From West Seattle to Glacier Bay: Outrigger adventure begins

July 6, 2010 at 5:04 pm | In West Seattle news, West Seattle people | 7 Comments

“He read ‘Kon-Tiki‘ as a kid.” That’s one explanation Beach Drive resident Peter Goldman gave for the solo outrigger journey his 27-year-old nephew Alex Kongsgaard launched this morning from the rocky shore below Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook on Beach Drive – West Seattle to Glacier Bay, planning on about 30 miles a day over the next eight weeks or so. Kongsgaard is actually from Napa, California, sixth-generation Napan who works at the family winery:

His West Seattle aunt Martha Kongsgaard, Peter’s wife, provided that photo – she says Alex and his dad “just finished bottling the Kongsgaard 2008 vintage of Chardonnay, Cabernet, VioRous, and the famous ‘The Judge’” – as well as sharing this next photo, with a closer look at Alex:

Martha says her nephew has paddled long distances before – in 2007, he and a friend kayaked to Port Hardy, on the north tip of Vancouver Island. The 33-pound outrigger he’s paddling this trip is based on a Kevlar racing kayak, she adds. This morning, she had to catch a ferry to Bainbridge, so we were on the beach with Peter – the solo sendoff party for the solo paddler – and rolled video on his first minute and a half at sea:

Alex called out “See you in two months!” to Peter, who had to head off to work before the sun even finished rising above the Me-Kwa-Mooks hillside (note that Alex isn’t in sunshine till about half a minute into our clip); Peter yelled back, “May the Force be with you!” (Earlier, Alex had joked that he blamed his adventurousness partly on Peter, who’s climbed in the Himalayas, among other places.) Once Alex had paddled away, we drove over to Alki Point to watch until he was out of West Seattle waters, Canada- and Alaska-bound (Peter says his nephew plans to sleep in a hammock each night). We’ll let you know how he’s doing if the family shares any updates they get along the way.

7 Comments

  1. Awesome!! Safe travels.

    Comment by ad — 11:50 pm July 6, 2010 #

  2. Wow! Safe travels. Hope the family keeps WSB readers updated. :)

    Comment by Cheryl — 7:27 am July 7, 2010 #

  3. Wow. And I have a rough time simply getting to the coffee pot in the morning. Safe travels!

    Comment by Bob Loblaw — 7:58 am July 7, 2010 #

  4. I paddled from Newport Beach to Catalina Island once in an outrigger (~26 miles) and it was a beast! I had trained for months with a group of paddlers and we did it in an 8-man boat. I was wiped out afterward for 2-3 days so HUGE props to this guy. It will be one heck of a thing to have done, though the actual doing might suck.

    Comment by cookie addict — 12:44 pm July 7, 2010 #

  5. I’ve done a bit of flatwater kayaking but I can’t imagine paddling all that way with a single paddle.

    More power to this guy…..

    Comment by Blackwatch — 10:52 am July 9, 2010 #

  6. We saw him when we were walking along Beach Drive, and commented on the odd looking kayak. Safe travels Alex!

    Comment by Michael — 6:13 pm July 11, 2010 #

  7. On Saturday, July 10th, Art and I met Alex in the coffee shop at Bedwell Harbour on Pender Island. We were thoroughly impressed by his desire to paddle to Glacier Bay and with his wonderful personality. We had engine problems and were in a rush to meet a mechanic and now regret not taking a minute to check out his outrigger. We did view it from a distance.WAY TO GO ALEX, WE WILL BE FOLLOWING YOU AND HELPING YOU ALONG THE WAY.

    JUNE
    (Sdney, B.C)

    Comment by JUNE CHILIBECK — 9:26 am July 12, 2010 #

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