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Kayaking the Sound:
Key Pen resident reflects on beautiful journey
By Danna Webster
KP News
About this time last year, Key
Peninsula resident Voski Sprague was over halfway to
achieving a major personal goal. A year later, she still
marvels at the memories of that journey.
She planned to kayak Puget Sound
from the Foss Waterway in Tacoma to North Bay above
Vaughn. Sprague aimed to paddle 178 miles of shoreline
in a beautiful natural wood Pigmy kayak, named “my
turn,” which she and her husband, Robert, built.
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Voski Sprague in her kayak, named "my turn."
Photo courtesy of Sprague family |
When asked why she set this goal,
she answers, “Why not? I absolutely love the waters of
South Sound and wondered just how much access I would
have, using designated public access to get in and out
of the water. There was neither timeline nor race except
that I wanted to complete this before my next birthday.”
The journey began May 25 and
finished Sept. 11, before her birthday.
Questions about public access were
partially answered by the 10th trip on the water. At
that time, she resorted to using Robert’s powerboat for
transport to the start and stop locations because normal
launching and haul-out maneuvers required a lot of
trespassing otherwise.
She paddled a total of 56 hours and
45 minutes on 23 different trips around 11 islands and
under 11 bridges. “Of course an exciting one was swiftly
moving along the east side of the (Tacoma) Narrows when
they were stringing the first cable up to the east
tower,” she says. Each trip varied in time and distance.
The shortest was one mile and the longest 14 miles. Her
time on the water ranged from 20 minutes to four and a
half hours.
Before setting out on the actual
quest, Sprague took a trial trip and studied many
charts, maps and Websites.
“First, I had determined, by
taking a trial paddle trip, that I averaged a
comfortable 3 mph… That determined how long it would
take me to reach my destination so that I could be met.”
The piece of raffia she used to measure distances is
kept in the journal along with the notes and records she
kept. “After each trip, I recorded actual information
and wrote anecdotal notes, things I saw, features of the
landscape, issues, lessons, things I want to visit,
questions I have,” she says.
One of her questions asks, “Could
the Mosquito Fleet landing sites be identified and
marked to note the rich history of our South Sound?”
Another question wondered if
communities could band together and make a difference
about the problems of too little public access to the
Puget Sound waterways in Pierce County.
Along the way, Sprague found
wonderful sea life and special places that caused her to
wish that more kids could get out on the water and
appreciate the wonders she saw. She formed serious
concerns over her observations of large drains emptying
into the Sound, and the speed of powerboats at the mouth
of Foss Waterway.
The realization of her goal and
meeting the challenges of the journey with strength and
resolve inspired this lesson from her meditations, “A
pledge: I am blessed to be on our South Puget Sound
waters! I will care and nurture it so that my
grandchildren might have such adventures.”
©Copyright 2005-2008, Key Peninsula
News, all rights reserved.
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