I met Ed Gilette!!

Highlight for me. If you have not read his story you should. The book is called "The Pacific Alone". He had a lot of history here at Monterey Bay Kayaks and came in to chat and tell stories. In the late 80's he paddles from Monterey to Hawaii in a 2 person sit inside kayak. A Necky Tofino. No radio, no gps, no technology. Navigated the old fashioned way. He was the first and only to paddle to Hawaii in a kayak. Not to mention by himself!

Was so excited and didnt know who else to tell lol

So now I know (that you met Ed Gilette), Not as famous as a You Tube influencer, but a whole lot more impressive to some of us.

I think that's awesome.
His story is incredible.

So now I know (that you met Ed Gilette), Not as famous as a You Tube influencer, but a whole lot more impressive to some of us.

Sorry, I only knew people here would know him. Had no one else to tell lol
 

Very cool! I'm so old, I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show...

I would like to read his his story. Did Ed write the book, or someone else?

Al

That's awesome!  I just finished reading the book a few weeks ago and its quite an incredible tale.  The book is written by someone else, but the author had good access to Ed apparently, so there is a lot of personal reflections from him. 

When I was reading it, I realized all the history behind MBK, and I sure am glad I walked in there about 5 years ago and bought my first Ocean Kayak (Malibu II XL).  What a ride it's been!!

That's pretty awesome!  Gilette's story is amazing.  Makes those "survivor type" show contestants look like the soft whiners that they truly are.

DUDE! That is awesome.
I loved his book, absolutely page turning. Back when I was learning to kayak in SF, a few of the OG instructors knew him and told his story whenever it came up.
Others that have attempted his journey ended up in the hospital.

a few years later working in AK we had a double Tofino in our rental fleet, and I would always tell customers "hey this is the same type of boat that Gillette paddled to Hawaii". If I remember right it is a bit of an odd design because the rear cockpit was really short on legroom, so the taller paddler had to ride in front.

congrats in getting to meet a legend.

There’s another guy in Monterey I’d like to meet who survived one of the east coast prefect storms, something like 86 hours in icy water in 100’ swell, conditions ripped the clothes off his body right down to his skivvies

Only survivor of all the FVs that were out

There’s another guy in Monterey I’d like to meet who survived one of the east coast prefect storms, something like 86 hours in icy water in 100’ swell, conditions ripped the clothes off his body right down to his skivvies

That's surely a gross exaggeration?

I want to meet the guy that greeted him to the islands

No one greeted me when my bow dug a furrow into the sandy beach. Stepping onto the beach for the first time in more than two months, I could not make my legs obey me. They crumpled underneath me and I sat down heavily in the shallow water A local character staggering down the beach asked me where I had come from. When I told him that I had paddled my kayak from California, he whistled.

"Wow. That's a long way", he said. "Must've taken you two or three days, huh?"

"Yeah", I said.

I talked him into helping me drag my kayak up the beach, then he wandered off.

Reeling like a drunken Popeye, I marched off in the other direction, in search of junk food.