Join me on Nitinat Triangle: MEC Adventure Grant.

I want to attempt Nitinat Triangle June-July 2019. Want to join me? I post this early so that we have enough time to prepare for the trip and go on a few practice trips before we head out to the Island. I also apply for MEC Adventure Grant on Jan 15, 2019 for this trip and if you want to be supported by the grant you should let me know by Jan 1st. You must be from BC or AB to be eligible for the grand, but you're still welcome to participate in the trip if you are from outside BC or AB.

Short Description:
On this trip I want to cover the infamous Nitinat Triangle on Vancouver Island by staged open water swimming in 3-4 days with no support crew. It is a 37 km long loop that connects 3 lakes – Lakes Hobiton, Tsusiat and Nitinat by land and water. Why? Nitinat Triangle goes through one of the largest preserved old growth rainforests on the West Coast of Canada – Pacific Rim National Park. Swimming in a remote natural body of water surrounded by a millennia-old forest for multiple days is beyond cool! How is it possible? Normally, even the craziest open water swimming achievements are done with help of support crew (on a motor boat or on kayaks). Lakes Hobiton and Tsusiat along Nitinat Triangle route have no roads or trails that would enable us to bring the support crew. It is possible but bringing the support crew up to the lakes would become the main objective of the trip due to the challenges that arise with hauling canoes through the bush and fallen trees - something that was already done before and frankly, doesn’t sound as cool or appealing to me. My plan is to take camping gear, food, clothes with shoes and other equipment into a drybag, tie it to my hips with a rope and swim. Between the lakes I will bushwack and in the nights rest in the hammock tied to the trunks of the 1000-yer-old red-cedars. The trip will be fully self-sustained and self propelled from Nanaimo as I plan to bikepack all the way to Nitinat from Nanaimo and back.

See our unsuccessful first attempt

This trip will include:

• 2 x 100 km biking on the gravel road with all the gear. Nanaimo - Nitinat, Nitinat - Nanaimo.
• ~27 km of swimming in fresh and sea water in 3-4 days. Aided with anything you want: wet suit, fins, snorkel. But it has to be self propelled, no underwater scooters (Haha). 
• 3.5 km of hard core bushwacking. We're going to get scratched up!
• 6.5 km of hiking

Requirements for participants:
This trip requires a rare combination of skills and mindset. The primary requirement for successful completion of this trip is the ability to swim fast and far for multiple days. The swimmer must have formal education and training in swimming technique and have suitable physical strength and endurance. Unlike the rest of the requirements on this list, this must be present by the time this announcement is published. I expect the participant to be able to swim 1 km in under 20 min in a 50 m swimming pool or have an average speed of 2.4 km/hr on the open water swims longer then 1 km.

Outdoor swimming experience is also required as it is very different and much more dangerous then swimming in a swimming pool. Ability to navigate in the open water, detect the onset of hypothermia, dealing with chop, understanding tidal currents etc. A participant must provide the information about their experience in the open water: lengths of swims, location, weather conditions, water temperature, aided(?), times GPS tracks if present, competitions, etc.

This trip requires an excellent navigational skills and skills for survival in the outdoors and the most importantly love for the outdoor adventure. A participant must have previous camping experience and knowledge about behavior with wildlife. A first aid training would be wonderful (I don't have it yet)! I would like to know about your experience in the outdoors, what trip did you do?

One other requirement for potential participants of the trip is being able to cover 100 km on a gravel road on a bike with all the gear for the swim (and have a bike that would endure such ride). What is your biking experience? Have you ever done a bike touring trip?

If you want to join please, send me an email with answers to the questions above. ilyakapral@gmail.com - Ilya.