Rare Method is a PedalTheOcean sponsor, and a local Calgary marketing agency that is run by my brother in-law Tom Short. I am putting WiTHiN on display in their main lobby on Valentine’s Day (WiTHiN is red and romantic I guess) and giving a little talk about me and the ocean crossing record attempt. During my preparation I was trying to figure out the best way to describe my business relationship with Rare Method and Tom, and decided to create a flow chart to better illustrate the complex relationship between all of the various companies I have started or been involved with during my career as an entrepreneur.

I thought that you might like to know a little about how Greg came to be, so here is my “entrepreneurial genealogy flow chart” (click to enlarge):

I started out on my own almost immediately after I graduated from a two year engineering course at SAIT – Calgary’s local technical institute. I worked as a draftsman at an oil company for a very short period of time and hated it. In 1985 I quit my job and started a freelance graphic design company called Image Club Graphics. For the next 5 years, I designed logos and avoided starving to death. Barely.

I got my dad to guarantee a bank loan for a new Apple LaserWriter laser printer and a Macintosh 128 K computer. For those of you not as old as me, the LaserWriter was the very first high resolution (300 dpi *was* high back in the olden days!) printer and the 128 K Mac was the first computer with a ‘graphical user interface’. The bundle that I leased was valued at a whopping $20,000. I have more computing power in my watch now than I did with that original Mac system. Since I had no money to put down on the system, it was leased and over the term of the lease it probably ended up costing me $40,000.

I immediately realized that this new technology was going to revolutionize the graphic arts and publishing industry, and that I needed to wake-up and seize the day. As I could afford it, I changed the focus of Image Club to software development for the electronic publishing industry and we grew like crazy.

Fast forward to 1994… I was 33 years old. Image Club had become the worlds leading publishing content software publisher and was acquired by Adobe Systems. Actually, we were acquired by a company called Aldus Corporation who made a page layout application called PageMaker. In the midst of the Aldus acquisition, Aldus was acquired by Adobe Systems and Adobe picked up Image Club as part of the package.

I did not accept a position with the new division at Adobe, but my right-hand man at Image Club – Brad Zumwalt was far smarter than I, and he continued to run the division from Calgary for Adobe. A couple of years later during a corporate re-structure, Adobe decided to shut the Image Club division down and Brad gathered a few investors together and they re-purchased Image Club from Adobe making it a private corporation once again. Brad re-branded the new company as EyeWire, built it back up over a few more years, and then sold it to Getty Images for something like $30 million clams.

Brad negotiated an extremely preferable non-compete clause with Getty, and within a couple of years he had resurrected EyeWire as “Veer“. Same people, same products, same business plan with a new name and he and his employees owned 100% of it. In fact, most of the key employees working for EyeWire, then Veer started with me at Image Club.

Brad applied his golden formula and built Veer up through the years and recently sold it to Bill Gate’s company “Corbis” and turned most of those loyal employees into millionaires.

No – unfortunately, I played NO part in any of Brad’s successes after I sold Image Club to Adobe. Most of my employees that stayed with Brad ended up making WAY more money than I ever did way back in 1994 when I sold (for a relatively paltry amount) to Adobe. Brad is a pretty incredible entrepreneur, and he deserves every bit of success he achieved, as does everyone who followed him.

Now lets re-center back to the middle of the chart – the goofy guy with the yellow cap. Shortly after I started Image Club in 1985, I launched a second company called Sharper Cards. We designed, manufactured and marketed recall cards to the dental industry. After my wife Helen graduated from University of Calgary, she took over the business and ran it up to a multi-million dollar corporation. In 2003 Sharper Cards was acquired by our largest US competitor Smart Health Corporation from Phoenix, AZ. Helen retired and the Sharper division of Smart Health is still up and running right here in Calgary.

Re-center again and we move down to Idea Machine. I started this small company during my time at Image Club mostly to get closer to our customer. We used our expertise in digital publishing to design and produce print products for local Calgary clients. I brought my Brother in-law Tom Short in as a partner, and when I sold Adobe, I let Tom take Idea Machine. Sometime in the early 2000’s Idea Machine was acquired by Calgary’s Rare Method Corporation where it is one of Calgary’s largest communications agencies today.

I had an idea for a software product that didn’t fit into what Image Club was doing, so I started NewDirections with my cousin Tim Senger. Our first product was called FastForms and was the first forms generating and fill-out package available at the time. It was very popular, but needed quite a bit of additional programming to keep up with demands for updates. ND was bought-out by Tim and his partners at Shana Corporation where they re-wrote and expanded on the FastForms concept. They eventually became leaders in the forms market and were acquired by FileNet in 2003.

