PORT ANGELES — A new trek called for a new boat for Chris Duff.

Duff, 53, who will row a more than 500-mile journey from Scotland to Iceland in a specially designed boat, told about 80 people attending the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce’s weekly luncheon Monday about plans for the trip.

His boat has eight water-tight compartments and a ninth for sleeping. The rowboat is also self-righting in the water.

“I know it is dangerous to say this because people will always bring up the Titanic,” Duff said, “but this boat cannot sink.”

He will make the trip this summer, and for the first time, the experienced, long-distance kayaker from Port Angeles will row away from coastlines into the open North Atlantic.

No one has ever attempted to row the 270 miles of open North Atlantic waters between the Faroe Islands to Iceland alone, he said.

“I have a special anchor that will keep it relatively in the same spot if I need to hunker down during a storm or for when I’m sleeping,” he said.

He also has weathermen on standby via satellite phone.

Weather is the most unpredictable and uncontrollable portion of his trip, he said.

He will depart from Aberdeen, Scotland, to the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands and on to Iceland.

He has set aside 3½ months between June and September for the trip so he can enjoy the towns he stops in and allow for unexpected weather.

Ten years ago, Duff paddled a kayak in a 1,600-mile circumnavigation of New Zealand’s South Island.

He began his kayaking adventures in 1983, paddling down the East Coast from New York, around Florida and up the Mississippi River through the Great Lakes and back to New York.

“I look at the kayak I had then, and I think, ‘Wow I wouldn’t take that 10 miles off the coast now,’” he said.

But he had caught the bug.

In 1985, he became the first person to circumnavigate Great Britain solo — though he said he didn’t know that at the time or care much about the distinction.

“There is history that is unparalleled there,” he said. “It is a fantastically beautiful coastline.”

In 2003, he and a team circumnavigated Iceland and made the trip from Scotland to Iceland via kayak.

In addition to his adventures, Duff has written two books — On Celtic Tides and Southern Exposure — about his trips.

Although he said he is making the trip for the joy of it, he said he might consider writing a third book.

For more information visit www.olypen.com/cduff.

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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily
news.com.