KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Two brothers from California have set off from Ketchikan to paddleboard to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Casey and Ryan Higginbotham set off from Ketchikan on Friday on two 18-foot paddleboards with the goal of hand paddling 100-miles to Prince Rupert, The Ketchikan Daily News reported.
“We want adventure. That’s what we came for,’’ Casey Higginbotham said.
The brothers intend to spend the next five months making the 2,200-mile journey. They are hauling 70 pounds of dehydrated food, clothing and survival gear on custom racks above their boards. Food drops are planned for every 200 miles.
The Higginbothams say they hope to cover between 10 to 25 miles of coastline a day and tentatively say they’ll reach the end of their voyage in August.
The brothers decided to make the trip about a year ago while seniors at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The pair often goes on expeditions and adventures.
“We were just shooting ideas back and forth in Ryan’s room, and it all kind of came together,’’ Casey Higginbotham said. “And, you know how a lot of ideas kind of never come to fruition, but we just kept processing it, like, `All right, let’s really do it. We’ll start working with shapers (for the paddleboards), start working with companies (for sponsors) and all right, here we go. Let’s do it.’ And now we’re here in Ketchikan.’’
According to the Guinness World Records, the longest paddleboard journey on record is an eight-day, 345-mile trek up the Florida coast in 2007. The Higginbothams said the trip is about escaping the 9-to-5 mentality and connecting with nature.
“That’s the cool thing about it to me, because in your everyday life, there’s so many different things you have to worry about — I don’t know, people calling you, paying rent, normal things that you worry about on a day-to-day basis,’’ Ryan Higginbotham said. “Now all our day is going to be about food, water, warmth, and getting to where we need to go — completing the day’s goal of paddling — and hopefully getting some footage.’’
The brothers will be documenting their trip with video cameras and are collaborating with a filmmaking friend to create a documentary when the voyage is finished. They will be transmitting their progress on their website and with a Spot beacon.
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