At some point during Image Clubs rapid growth, I had an idea for an innovative way of marketing our digital typefaces. I wanted to offer our entire library of fonts on a CD ROM disc (CD’s were brand new at the time), but lock access to the files on the CD. We would give the CD’s away, and the customer would purchase an access code from Image Club’s toll free order desk to unlock single fonts as required. It was kind of like an online store on a CD ROM disc. Remember – this was WAY before the Internet, so purchasing software online was stuff of science fiction books. I partnered with Shawn Abbott and his company ANDgroup. Shawn would develop the encryption technology, and Image Club would benefit by being able to utilize the technology in our product. The relationship worked out great for both parties and Shawn was able to eventually sell ANDgroup and the unlocking technology he had developed to Rainbow Technologies in 1994.

The most recent ‘action’ in the flow chart is iStock Photo which is shown with a gray dashed line connected to Image Club. The dashed connection is because I really had nothing to do with Bruce Livingston’s brain child iStock, aside from being Bruce’s employer for a number of years at Image Club. Bruce observed the incredible growth of our digital stock photography line of products (Image Club was the first company ever to offer stock photography in digital form on CD ROM disc, and we had rapidly expanded that offering over the years). Bruce had a better idea – to start an online photo sharing community. He left Image Club and worked for Tom at Idea Machine for a few years, then launched his iStock Photo web site. After my other brother in-law Pat Lor (married to my KidPower main-man and little sister Theresa) finished his MBA, he joined Bruce as a partner, and last year they sold iStock to Getty Images for 50 million bucks. Yes, the same Getty that purchased Brad’s EyeWire.

I would like to eventually expand on the outline by adding in some of the dollar amounts that were generated at each acquisition. It would also be interesting to do a count of how many millionaires were created since I started Image Club 23 years ago. It would be mind boggling. I need to stress that I played no role in any of the little blue balls on the chart. Basically, I made a bit of money from the sale of Image Club to Adobe, and Helen made some from the sale of Sharper to Smart Health. We made enough for a ‘careful’ retirement, and we are very happy with that. I have no regrets at all, and I am just as proud as hell to have initiated all of this.

—————————————

I set up this new blogh to lay down in pixels some personal
thoughts and feelings about what I am about to do – sicinktly put: to
lock myself into a puny capsule and pedal it across the Atlabntic
ocean.

You shooudl see me now – eally. You would laugh. Sometimes I wonder if
my kids are a bit embarrased by my antics. Picture this: I am seated
in a recumbent seat down stairs in my basement pedalling a magnetic
rersistance trainer. Yes, I am training. Not so bad so far. The
recumbent seat and I are enlocsed in a wooden frame with coroplast
walls, and I am typing this on a rubber keyboard that rests on a
TV-tray sort of shelf that is suspended a few inches above my lap. The
keyboard is plugged into my Trimble Nomad water-proof, shock prooff,
indestructable PDA computer which is wirelessly connected to ourr home
network and on the intenet.

I am very comffortable and able to peck away at the keys no slower
than my pretty respectable three ffingher hunt and peck method I've
been using since my first computer which was a mac 128 K (details for
thos of you oopd enough top appreciate a bit of smilable history) I
can see

I am glad that I am comfortable because that's sot of the po8int. I
have consteucted a wood mock-up of the new human powered ocean
crossing boat that is on the digital drafting table right now. The
popo9int to this little wooden home on pedals is two fold: first to
experiment with various interior layouts and experience what it will
be like to live in it for up o 50 days when I pedal the real boat
across the 4000 miles of the Atlantic ocean solo and unsupporrted in
less than 12 months fom now.

Second is to feedback any changes to the ocean crossing boat. So far,
I have learned that I need to extend the pedals about 2 inches further
away rom my seat, and raise my seat bottom another 3 inches to achieve
that 'sweet seat' position. I also have the perfect indoor training
platform – everything is exactly like it will be oj the actual ocean
boat – so no purprises. If io can spin for 16 hours in my little wood
home, then I will feel much morre conffident about having to do that
every day for 40 days as I ride the mighty swells of the Atlantic
ocean.

This wooden crate-turned pedalling machine also features an exact
rreplica of my sleeping cabin complete with a wooden hinged hatch.
Later on in my training, I plan on actuallysleeping back there after a
grueling day of pedllaing. I am planning on spending an Atlantic
crossing pretend day – a full-on ddress rehersal. I'll cook on-board,
eat on-board, bathroom on-boarrd, pedal for 12 hours and go to sleep
in my stern cabin.

Now, let me get back to my earlier point about how rediculous I must
look. I can't see Codyor Krista running off to school bursting with
stories about how cool their dad is. Oh well, you have tiood o what
you have to do..

When I amaze the world with a world record breaking human powered
ocean crossing, maybe my kids will thinik that is pretty cool – if not
now, perhaps when they get a bit older and the nerdy genes they
inhertited from me start to express themselves. Sory guys, it's
hard-wired into you. not ky falkt, Actually, all my fault!

