the joys and the adversities of self-propelled travel and adventure. I’ll cover wildlife, weather and nature, and some of the interesting people that I’ve met on the coast of British Columbia. I’ll give a personal perspective on acquiring the necessary physical and mental skills for solo traveling. I’ll tell the story of how I discovered for myself the coast's geography, its ecology, its people and my own growing capabilities. Above all, I’ll encourage everyone to get out and experience the coast for themselves.