Have not seen any reviews of books on PW in a while. Here is one about rowing (not paddling) that I enjoyed: Rowing to Latitude, by Jill Fredston, is an incredible narrative of successive explorations by her and her husband Doug Fessler, both Alaska residents. In winter, they run avalanche training and rescue operations. Summers, they ROW (not paddle) the waters of the Arctic. Over time, they have completed a good bit of the Arctic Ocean coastline abutting Alaska, some of the coast along the Bering Sea, the Yukon and the McKenzie Rivers, pieces of the Labrador coast and Western coast of Greenland, and, finally, all of the Norwegian coastline (including a way north island at about 80 degrees N). Amazing adventures ... with spirited encounters with brown bears, polar bears (yeah, they get stalked a couple times), and the carcass of a whale suspended a hundred feet above sea level in a glacier! Good writing, with leavening from Jill's story of her personal growth -- pretty interesting, actually. Oh, yeah, a dozen good photos, too, including the whale-in-a-glacier. Their equipment employs a sliding seat arrangement common to competitive rowing (shells and sculls), so that they make use of leg and back muscles to an extent not possible via paddling. Even so, the first couple of seasons, Doug paddles in a sea kayak next to Jill in her scull, hustling to keep up. A great read. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger said: > > Have not seen any reviews of books on PW in a while. Here is one about rowing > (not paddling) that I enjoyed: > > Rowing to Latitude, by Jill Fredston, is an incredible narrative of successive > explorations by her and her husband Doug Fessler, both Alaska residents. In > winter, they run avalanche training and rescue operations. Summers, they ROW > (not paddle) the waters of the Arctic. I was meaning to post a review of this book also, as I enjoyed it very much. However, you should note that Doug was in a kayak for most of the book (as far as I could tell), and on the coast of Greenland they were joined by a kayaking friend. So if the rowing part puts you off, you can read it anyway! :-) However, I don't think the boat is so important, as the heart of the book is about the journey. There isn't much chest thumping ... however 50+ miles, no matter how good of a day, blew me away, especially as she was rowing and Doug was in a kayak. Only once did she mention the forward facing kayak (with Doug in it) gave any advantage, when it provided the navigational aid necessary to get them both safely to shore. She also admits to portions of the trips being ugly and painful and full of bugs - how many authors have that honesty in their tale? Also, she gives a different picture of Greenland than you see from all the lovely photos (which she says are true as well). jen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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