I've been hammering away fro 90 minutes and I have another 90 to go
for todays training session.. It's time to put the keyboard away and
grab the guita. One of the benefits to a recubent bicicle is thjat it
frees the arms up for time-consuming actibvvities – like typing emails
or 0playijng Xbox. An hour of Guitaer Hero feels like 5 minutes – time
just flies! Kids – don't bring y9our ffrineds home.

——————————————-
Be part of a WORLD RECORD.
Support Greg's quest to become the
fastest human to cross the Atlantic ocean
under his own power with a $30 "Acship that includes YOUR NAME on his
boat "WiTHiN".
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/sponsorship

Life Story Part 1

As a kid I used to read the Guinness Book of World Records and
fantasize about being in there myself somehow, someday.

I received two certificates in the mail today from Guinness World
Records. One for my HPV 24 hour distance record and the other for the
pedal boat 24 hour distance record. Coincidentally, I also got an
email from the Ultra marathon Cycling Association which I am a member
of. The UMCA owns the epic bike race "Race Across America" or RAAM.
They have recognized 2 of my HPVA records:

Greg Kolodziejzyk, age 45 (at time of attempt)
1000 km Track Record: 23 hours 2 minutes Average speed 26.977 mph
24 Hour Track Record: 647 miles Average speed 26.958 mph
Place: Eureka CA
Date: July 17, 2006

But that just seems to be the way things work. I don't know if you've
noticed it working in your life – or maybe it has been working for you
all along, but you haven't clued into it yet. When you think about
things with enough passion, they come true.

It's kind of weird – but for me these passionate thoughts happen as
single powerful moments where I suddenly just know something is going
to happen. These 'knowing' moments can be so powerful they bring tears
to my eyes. And I can remember them all as clear as if they happened
yesterday.

I recall standing in my apartment on 17th avenue one evening in my
early 20's. I looked outside my balcony window at the sparking
downtown Calgary skyline and suddenly just knew with all of my being
that I was going to make it – that everything was going to turn out
ok. This sudden realization happened in the face of going through some
pretty rough times.

I was in the second or third year of my own business as a freelance
graphic artist. Designing logos and brochures for small companies, I
was barely getting by. My girlfriend at the time worked at "Marvelous
Muffins" and I wanted to break up with her, but couldn't because she
would bring me a box of day-old's after her shift every few days. I
relied on these less-than-marvelous muffins for my dinner. My credit
cards had been taken away from me and all that was left in my wallet
aside from a few bucks was a Hudsons Bay department store credit card.
Luckily the downtown Bay store had a parkade with a gas station in it
that would accept the Bay card. That was the only way I could buy gas
for my Toyota Tercel. I was in dept up to my ears and my monthly
income from my business was non-existant some months.

My dire situation came to a head when I was filling out a Government
health care form. Every Canadian pays into the provincial government
health care program. Typically, the remittance is paid directly from
your pay cheque, but since I was self employed, I had to make my own
payments. Because I was in arrears, as I was for all my bills
including my taxes, someone from the collections office at the Alberta
government told me that if I was under the poverty line, that I could
be pardoned from having to make these monthly payments (we're talking
about $30 a month here!). As I filled out the form, I realized that I
was under the poverty line. In fact, I wasn't even half way to the
poverty line!

I hope my kids aren't reading this! I smoked a pack of Camels every
day and partied WAY too much. I mean **WAY** too much – (let your
imagination go wild – no need to explain any further – right?). But
you know what? I was OK with all of this because I just knew that
somehow, someday, I was going to live the life of my dreams. I knew it
with all of my being – as if it had already happened.

To be continued…

I have been working on the design for the ocean crossing version of WiTHiN, and I’ve been making pretty decent progress. It occurred to me that before I went any further with the design, I had better know for sure that I can live within the dimensions! Something I learned from the Tofino sea trials is that the current prototype is WAY too small and it would drive me crazy spending days upon end in that tiny enclosed capsule.

I decided that I would build a mock-up that would double as an indoor trainer. I’ll be able to train for the ocean crossing and the 24 hour record attempt in June, and as well, learn more about the space I need to live in there for 40 days.

Above is the overview design for the expedition boat. For details on the equipment on board, you can see the entire document here.

I will enclose the wood frame with coroplast and continue to build-out the stern cabin. Already I have noticed that I needed to raise the roof of WiTHiN by 4 inches so I can lean all the way forward to access the bow storage compartment. In the image you can see the working Lewmar Ocean 30 hatch above the para-anchor storage bin. All storage compartments and hatches will be working and made of wood and hinges. I’m even going to make the sliding canopy top with port lights and a windshield. This is the best way to design a working space. After an hour peddling in the simulator, I found a few additional places that would be good for storing things that I didn’t notice in the 3D computer model.

