What makes me think I can do it?
 Sean
Morley; I am under no illusions about the difficulty of the
challenge. I have completed several record breaking paddles
including a circumnavigation of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles
of Scilly; a 500mile circumnavigation of Northern Scotland
from Fort William to Inverness, returning to Fort William
via the Caledonian Canal; a crossing of the St. George’s
Channel of the Irish Sea from St. David’s to Rosslare
in 11hrs 6mins.
This will be my biggest challenge yet and I wish to reassure
anyone reading this that I do not intend to be reckless. I
will not take unnecessary risks. Every day’s paddle
will be risk assessed, taking into consideration the weather
forecast, sea states, tidal movements and my own physical
and mental condition. I will always err on the side of caution.
I will keep HM Coastguard fully informed of my intentions
each day, as I have done on all previous expeditions.
It may seem irresponsible to attempt such a trip on my own.
In fact, I believe that in many ways I am safer on my own.
I do not have anyone else to worry about; I know my own limits
and they are not necessarily the same
as someone else’s.
By being essentially unsupported I am entirely self-sufficient,
and not reliant on a back up team or support vessel. I will
be able to stop when I get tired and not be forced to push
on to make some pre-arranged rendezvous.
My wife will be following me on land for some parts of the
expedition. This will be as much to do with keeping my morale
high as providing any sort of safety back-up.
With the help of the R.N.L.I. I will have deposited food
and equipment at strategic points along the route, which will
allow me to re-stock the supplies I am able to carry with
me in my kayak in watertight compartments. I will make use
of local facilities whenever possible.
My kit list will include
- Personal Floatation Device (PFD).
- Manually operated, gas inflated life jacket with strobe
light and whistle.
- EPIRB, flares – red parachute, red hand-held, orange
smoke, white collision.
- Hand-held VHF radio and solar panels for re-charging.
- GPS, deck mounted compass, navigational tools, charts
and OS maps.
- Spare paddles, paddle float, hand bilge pump and foot
pump.
- Dry suit and thermal undergarments.
I have recently completed the RYA Day Skipper (Shore-based)
Course. I will attend a Short Range Certificate (SRC) Course
for the handheld VHF radio prior to departure.
In short, I will be fully prepared, leave nothing to chance
and ensure that nobody is put at risk for the sake of my own
ego.
Fundraising
To give a bit more detail of exactly how I intend to raise
money for each charity:
- I will write articles for the various canoeing magazines,
national and international. In return I hope the publishers
will circulate sponsorship forms to their readers.
- Likewise I will ask the British Canoe Union to distribute
sponsorship forms to their members.
- I will make sponsorship forms available in every appropriate
retail outlet and every watersports activity centre.
- I will make myself available for media interviews before,
during and after the attempt.
- I will give talks to any organisation interested, seeking
donations as ‘payment’.
- I will write a book about the adventure and I will donate
a proportion of the sale proceeds to both charities.
- I would also like to make a television documentary of
the journey in the form of a video diary.
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