The Globe and Mail 12 July '03

Me, myself and a guide
A controversial B.C. outfitter tests the waters for 'guided solo' kayak trips on the outer coast of Vancouver Island

Most sea kayak trips on the West Coast either fall to one extreme -- guided expeditions in sheltered waters with trip leaders to make all the critical decisions and to top off each day with a gourmet feast -- or the other -- intrepid, self-reliant paddlers tackling spectacular stretches of surf-battered coastline that lie outside popular inlets such as Clayoquot Sound.

Until now.

British Columbia outfitter Rob Lyon is pioneering a new concept in guiding: For just over $16,000, clients of his Lyon Expeditions get to spend two months alone on the open outer coast of Vancouver Island. Except for the guidance of Lyon's voice on the other end of a satellite phone connection, they are paddling solo.

The idea is controversial. To promote the oxymoron of a "guided solo" trip, Lyon must convince the kayaking world that the experience is both safe and worth the hefty price tag. And he faces potential criticism from those who see solo kayaking as a high-risk, experts-only endeavour.

"There's always a backlash against solo people," says John Dowd, a legendary expedition kayaker and author of the book Sea Kayaking. "Implicit in 'solo' is the comment that 'I don't need you guys.' Solo climbers were criticized. Solo yachtsmen were criticized. I imagine solo kayakers are criticized too. Solo trips are pretty extreme."

Here's how it works: Clients sign on for the eight-week expedition down Vancouver Island's 500-kilometre-long outer coast and hire Lyon as expedition planner and coach. They pay their $16,350, equipment and food included. After several months of preliminary phone calls and e-mails, plus the odd weekend on the water honing skills, they head to northern Vancouver Island to launch amidst the sawmills and fish packing plants at the end-of-the-road town of Port Hardy.

Lyon paddles with them for the first couple weeks of the trip, northbound at first, around Cape Scott -- the first of several mean, sea-wracked headlands they will face -- and onto the West Coast proper. He crash-coaches them in camp craft, tides, weather wisdom, surf landings and other ins and outs of Pacific paddling.

Then the client heads off alone for six weeks. Part virtual guide, part guardian angel, Lyon shadows his clients with a VHF radio or satellite phone, ready to meet them at re-supply stops, provide advice or facilitate a rescue if anything goes wrong.

Lyon, 55, a writer and ex-river guide, spent a good part of the nineties roaming the West Coast in his kayak. His odysseys have included a three-month, 1,000-kilometre circumnavigation of Vancouver Island and a daunting expedition along the seldom-travelled outer rim of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

"The value of being out there alone at least once in your life is huge," he says. "That's because we don't know ourselves. We don't know what we're capable of." Apparently, the solitude of a quiet evening at the cottage or a solo overnight at summer camp just doesn't qualify.

Using self-bailing, sit-on-top kayaks, dry suits for protection against cold water, and the judgment to choose good-weather windows for travel, Lyon insists that a life-altering coastal voyage is within reach of almost anyone, given the proper equipment and training.

But will the concept of a guided solo expedition sell? Dowd isn't sure. "The probability is that there's a contradiction built in. The kind of person who's going to go solo isn't going to go and do a course about it. I may be wrong . . . I know people who really want to do solo trips and just don't have enough skill and confidence to do it."

So far, Lyon has just one client. Jenny Paull is a 51-year-old former police officer from Portland, Ore. She has chosen a scaled-down adventure, hiring Lyon to paddle with her into a remote beach where she can have two weeks of "quality time and introspection." Lyon will camp somewhere nearby, within radio range.

Paull scheduled the trip for 2005, allowing time to save the money, brush up on her outdoor skills, lose 60 pounds and arm herself with a shotgun "for protection."

She's impressed with Lyon's services so far.

"I honestly don't know if I would have the nerve to go out and do that totally on my own without the safety net that Rob provides," she says.

This is exactly the attitude that Lyon hopes to nurture in two or three clients a year -- enough to stay in business -- though he admits it's much cheaper to plan your own trip.

"There's going to be some people that are stuck in the office, make a lot of money, dream about this but don't have the time or the inclination to set it up," he says. "Maybe I can bridge the gap between them not going and them being out there."

For more information on Lyon Expeditions, call (360) 468-3250; e-mail rob@lyonexpeditions.com or visit http://www.lyonexpeditions.com.

Tim Shuff is the editor of Adventure Kayak magazine. In 2002, he kayaked the length of the B.C. coast, including the outer coast of Vancouver Island.

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