After I finish my overview document, the next step is to hire a naval architect to go over our design and spec out material thickness, and other important construction details like which areas need to be reinforced, how to mount the keel on so it won’t fall off, that kind of thing. If there are any NA’s reading this and might be interested in helping, please send me an email.

After input from the NA, I will get Ben to model it all up properly in SolidWorks, then we need a builder. If you are a boat builder and might be interested in building the new WiTHiN, please send me an email.

Yes, the guitar I’m playing in the photo at the top is from the XBox game Guitar Hero. One of the benefits of indoor recumbent training is that you can do all kinds of other fun things with your hands, arms and mind to pass the time. It’s unbelievable how fast time flies when I’m playing this game. Fav tune is “Holiday in Cambodia” by “The Dead Kennedy’s” Try to do that on the indoor rower!

Below are some drawings I made for the new 24 hour record attempt boat. The design is by Rick Willoughby, and I consider it to be the most efficient human powered boat in the world for longer distances.

On the schedule for February:

1. I replaced the window in WiTHiN with some fresh PETG. One of my visibility problems in Tofino was because there was some over spray on the window. I have also ordered a manually operated windshield wiper to see if that helps. I have also removed the outriggers, and I need to build a keel. Then a pool test to figure out how much weight to suspend off the end of the keel, then another sea trial for March.

2. Find a naval architect and finish the design.

3. Find a builder and contract them to start building the new boat

4. Start work on the main hull and outrigger for the 24 hour record attempt boat.

I’ve been spending some time planning out a pretty daunting schedule for the coming year, and if I can accomplish everything that I have set out to accomplish, it will be one hell of an amazing year! I am really excited about it all – I have TONS of work to do, but I say BRING IT ON because I am totally FIRED UP.

Click to enlarge, or click here to view this with my training program

The first major event of the year will be another attempt at the 24 hour human powered boat world record in June!! This time, kayak world record holder Carter Johnson has kindly agreed to join me here in Calgary for a race. Carter currently owns the 24 hour HPB record which is 241 km which he set in his Surfski kayak in the summer of 2006. Last summer, I set a 24 hour pedal boat record of 173 km.

I’m only 68 km short! YIKES!!! To deal with that, Rick Willoughby and I have come up with a new super boat design that I will have to build. It will be very light, very narrow and WAY faster than the bathtub built for two that I raced in last summer.

I was looking for someone to build the new boat for me in exchange for some publicity, but I haven’t had much interest, so I’m going to need to suck it up and get back into the shop to build it myself. That’s OK – I can do it. I just have to get myself into the right mind set, clean up the shop, roll up my sleeves and make it happen.

I have already started my training program which will slowly ramp up my long ‘ride’ from 4 hours, once per week to 16 hours shortly before the record race in June. This new boat will be capable of almost exactly 240 km in 24 hours based on my previous power output, so beating Carters record (and beating Carter) will require that I am in better shape than ever before.

A June race will make the perfect training milestone for the Atlantic crossing next December. And for that, not only do I need to finish the design for the ocean boat, but I need to find a builder, get it built, test it, train and all of the other zillion things that need to be done to get me across the Atlantic ocean in less than 40 days. Wow – less than 40 days. And less than a year to make it all happen!

—————–
I have been speaking with Kathleen Dohan from the OSCAR program at Earth & Space Research. Kathleen has kindly offered to provide me with research, data and real-time forecasting of the currents along my Atlantic crossing route from the Canary Islands to the West Indies.

—————-
I would like to introduce my PR man Mark Dusseault who did such a fantastic job organizing my Victoria media day. The story got picked up by a national news feed and ended up being broadcast right across Canada. I got a phone call from a friend who was in Toronto on business and he saw me in the Toronto Star! We are lucky to have a guy like Mark working with Pedal The Ocean.

click to enlarge (photo by Pat Lor)

For whatever you would like to donate to Pedal The Ocean, I can superimpose your logo onto the bow of WiTHiN in the above photo that Pat Lor shot from the support boat in Tofino, BC. I can also provide you with a large framed wall plaque for your office, and a jpeg file for your marketing. This would also include a small logo on the ocean crossing boat itself, of course. If you are interested, shoot me an email with your suggestions, and I’ll put it together for you. 10% of all sponsorship sales go to KidPower.

