The Pacific Alone: The Untold Story of Kayaking's Boldest Voyage

by Dave Shively

Overview

Winner of the 2019 National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature!



In the summer of 1987 Ed Gillet achieved what no person has accomplished before or since, a solo crossing from California to Hawaii by kayak. Gillet, at the age of 36 an accomplished sailor and paddler, navigated by sextant and always knew his position within a few miles. Still, Gillet underestimated the abuse his body would take from the relentless, pounding, swells of the Pacific, and early into his voyage he was covered with salt water sores and found that he could find no comfortable position for sitting or sleeping. Along the way he endured a broken rudder, among other calamities, but at last reached Maui on his 63rd day at sea, four days after his food had run out. Dave Shively brings Gillet’s remarkable story to life in this gripping narrative, based on exclusive access to Gillet’s logs as well as interviews with the legendary paddler himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493026814
Publisher:	Falcon Guides
Publication date:	10/01/2018
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dave Shively is an award-winning journalist who serves as the Content Director for TEN: The Enthusiast Network’s Paddlesports Group. As the longtime managing editor of Canoe & Kayak and senior editor of SUP magazine, Shively established a respected voice in the sport by grounding unique profiles and travel narratives in paddling experiences documented from Nunavut to New Orleans. The Colorado-bred, California-based writer won a 2017 Folio Eddie Award for ‘Healing Waters’ (Canoe & Kayak, Winter 2016), a series of veteran profiles exploring PTSD and the transformative power of the outdoors. He lives in San Clemente, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Chapter 1 The Limit 1

Chapter 2 Katie and the Kayak 9

Chapter 3 The Distance 21

Chapter 4 Departure 29

Chapter 5 Into the Gray 39

Chapter 6 Commitment 51

Chapter 7 30-130 61

Chapter 8 Sink or Swim 71

Chapter 9 Past Due 87

Chapter 10 Reentry 99

Chapter 11 The Duplicators 113

Chapter 12 The Pioneers 125

Chapter 13 Guiding Lives 137

Chapter 14 Never Before, Never Since 149

Postscript 158

Acknowledgments 159

Index 160

About the Author 166

Editorial Reviews

"In 1987 Ed Gillet crossed from California to Hawaii in an ordinary sea kayak, and barely spoke of it for 30 years. Now Gillet has opened his heart and journals to Dave Shively, who weaves a gripping portrait of a man as enigmatic and pure as the journey that defined him."

Jeff Moag

"A great read for those who prefer more secure ways to explore life’s questions, and an inspiration to adventurers. This classic tale will stand the test of time! Thanks, Dave Shively."

Nigel Foster

This is one of those absorbing books that is certain to carry you away on an inner voyage of your own. It is about an audacious attempt by Ed Gillet to cross the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii, a journey that would take at least two months. His means of travel? A kayak. That's right. A kayak! Even solo adventurers crossing the ocean in a row boat have a place to sleep. But a kayak? This is truly a great adventure, and outdoor writer and kayaking aficionado Dave Shively is perfect to tell the story. Does Gillet make it? You can find out in this first rate chronicle of the journey.”—National Outdoor Book Awards

From the Publisher

"Awe. That’s the only word I can think that not only describes my reaction to reading about Ed Gillet’s incredible feat of ingenuity, endurance and sheer audacity, but of Shively’s accomplishment in the recounting of it. The author’s palpable, authentic feel for big water, for the paddle and for the scope of the saga comes through on every page, providing perspective without sounding, if you’ll pardon the term, pedestrian. By the time I finished the book I was exhausted, but felt like doing nothing more than jumping in my own boat and paddling a little bit further than the day before. You can’t ask more from a book than that."

Sam George

"I have been waiting thirty years for this book. When I first heard of Ed Gillet's heroic paddle to Hawaii I was thrilled and inspired in my own traveling. But this is much more than a book about a kayak journey. It is that great thing in travel—a brave quest, the solitary traveler turning his back on the cynics,

and heading into a turbulent sea in a small boat, and finding landfall. It is a great metaphor for human endeavor. 'Never before, never since' indeed. But Ed Gillet is that rare creature—a modest man and also a hero. Dave Shively has told his story well."

Paul Theroux