The Ultimate Crossing gear

A lot of people asked me about what gear I take on (the ) board. So here is a small explanation.

Since 5 Months I have been preparing for this trip. Not only physically, I paddle every morning and often in the afternoon to prepare for the races. But mostly I had to figure out all gear I had to take with me on an adventure like this, most of all safety gear but also food, water, sleeping gear, clothing and with which board I could carry all the gear and water I wanted and still have a decent speed. Fortunately Starboard makes a lot of different boards so I could find the right one.

Board
STARBOARD 14’0” x 28” Open Ocean, with some modifications to fit all the gear on the board and a 'Directional device'. Mark Raaphorst from SIC designed and installed a small device in the front of the board to keep me from drifting when I have side winds. Thanks Mark!

I made 18 attachments to strap gear into the board and last, I built in 2 compartments for water storage which sit very low in the board to help with the balance of the board.

Safety
I have an Eprib, a personal locator beacon with GPS position, this device has two purposes, one; in case of a life threatening situation (only then) it will sent a signal via Satellite to a rescue coordination center, second with this particular device I can send a limited amount of messages to friends and family on shore to let them know my GPS position.
2 GPS’s and maps to make sure where I am.
Navigation lights on a little mast (only at night)

Flares, Smoke signals and hand flares
2 Compasses, charts/ maps
VHF radio
Cell phone
Hand Water maker, with which I can make drink water from saltwater
Back up paddle and extra shaft

Clothing
Warm clothing in dry and wet circumstances. (1 mil short wetsuit and a 5 mil full wetsuit)

Sleeping
My water-bed, a inflatable mattress with high walls for the nights, which I strap on my board. This will make it possible to get dry for a couple of hours and get ready for the next day. Also only during the night I use small outriggers to get a little more stability and keep the board from rocking to much.

Camera footage

CONTOUR HD sponsored me with 2 great cameras with built in GPS
After the trip I will edit the footage in to a small film.

Food
A mixture of dryfreezed food, nuts, dry fruits, granola bars, chocolate, perpetuem (liquid sports food) and recoverite (liquid recover drink) and electrolyte drinking powder.

I will be looking forward to fruits and veggies when I get there.

Water

I will be taking enough water with me for the whole trip. In case of emergency I will have the hand water maker to make drinking water from saltwater.

Support

Starboard has been my really great this year with the best boards and getting me to the other continents for the races.

Tom Hammerton of Black Project Fins will be updating me with weather updates.

My wife Dagmar and daughter Soleil will be updating the blog and will go to Kauai to await my arrival.

Bill from MAUI JIM sunglasses gave me a good pair of the latest Maui Jim's. I can see I haven't had a nice pair since a while because these are so much better than what I have been using lately.

Jimmy Hepp and Dagmar will do some photo footage from an airplane when I pass by Maui.

Not to forget all the friends around the world from Holland to South Africa and Hawaii to New Caledonia. Thanks for all the encouragements and support. MAHALO

I will let you know when I start.