Got to run – I have some work to do!
Greg

I drove WiTHiN to the car wash today and pressure-sprayed her clean. She got pretty dirty from the long drive home from Vancouver Island. To top that off, it’s been snowing here non-stop since we got back on Thursday night. I wish I had taken a photo of the boat on the trailer in my driveway with about 12″ of snow piled high on the deck. Something just not right about that…

I am planning another trip out to Tofino for more fun in the ocean swells. But first, I’m going to make a few changes:

1. I am adding a ballasted keel to WiTHiN. From the sea trials last week, I realized that WiTHiN needs more rolling stability when the waves are all mixed up like they were the first day we had her out. A 3 foot narrow tube with a bulb containing anywhere from 40 to 100 lbs of weight in it will lower the center of gravity and increase the length of the moment arm. This should really help the boat stay vertical, even when sitting on a ‘slanted’ slab of water. This is what keeps sail boats from rocking right to left constantly. We were going to build the ocean crossing version of WiTHiN with a ballasted keel rather than outrigger anyhow, but I really need to test out how effective this keel will be in keeping WiTHiN stable enough to stand in, and not rolling around like she does now.

2. I am covering over that useless PETG window and inserting an opening port light window. This will be glass and will be inserted as close to vertical as I can get it. I will also be able to open it up for better venting, or to see in case it gets fogged up.

For the next sea trials, I would really like to get into some seriously windy conditions and I would also like to experience some larger swells. The plan is to go out with a support boat again for safety, and simply head west for a few hours. This should take me a good 20 km from shore. Then turn around and head back. I think two or three days of doing this will teach me quite a bit and will be great training.

Rick Willoughby and I have been incorporating what I learned from the sea trials last week into a design for the ocean version of WiTHiN. Here is a sneak preview:

The new ocean crossing boat will sport a sliding canopy top for fresh air. There will be a small window in the stern cabin so I can watch for traffic.

The stern sleeping cabin will be larger and taller which will allow me to sit up. The cockpit will be a ‘wet area’ which means that if a wave were to wash in, the bilge pump would kick in and drain it. The area behind my seat holds the water maker, para-anchor and water container. The gunwale compartments are also water tight and will hold a few days worth of food, and my various electronics.

The stern cabin is sealed off from the cockpit by a bulkhead with a hatch. I can enter the stern cabin through the hatch with the retracting canopy partially closed which should act as an awning protecting the cabin from water splashing in. The Bow compartment will hold spare parts, 50 days worth of food, tools, etc.

The new boat will be 30 feet long – check out the difference in size compared to the prototype. Because ocean WiTHiN will utilize a better hull shape, we expect the speed to be about 8 kph on 100 watts average daily power.

Here are my rough initial speed calculations:

La Gomera, Spain to Antigua = 4500 km

Ocean Surface Current = .8 kph x 24 hours/day = 19.2 km/day x 40 days = 768 km
Check out Chris Martin’s most excellent analysis of the ocean currents for Dec/Jan/Feb months from the Canary Islands to the West Indies.

12 hours of pedalling per day @ 100 watts, 8 kph = 96 km/day x 40 days = 3840

Total = 40 days (new crossing record), 4608 km

NOTE: this does not take into consideration the pushing effect of the trade winds which blow from East to West. I am looking into what the averages are, and how they could effect a vessel like WiTHiN on the Atlantic ocean.

I would like to finish today’s blog by saying thanks again to everyone who has supported this endeavour by becoming a sponsor. We have sold a few logos on the boat for $250 and a whole pile of individual names/T-shirts for $100. I have a long way to go still, but TOGETHER, WE will get there!!

Why don’t you think about a holiday in the Canary Islands for next December, or even better – Antigua for a HUGE PARTY next February!

——————————————-
Be part of a WORLD RECORD.
Support Greg’s quest to become the
fastest human to cross the Atlantic ocean
under his own power with a $30 “Across With Greg”
sponsorship that includes YOUR NAME on his boat “WiTHiN”.
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/sponsorship

Man and machines – Greg Kolodziejzyk stands beside WiTHiN human powered boat with Critical Power human powered vehicle in the background on the docks at the Victoria Gorge Rowing and Paddling club.

Mark Dusseault and Greg Kolodziejzyk

Mark Dusseault is amazing. Mark volunteered to organize a media day at the Gorge Rowing club in Victoria and to say he did a fantastic job would be an understatement.

Pat Lor and I arrived at the Gorge at 9:00 am and it was pretty well non-stop interviews, talking with the public and demos until 4:00 pm. The afternoon was spent with a crew from Discovery Channel who are filming a follow-up segment for Daily Planet.

Thanks to Marty and the great guys from the Gorge Rowing and Paddling center for letting us host the event at their facility in the Victoria harbor.

