Meet the Salty Crew!
When we dreamed up this voyage of kayaking close to 300km along the Ningaloo Coast we soon realised that we might have bitten off more than we can chew. But determination is a sweet thing. We set out and made a list of what we needed and then started to make things happen!
(If you want to know a bit more about Base and me – you can check out our About page here.)
We needed a land vehicle that could meet us along the coast every couple of days, for water and food supplies. We also need a driver for this support vehicle and all-around land support frother.
Next on the list… filmmaker. Our video skills aren’t superb. We can give it a crack, but we really wanted to capture the mission and share it far and wide for the health of Ningaloo Reef. So we needed someone with video skills and who is up for joining us in a Hobie Kayak adventure.
We had one Hobie, and if we wanted to have not only a filmmaker join us, but also have marine scientists and reef activists come for a leg of the trip then we needed a second Tandem Kayak.
We didn’t want to have this experience as just the two of us. We wanted it to be more than that.
On top of this list, we needed to get gear to support the mission, dry bags, camping gear, water bladders, the list goes on.
Our list in the couple months leading up to the trip seemed insurmountable… especially with very little money.
Where there is a will there is a way.
We had already bought Margie – A Hobie Tandem Island (will share more about these amazing watercraft coming up). Next, we tackled the land support vehicle.
We figured if we could get a car to our location every three or four days we should be good. We didn’t need a four-wheel drive, which is good since we had a budget to stick to. We opted for a van. We found a Diesel Toyota Hiace, set out as a camper, with low Kms. It ticked quite a few boxes and we went for it. We nicknamed her PK after Philip Parker King a Western Australian Explorer.
We fixed the suspension on PK and gave her a few longer test drives. She was ready to go.
Next we put the call out to see if there were any non-committed frothers out there who wanted to come along the Ningaloo Coast for 6 weeks. We had a few people interested but they couldn’t come for the whole trip. So we kept asking friends and friends of friends. And then we found Bayley!
He fit the mold….
Frother, Surfer, Free for 6 weeks and Keen! Bayley was our man! Land support extraordinaire!
Next we went about finding a filmmaker. Thanks to the power of social media we asked and had quite a few people express interest. Our first step was to send people to a website that explained what A Salty Voyage is all about and then also tell them that we had no money to pay them. Bom Bom!
That clincher narrowed it down. So then we met up with a few Filmmakers and we met Andy McGregor!
He was keen for an adventure, had the skills behind the camera and was eager to take on a project for the health of Ningaloo Reef. Check out Andy’s amazing work down south filming at Salisbury Island.
Okay so where are we up to…. That’s right we needed a second tandem Hobie. We bought Margie second hand (in great condition) for $5500. All summer we searched the second-hand listings and found another Hobie. The only problem was we didn’t have much left in our accounts to pay for her.
We put down a $500 deposit and then went off and launched a crowdfunding campaign. We had 60 supporters get behind us to help us buy the second Hobie – we named her Selma…. Selma Kayak!
Setting up and running a crowdfunding campaign isn’t a walk in the park, it takes time, effort and energy. We had some great rewards, in fact, I would say our rewards cost a bit, so we probably only raised $4000 after getting shirts and hats printed. The crowdfunding was also an excellent way to spread the word about what we are doing.
We got the two Kayaks and we had a trailer for them! So close to setting off… but with such limited funds, we still needed to get heaps of supplies. Enter in the support of some great companies!
Our Major Sponsor for the mission is Sea to Summit Gear. They are based in Western Australia but are truly a global company. They sponsored our mission with gear and it was a blessing because we needed dry bags, collapsible cooking gear and lots of lightweight camping essentials for the trip.
It was amazing to have a company see the value in what we are doing and really getting behind a citizen science adventure in their home state!
We also got some gear sponsorship from some companies that we really feel aligned with.
Ningaloo Swimwear hooked us up with rash guards, waterproof leggings, and Tee’s. They also printed out stickers for our sponsors to put on the kayaks! Ningaloo Swimwear is a big supporter of the Reef with their Ningaloo Defenders program where they support NGOs doing amazing things on the reef. They have been a big support for us!
Tree Hugger Surf Wax (all natural surf wax) so that we know our surfboard grip isn’t polluting our Oceans.
SolZinc – gave a container of their epic all-natural zinc. So essential when you are spending day in and day out of the water and in the sun. Reef friendly and good for your skin!
That is the team behind this Salty Voyage. Without everyone’s support, it couldn’t have been possible. So if you were a Supporter of our Crowdfunding – Thank You From the Bottom of our Salty Hearts and Ningaloo thanks you too!
