Words + Photos By: John Weston & Dan Wills
This January , John Weston and Dan Wills will be pushing off in their kayaks from Ras Al Khaimah on the west coast of the UAE, and heading north towards the entrance the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz. They will be in Omani waters, known for 20 to 30ft swells and perilous currents. They will survive their unsupported six-day journey eating only the food they can catch along the way, and sleeping on beaches they find on the many islands dotted sporadically throughout the strait.
Once through the strait, they will head south and eventually back into UAE waters to Fujairah. Averaging around 30 to 40km per day, the challenge will be both mentally and physically exhausting and should take five to six days, depending on the conditions. They will encounter sharks, scorpions, as well as dolphins and hopefully, some whale sharks will join them for some much needed moral boosting.
John says…
Kayaking from RAK to Fujairah started as a question, “I wonder if I can do it?” I kayak fairly regularly, and have always enjoyed the freedom the little boats give you, plus the exercise is fantastic! And so, “I wonder if I can do it?” Soon became, “Of course I can do it, but how and when?” and then I added the extra pressure to the challenge, “I wonder if I can do it and only eat whatever I can catch along the way?”
The challenge started as a solo trip, many of my friends are into the outdoor life and sports, but I figured none of them would enjoy, being hungry, tired and wet for five to six days. So I planned to go solo. It’s by no means the hardest challenge anyone has ever done, but it will definitely not be easy. The hardest aspect of this trip is to plan for the unknown. There’s so many factors to think about, weather, current, swell, food supply, water supply, energy, emergencies and the list goes on. All we can do is plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Dan and I, along with a group of friends, camped out in Oman and hiked up Jebel Shams last year. I told him about the trip I was planning and he naturally sounded very interested, and knowing what I know about Dan, and his history of enduring challenges, I thought to myself that if anyone was going to be able to complete this with me, it’s this guy. So, the trip evolved yet again to accommodate an extra person.
We’ll be kayaking in an open tandem kayak, carrying the fishing kit, GPS and a small personal dry bag each, in case we capsize and get separated. The small dry bags will have two-way radios so we can find each other again, and our personal effects, plus some water. We will be towing a small one-man kayak that will hold around 50l of water, our clothes, sleeping bags and the cooking equipment. The plan is to land on a beach each night and cook the fish that we hopefully would have caught during the day. We did a test run around the Palm Jumeirah, and, fully laden, we can expect to be averaging three to 3.5 knots. The plan is to complete 30 to 35km per day. We expect to take five to six days to kayak from the northern point of RAK to the northern point of Fujairah.
As I mentioned earlier, the challenge isn’t the hardest anyone has ever undertaken, and I’m sure there will be people reading this who’ll agree. The most difficult aspect of the challenge is actually the unknown. The Strait of Hormuz is very unpredictable. I have been in the strait on dive trips, and it’s been seriously unpleasant on a big boat, let alone in a small kayak with no engine. The currents are strong and can whisk a small kayak out to sea with no warning, the swells can be 20 to 30ft, and the weather in January will be as bad as it gets in the region. Plus, who knows if we’ll catch any fish to eat! It will be a serious test of endurance and will power. It will be both mentally and physically exhausting.
I’ve always loved the outdoors; my family originated from a small village in the countryside of Essex in the UK, so being outdoors walking and working comes quite naturally to me. I joined the Royal Air Force cadets when I was 12, and soon found myself spending weeks away camping, fending for ourselves and hiking mountains in Wales and the Lake District. Also kayaking, rock climbing, shooting, flying, gliding and biking, basically anything that got us outdoors, and involved getting cold and wet. I remember sitting on top of a mountain in the UK when I was about 15. After spending a few days hiking, we were soaking wet, freezing cold and in danger of being blown off the top by the strong winds, but I just remember the awesome feeling when we were coming back down, I was obviously glad to be off the mountain and heading somewhere warm and dry. But most of all, a little part of me loved the achievement, from then until now, I prefer to be outdoors than indoors. I also took up fishing when I was about 10, and it soon became a hobby. Finding different spots to fish, camping out and just being surrounded by good friends was a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoors.
So now, I live in Dubai, and for anyone that isn’t already aware, this country has everything an outdoorsman could ask for, plus a lot more, and OutdoorUAE magazine pretty much covers it all.
I now spend my weekends kayaking, biking, hiking, fishing, diving and generally loving the outdoor life. Once the kayak expedition is over, I have one week break before the marathon, and then I’m setting my sights on a sailing course and my skydiving accelerated free fall for 2013, and of course, there’s few more challenges still in the early days of planning.
Dan says…
The outdoors has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was brought up in suburban Melbourne, Australia, but holidays were always spent on family camping trips. I joined the scouting movement from the age of eight and military cadet training was part of my high schooling, which would have us out in the bush for a week at a time in semi-survival mode. From the age of 14, I started overnight cross country skiing, kayaking and hiking expeditions in the alpine areas of Victoria, and like John, although I would often find myself soaking wet, in freezing cold conditions and in very remote areas, the personal challenge and sense of achievement at the end eventually had me hooked!
My first big challenge was at the age of 16, which was the Kokoda Track in the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. This was a gruelling seven-day hike through extremely tough terrain and was made famous by extensive fighting between the Japanese and Australian forces in 1942. This trip was also followed by cycling the length of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.
Joining university opened up many new opportunities, before long, I was a competitive cross country mountain biker and actively involved in rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, skiing, cross country running, etc. My love of hiking grew, and I spent every other weekend attempting a new trail in the Victorian Alps. Some notable hikes included the Overland Track in Tasmania, the Inca Trail in Peru (unsupported with a 30kg pack) and various routes within the Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia, Chile. By the time I reached the end of university, I merged my love of mountain biking and hiking into cycle touring and cycled the length of my state.
Probably my biggest achievement to date was inspired by my ancestor William Wills, who was part of the famous ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition of 1862, in which they were the first explorers to cross the Australian Continent. My brother and I cycled unsupported from the southernmost to northernmost points of mainland Australia and along the way, we retraced the route taken by the Burke and Wills expedition. This took us through 5,500km of the harshest terrain that Australia has to offer; the route is through the middle of the Australian outback and over 5,000km was off road (mostly sand).
My most recent challenge was several years ago, which at the time was the longest staged mountain bike race in the world (1,000km), the Cape Epic in South Africa. Since then, I’ve been waiting for the next challenge and jumped at the opportunity when John suggested kayaking around Musandam. We spent a lot of time in the area diving, mountain biking, running and hiking, and to be able to take in the landscape from the water, with the added challenge of being without food, was an opportunity that was too good to miss.
The kayak challenge is set to raise 3000 GBP for Cancer Research, a charity that is close to everybody’s hearts.
You can find out more about the Kayak Challenge and all of my upcoming challenges at www.jdweston.com and you can even sponsor us at www.justgiving.com/jdweston.