The story got picked up by the CP news wire feed and the stories are just now being published. Here are a few that were published today:

Victoria Times Colonist
Westcoaster
Canadian Press
Prince George Citizen
Yahoo News
CBC news
Calgary Sun

—————
Here are some more photos from the sea trials in Tofino:

I’m in the cockpit closely watching my support boat “Close Encounters” through the video monitor

View from outside the cockpit of my support boat “Close Encounters” – a whale watching boat from the Weigh West Resort and Marina in Tofino, BC

Sang-Ryun Woo from SBS TV Korea shooting some footage of the sleeping area in the rear of WiTHiN

I am eating my dehydrated meal in the cockpit of WiTHiN while moored to the dock at Weigh West marina in Tofino. It was a VERY rough night! The video camera that you see was recording some of that miserable night for SBS TV.

Here is my view from the video viewing system mounted on the top deck of WiTHiN

Pat Lor finds the top hatch that blew off WiTHiN!!!

Pat Lor standing by WiTHiN as we wait to board the ferry to Vancouver Island

A seal in Victoria

The adventure started almost immediately on Thursday morning as Pat Lor and I headed West from Calgary with my human powered boat WiTHiN in tow. We departed bright and early at 6:00 am and after travelling 100 km, stopped to check on the boat at the Banff park gates. To my horror, I saw that WiTHiN’s top hatch was gone!!! The boat had slipped forward on it’s stand and the strap that holds the hatch down had slipped off. Also missing was the hatch tether which had pulled it’s anchor right out of the deck wall. Oh no!

We had to drive back to look or for it – no choice. Taking WiTHiN into the ocean without the top hatch in place would be very dangerous. A wave could pour in and flood her which would result in a rescue.

We drove 100 km back to Calgary and then re-traced the drive back to Banff with all eyes aimed at the shoulders of the highway.

About half way back, Pat found it!!! The hatch was on the right hand shoulder with the bright red side up. It’s an 18″ x 18″ slightly curved piece of fiberglass and he actually saw it.

I wish I could say the remainder of the drive was uneventful, but the winter road conditions were hellish most of the way with a fairly major snow storm near Vancouver.

The good news was that even with the two hour detour and the snow, we actually made the 9:30 ferry to Nanaimo.

We stayed in Nanaimo for the night and drove to a Home Depot the next morning to make some repairs to the trailer before heading over the pass to Tofino.

To say that WiTHiN attracts a lot of attention is an understatement. Pat and I found it difficult to make our repairs in the parking lot because so many people were coming up and asking questions about the boat and the expedition. People were going away to get cameras and returning to take pictures and we got two offers to lend us support boats while in the Vancouver island area! Wow – it was SO cool to get that kind of response from random people. We thoroughly enjoyed talking to everyone.

The 2.5 hour drive to Tofino was fairly non-eventful. Tofino is a town with a population o 1600 in the winter and 20,000 in the summer due to it’s exploding tourism industry. Wild Tofino sits on the protected side of a small peninsula on the far west side of Canada’s Vancouver island.

We parked the Suburban and WiTHiN on the side of the main road leading into Tofino and went into our hotel to check in and figure out where to park the boat, etc. The hour or so that WiTHiN sat off to the side of the highway was enough time for a significant percentage of the town to see her and want to know what was up. The phone in our hotel room started to ring – fist it was someone from the local paper wanting an interview, then the local radio station requesting an interview. When I got back to the boat there was a note on the door from someone else wondering what was going on.

Pat and I drove WiTHiN down to the public boat launch and managed to get WiTHiN into the water. We were met at the boat launch by our South Korean friends producer Jin-Kyu Yoo and camera man Sang-Ryun Woo from SBS TV. Jin-Kyu is producing a documentary on human power and Tofino was his second stop on a North American tour to cover interesting human powered projects. They included 4 days in Tofino to film my sea trials and interview me about the ocean crossing expedition and my Critical Power human powered vehicle 24 hour distance record. Our deal was that they would pay for a support boat for the sea trials if I brought Critical Power with me, so our relationship was definitely a win-win situation.

As I prepared to pedal WiTHiN back to the hotel marina, I noticed that I could not keep the front window clear of moisture. I couldn’t see a thing. Nothing worked – it was like looking through frosted glass. It was so humid and rainy that visibility out the window was about as close to ZERO as you could get. This was a PROBLEM!

I headed out from the public dock and was very surprised by the strength of the current. I noticed on my chart that the currents during peak tides are as high as 5 knots in front of the docks lining Tofinos protected East side. A Fisherman said that the flood tide current was going to peak soon and told us that many kayakers get driven into the sand bars from the strong current. I figured that I could sit on some towels and bags to keep my head above the open top hatch top see out, and if the ebb current was too strong, I could just bail to a dock on my starboard side.

The current was strong, but nothing that I could not power through in WiTHiN. I stayed as close to the docks as I could and at one point is was like pedalling up a fast flowing river. I made it back to the Weigh West marina without issue.

