Cyril Derreumaux has accomplished his solo kayak journey from California to Hawaii. He arrived at Hilo on Sept. 20 after 92 days at sea. He’s solely the second individual to make the arduous journey by kayak.
Editor’s observe: This text was initially printed on Explorersweb.
Cyril Derreumaux pushed off from Monterey, Calif., on June 21 within the firm of well-wishers paddling just a few strokes beside him. Then got here 3 months of lonely effort. He had initially hoped to finish the two,761-mile journey to Waikiki, Hawaii, in 70 days, however tough situations slowed his progress.
Nonetheless, the seasoned paddler finally prevailed. Success should style even sweeter within the reminiscence of his earlier try, which ended after simply 6 days and 70 miles.
A Tough Begin
For the primary few weeks, opposite winds pushed Derreumaux within the flawed path. Reasonably than making progress, the each day purpose grew to become not shedding distance. Fixed swells made him seasick, and he felt very weak. On week two, the tubing that held his steering line disconnected and let water into the cabin.
Then after 46 days, his watermaker broke. From that time on, in addition to rowing for 10 to 12 hours a day, he additionally spent 1-1.5 hours manually producing contemporary water. And he spent a number of bad-weather days in his little cabin, on sea anchor.
It rapidly grew to become clear that the journey would take greater than 70 days. By the midway level, he began rationing meals. Although he had calculated 6,000 energy a day to gas all that rowing, he misplaced weight quickly, even earlier than rationing. With it, he started to doubt whether or not he would make it in time.
On the finish of August, he determined to alter his Hawaiian endpoint. Reasonably than land in Waikiki, he redirected to Hilo. This lower 6 days of paddling from the journey. It additionally meant that he had sufficient meals to make the space with out resorting to consuming toothpaste, like the primary California-to-Hawaii kayaker, Ed Gillet, had carried out.
Staying Entertained: Music, Seinfeld, and Dolphins
Derreumaux entertained himself by listening to music virtually continuously. Earlier than leaving, he had even downloaded Seinfeld to look at at evening when he wasn’t rowing.
Alongside the best way, he loved watching dolphins swim and soar across the boat. By the top, a whole bunch of them had come to go to. Over the previous couple of days of the voyage, he even had colleges of mahi-mahi following him.
“A mahi-mahi pet fish adopted me all day, I liked it!” he wrote on social media. “[It] left me yesterday morning. I suppose he didn’t like after I performed Celine Dion.”
Because the journey progressed, Derreumaux grew to become extra relaxed and attuned to his environment. He discovered not seeing himself in a mirror to be a really “liberating expertise.” He additionally established a type of symbiosis together with his custom-made boat, “Valentine.”
“I do know her so nicely now,” he mentioned. “I understand how she behaves in what sort of waters, I do know all of the noises she makes and what they imply, I may discover something at nighttime … it’s very particular.”
Ed Gillet’s Instance; Overcoming Failure
Ed Gillet’s unique 1987 journey first impressed Derreumaux. Gillet was far much less high-tech. He used an off-the-shelf kayak — no sleeping cabin, no prolonged storage — and had no technique of communication for a lot of the journey. After 3 weeks at sea, Derreumaux mentioned, “I’m extra in awe of Ed Gillet and what he achieved [than ever].”
He first tried the journey in 2021 however wanted rescue after 6 days. Storms and swells broken his boat and triggered water to leak into the cabin. With situations set to worsen, he deserted the crossing.
However regardless of that embarrassing finish, Derreumaux channeled the failure into bettering his method and boat.
He modified the ocean anchor system, put in a satellite tv for pc communication system, and added each a handbook bilge pump and facet panels to maintain water out of the cockpit. He additionally educated to be extra conversant in how his kayak behaved in excessive winds, he instructed Honolulu’s KHON 2.
This was not Derreumaux’s first time crossing the ocean from California to Hawaii. In 2016, he and his teammates broke the velocity document for rowing within the Nice Pacific Race. Paddlers have since damaged the mark, however the four-man group lined the roughly 2,800 miles from Monterey, Calif., to Oahu, Hawaii, in 39 days, 9 hours, and 56 minutes.
Ultimately, adjustment, expertise, and persistence all added as much as success for the paddler. He signed off on his 92-day voyage with messages of gratitude to his supporters and group.
