Ten years ago this month, I began what I hoped would be the first-ever winter sea kayak circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. Most people thought it was a nutty idea, and while I never really held their opinions against them, I could see their reasoning. Still, the idea of the adventure pulled me in and while I didn’t complete the trip, I got to look at the adventure close-up for a few hundred miles, and I wondered when the next attempt would be made.

Wonder no more. Today, sometime before noon, Calvin Croll is going to set out on his winter journey, around the island clockwise, beginning and ending on Orcas Island. Just typing those words gives me a rush, makes me wish it was me for a moment, envious of the adventures Calvin will experience and grateful somehow that someone else is having a go at it.

It’s better to be first than best; no one remembers the second man on the moon. Godspeed and many good lucks!