I slept in WiTHiN while she was tied to the dock at Weigh West in front of our hotel. My night started by cooking dinner with my cool JetBoil stove and Mountain House macaroni beef chilly stew. That worked well – I could hold the JetBoil by hand for the 20 seconds it takes to boil 2 cups of water. I pour the water into the Mountain House packet and wait 10 minutes. It was pretty good.

Then I settled in for the night by transferring to the sleeping compartment behind my seat. The bed is very cushy and there is enough room back there to stretch out comfortably. I found that moving around between the cockpit and rear area to be far too restrictive. It took a good 20 minutes and some serious gymnastics to get something from the front, take off a piece of clothing, etc, etc. This will not work for the ocean crossing. I will definitely need more room.

The temperature was about 2 or 3 degrees outside and it was very warm and cozy in WiTHiN. I had both vents open and could feel a breeze blowing through, but I was very warm. This will be another issue out on the Atlantic – how to adequately vent heat from the sleeping area.

I couldn’t sleep – the rocking of the boat was too much for me, but I was determined to stick it out. By 4:00 am, the winds and waves had picked up considerably and I was repeatedly bashed against the dock. I gave up and joined Pat in the hotel room for a few hours of sleep.

The phone woke me up at 9:00 am. It was the front desk informing me that one of the lines had broken and that WiTHiN was being tossed around on the docks from her single leash. I ran down there and sure enough, the repeated bashing against the dock during the night had cut through one of the ropes and WiTHiN was almost free! While I was securing her to the dock, the skipper for the hotels Whale Watching boat came by for a visit. I explained to him that I wanted to get our around the peninsula to open Pacific for some ocean swells testing, but that I couldn”t see out my window and relying on the video monitor was not safe enough. He seemed to think that he could lead me out and that I would be able to follow him with the video. We went through some safety procedures in case something went wrong and I was very confident that my new French buddy Pipot Dupuis knew what he was doing. He told me that he had been sailing all his life and had sailed around the world.

By 10:00 am, Pipot, his boat “Close Encounters”, Pat, and my Korean TV crew were guiding me out of the Tofino marina area out into the open Pacific. My heart was pounding.

I could easily see Close Encounters in my video monitor and was in constant communications with Pitpot via UHF radio, so finding my way was easy. WiTHiN maintained 7 kph with very little effort and seemed very stable. I tried to roll her by rocking back and fourth, but it was impossible to get the water line any higher than the bottom of the floats. About 30 minutes later, we had rounded the corner and were into some chop. A bit further on we were into rolling swells with quite a bit of chop and white caps. WiTHiN was being rocked about quite a bit, but I felt like everything was under control and I could easily maneuver WiTHiN any direction that I wanted to go without issue.

Jin-Kyu and Sang-Ryun were very happy with the footage that they were getting and Pipot seemed impressed with the performance of WiTHiN. As a test, we decided to tow WiTHiN back to the marina, and we had no problems towing her back at 18 to 20 kph !

Over all, the result from that test were positive, but there are a few things that I need to consider for the expedition boat design. First, I definitely need a good ballast keel. WiTHiN was rocking around too much and you can see this in the awesome video shot by Sang. A keel would definitely soften up the relentless rocking back and fourth. I also need more room in the cockpit! It felt very tight and restrictive in there and I need to resolve the window issue for sure. I can’t rely on the video monitor alone – it will help, but I need to be able to see the waves and the horizon. I also see the advantage of being able to completely open up the cockpit with a sliding canopy which is something that I want to design into the final expedition boat for sure. I think the window issue can be resolved with some flat, back-slanted windows like the kind you see on fishing trawlers and my support boat Close Encounters.

That night I sat in with the local radio DJ Clint from “The Bear” as he commentated the hockey game and we did an interview during the first intermission which went very well and was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we all got together for another Close Encounters accompanied journey to the open Pacific. This time we had less chop but way bigger swells. Pipot thought they were 2 to 3 meters. WiTHiN maintained 7 kph into oncoming waves with easy to moderate effort. Winds were 15 to 20 mph from the side and I could not tell at all aside from WiTHiN leaning a bit to the starboard side. This lean was easily corrected by me shifting more of my weight to the left hand side of my seat – other than that, I had no idea if it was windy or calm. The return trip with following seas saw from 11 to 12 kph average speeds with easy to moderate effort. Everyone on the support boat was feeling a bit sea sick and Pitpot radioed me and asked how I was feeling. I lied when I said that I felt fine. I was actually feeling a bit queasy by then.

The next morning I did an interview with Tofino’s independant news source Westcoaster.ca with Kevin Drews. Here is the article he published: http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3426

After that, we packed up for the drive back to the east coast and Victoria. I did a phone interview with Victoria newspaper from the car, and we’re now in Beautiful Victoria, BC. Tomorrow we launch WiTHiN in the Victoria harbor for local media, TV, radio and newspapers, then spend all afternoon with Discovery Channel for a follow-up segment to the Daily Planet episode they first broadcast in September.

