September 11,1997
Fort Bragg, California, USA

This morning at 9am, Mike Mulligan arrived at the RV park, and we loaded my equipment on to his truck. Before leaving the Klamath area, we drove up to a vantage point to check out the beach I crashed on two nights ago. It was the first time I had seen the beach in daylight. In hind-sight, I should not have departed Crescent City so late in the day. If it wasn’t so dark when I arrived at the Klamath, I would have had more time to consider my options. Looking back, I feel extremely fortunate that my kayak was the only thing that got cracked. After a few quick photos, we hopped back into the truck, and headed off to the US Coast Guard air base in McKinleyville, California, to get my boat repaired.

Between the Klamath River and our destination, stood some of the worlds tallest trees. For my benefit, Mike took the scenic route, and we drove through Redwood National Park.

Upon arriving at the Coast Gaurd base, we met with the Operations Officer, Brandt Weaver, and he set me up with a place to fix my boat. After sanding and cleaning the damaged areas, I cut strips of fiber-glass cloth, which were then placed over the cracks, and painted with a polyester resin mixure. The glue-like resin then saturates the cloth, and bonds it to the existing fiberglass structure. The resin was fully hardened after an hour in the sun. I found the repair process to be a lot of fun, and the result of my labors gratifying. I’m proud of the fine job I have done - considering I didn’t know anything about fiber-glassing a week ago. The project took all afternoon, and I finally finished around 6:30pm.

From Mckinleyville, we drove for two hours, then arrived here at a motel in Fort Bragg. Mike and I each have our own room. For me, it’s like rags to riches. One night I’m sleeping on the floor of a public washroom beside the toilet... the next night, I have a king size bed in a motel suite with cable TV and an ocean view.

Tonight, I received ten emails. Many of them are notes of support from other kayakers, others are from friends and family; and this one blew my mind: a guy from Hollywood told me that he is interested in doing a documentary on my journey. He says that he is a professional... and that he’s serious! I’m totally psyched!