Bart de Zwart should be landing on Kaua‘i this afternoon or Monday morning at Kalapaki Beach fronting the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, said Dagmar de Zwart, Bart’s wife. Bart’s position Saturday morning put the Maui stand up paddler
Bart de Zwart should be landing on Kaua‘i this afternoon or Monday morning at Kalapaki Beach fronting the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, said Dagmar de Zwart, Bart’s wife.
Bart’s position Saturday morning put the Maui stand up paddler entering the shadow of O‘ahu’s North Shore.
“He is almost through the Kaiwi Channel,” Dagmar said on a blog tracing De Zwart’s progress. “This is way faster than we all on land expected due to those very rough conditions.”
Bart feels he’s ready for the Ka‘ie‘ie Waho Channel towards Kaua‘i, Dagmar said following a Saturday morning check.
“He has to paddle far to the outside so the northerly turning winds won’t affect his landfall,” she said.
Bart left North Kohala on the Big Island at 9 p.m. Tuesday with the goal of making the Big Island to Kaua‘i crossing solo, non-stop and unsupported atop a stand up paddleboard.
“The plan is to stand up paddle about 300 miles, or a little less than 500 kilometers,” Bart said in the blog. “I will be using my STARBOARD Open Ocean 14’0” x 28” for the crossing.”
Bart said “solo, non stop and unsupported” means eating, sleeping, living and most of all paddling on the board for about five days and nights.
A post on Thursday morning claimed Bart had a good night, taking pills for seasickness.
“He has good wind conditions right now and is paddling towards the east cape of Moloka‘i,” the blog states. “He could sleep and rest well in his mattrassbed, was wearing a wetsuit in the night which kept him warm.”
A phone call from Bart on Friday morning claimed the stand up paddler experienced “a rough night; couldn’t sleep much due to the wind and swell.”
Bart reported his board tipped over four times while he was resting or tried to sleep. Those mishaps cost him a camera. All of his water and other equipment are intact. He anticipated the Kaiwi Channel crossing to be very rough.
Bart said the decision to undertake “the ultimate crossing” was simple.
“I think, sometimes it is good to do something difficult and hard in order to appreciate life, people, food and all the things around you we often take for granted,” he said on the blog. “ And I love to challenge myself and I love the adventure, being very close to the ocean for five days is an experience everybody should have once in their life.”
He said Hawaiians have been using their outrigger canoes for thousands of years to reach all corners of the Pacific.
“They used simple canoes, the sun and the stars for navigation,” he said. “Amazing, the distances they travelled. To really understand, you have to experience yourself.”
Visit www.sup-crossing.blogspot.com for more information.
