What is Full Circle Kayak?
Full Circle Kayak is an expeditionary project that will be utilizing early wilderness living skills to complete an extended, long distance ocean voyage. The skills that will be practiced were present, in some variation, throughout every human culture and on every continent. Chronologically, many of these skills date to the lower paleolithic and examples of these can be observed as occurring in nearly every manifestation of early human societal development. These were the early indications of our soon to be technological age as humankind began to look around to the environment for solutions to problems that required more complex resourcefulness and problem solving skills. These times were indeed, the initial seedlings of our cognitive abilities and for some, the very first steps toward a more scientific understanding of our world. The early living skills tell a story of our immense insight into our surroundings and its no surprise, that beings such as ourselves and all our potential, would have such an imaginative and inspiring beginning. We are now able to look back at ourselves and wonder, exactly what role our closeness to the earth has played in our well being and what role it has to play still, if we will humble ourselves enough, to become so empowered.
The intelligent management and utilization of available resources is a key factor in living in the wild. The goal here, is existing harmoniously with the immediate environment and opportunistically using the materials to which we have access. Full Circle strives to advocate the conservation of these wilderness living skills that are common to every human in every culture. We think that these skills are an inheritance and link to our common origin and a clue as to our common direction and where we can take our modern technology if we remind ourselves that we are linked to the land and the planet, inseparably.
The expeditionary phase of the project will be undertaken and completed by a single adventurer. Full circle was initially the idea of Phoxx Ekcs and he’s been working vigilantly to get it off the ground and has welcomed people to get involved in the illumination of these ideals. Every piece of gear and equipment that goes on this trip will be made personally, by Phoxx Ekcs. He’ll build his kayak, clothes, tools and equipment using ( in most cases) the early methods of producing the items. Clothing will be made by hand from skins and felt and food will be caught, hunted and foraged, all by Phoxx. The exceptions to this code, will be a single G.P.S tracking device, that’s stowed away should something go dangerously wrong . The ocean is vast and though the goal of this trip is to be as “primitive” as possible, we still want Phoxx to make it safely.
The itinerary of the trip is challenging enough to pull off, with the gear that is commercially produced and available for purchase at retailers. But its no secret that humans are capable of absolutely amazing feats and not only that, we think its the nature of who we are! The illusory notions of human feebleness and existence that is separate from and threatened by the elements begins to vanish. Especially when we remind ourselves of how we have lived for thousands of years before the lifestyles of “convenience” that trap us and make us intruders in our own, shared home. In fact we think that the alleged convenience is detrimentally shortsighted and as we are beginning to see, are actually not so convenient after all, when we are speaking of well-adapted, long term sustainability.
The starting point will be Vancouver Island. There will be an initial 28 day preliminary trip for Phoxx to get his feet wet and help him prepare for the crossing. This 28 day trip will be to paddle out from the Washington coastline, to the Vancouver Islands. Phoxx will spend his time foraging, fishing, paddling and otherwise practicing those skills by which he will be living for the duration of his longer trip. This trip, will be to paddle from the Island to Alaska. That’s a distance of over 800 miles. We know of trips from point to point but not anything like this, not using these methods. A trip like this has not been completed successfully in hundreds of years. Please join us and help us make history. You can get involved through sponsorships, telling your friends, giving feedback or just supporting us by spreading the word. We look forward to having you on board.