The adventure continues…

——————————————-
Be part of a WORLD RECORD.
Support Greg’s quest to become the
fastest human to cross the Atlantic ocean
under his own power with a $30 “Across With Greg”
sponsorship that includes YOUR NAME on his boat “WiTHiN”.
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/sponsorship

I can’t believe how much time it has taken just to get ready for this Vancouver Island sea trials trip. I can’t imagine what it will be like when I am getting WiTHiN ready to leave La Gomera, Spain on her human powered voyage across the Atlantic ocean in a year from now.

I’ve spent the last few days packing two giant duffel bags and going through check-lists. Today, I loaded WiTHiN onto the trailer and packed the Suburban.

Pat and I leave tomorrow morning. It’s about 1000 km from Calgary to Vancouver through various levels of winter driving conditions. I have the 9:00 pm ferry form Vancouver to Nanaimo reserved, so I hope 14 hours is enough time. We’ll spend the night in Nanaimo, then drive a few hours across Vancouver Island to Tofino on Friday.

The surf forecast for Monday isn’t looking fantastic at this point – about 15 foot waves on Monday – our “big seas” testing day, but 26 mph winds, which might make the conditions a bit nutty – I’ll play it by ear, and take advice from the support boat skipper and my local guide.

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What am I concerned with? I guess anything unknown is always a concern. I don’t know how cold it will get inside WiTHiN – the forecast is calling for average temperature of around 5 to 8 degrees C during the day and around 1 to 2 at night. I have a pretty warm sleeping bag and plenty of warm clothes. I have pedalled inside WiTHiN when it was about that temperature here in Calgary and it got fairly warm inside – warm enough to wear a sweater, so it should be OK. The windows will definitely fog-up though, so I made sure to bring my anti-fog solution, and plenty of rags. I have my GPS for navigation and there shouldn’t be too many other boats around since this is the middle of winter.

I am also concerned about rain – it rains constantly in Tofino in the winter. I added a rubber lip around the top hatch to prevent it from leaking, so I don’t think rain will leak in, but you never know. I have a hotel room booked just in case.

High winds blasting WiTHiN is also an unknown at this point – I would definitely be concerned about that. It should be OK because WiTHiN is pretty aerodynamic, but she’s also a lot bigger than a sea kayak, and as such could get thrown around by the wind. Again, I need to play that by ear also and that’s exactly what this sea trial is all about.

My brother AK is a rock star. Really – his passion is his band Plaid Tongued Devils and his business is signs. Props to AK signs for the rockin decals Alan did for me. WiTHiN looks like she’s ready for business.

Thanks again for all of your support in the form of personal and corporate logo sponsorships. I decided to put the corporate logos on the prototype boat, and personal names from the “Across With Greg” sponsorship program will go on the actual ocean crossing boat. To see your logo on WiTHiN, click here.

Pat Lor and I leave for the west coast on my little mini-expedition next Thursday (Jan 10) and I’m really looking forward to it, especially now since my brother in law Pat agreed to accompany me and lend a hand. As I have said before, I am planning on three days touring around the protected waters of the Tofino area. This will provide me with a great opportunity to learn more about some of the space confines of WiTHiN and whether or not I can live with that for the ocean crossing.

On Monday the 14th, I am meeting Jay Bowers, a local surfing instructor and a whale watching boat with a Canadian Coast Guard skipper from Ocean Outfitters. The plan is to venture out past Vargas island into some open Pacific swells to test how WiTHiN handles the bigger ocean. I want to see how wind effects her, how she surfs down swells, and what it feels like to be confined in the capsule cockpit while riding the ocean swells. I haven’t been sea sick yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of exposing myself to the right conditions. It will be a learning experience for sure. The safety boat will be nearby in case I run into trouble like a rudder or drive leg failure.

Then on Wednesday 16th we launch WiTHiN in Victoria for some local media interviews and another Discovery channel interview. On Thursday I am heading back to Calgary, but stopping in Maple Ridge, BC for a tour of the Nimbus kayak factory, as they are interested in building the ocean crossing boat.

The photo above shows most of my electronics ready for packing. From left to right, top to bottom, the water proof Rugged Tech keyboard, Sony HD camcorder, VHF marine radio, cell phone, McMurdo Fast Find Personal Locator Beacon, Garmin GPS with marine charts loaded for the Tofino area, my SRM watts meter, a water proof sports video camera which Will be mounted outside of WiTHiN, my Nomad PDA with a built in GPS and Memory Map software with marine charts of the Tofino and Victoria area, a bag of various manuals, a paper print out of the charts, tide tables, contact frequencies and phone numbers, flashlights, cables, and two boxes of AA batteries. Not shown is the camera which took the picture and my iPod.