Four Members of Our Diverse Kayaking Community

The Fun Hog
Sea kayaker Wendy Killoran snuggles into her bivy sack as the wind pounds the Italian island of Sardinia. It’s been a long day and she had a hard time finding a campsite in Costa Paradiso, a fishing village on the island’s west coast.

Suddenly in the darkness, the snorting and squealing of a wild boar scavenging for food blocks out the wind. Killoran peaks her head out of the bivy, screaming at the scruffy animal to leave her alone. “Apparently, they don’t hunt them,” she says, “so there were lots.”

Fitting that the beast trying to chew on her Gore-tex-covered toes was a member of the porcine family—Killoran is a total fun hog. The last five years have seen the London, Ontario native finish expeditions in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, the Bahamas, Bonaire, Cuba, and Belize. She was the first woman to solo-circumnavigate Prince Edward Island (2005) and Newfoundland (2006), and in October she completed her Kayak Island Quest, paddling around the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily.

Obviously, the schoolteacher and mother has a fetish for island life. But Killoran likes to explore them via loaded sea kayak, choosing rugged campsites and stove-cooked coffee over suites and cappuccinos. "I’m fascinated by islands because they have their own unique identities,” she says. “Like a bunch of tiny countries.”

Kayaking has defined her identity. And dogmatic leanings. She paddled all but the south coast of Newfoundland solo, a 2,700-kilometer journey that took her three months. “Paddling solo allows me to be spiritual,” she says. “One’s senses are heightened. One feels connected to the place, the water, the sky, and the land. It’s uplifting to feel part of the vastness in contrast to how small we are. It makes you feel alive.”