Paddling North

2013 Gold Winner IBPA Ben Franklin Awards

In a memoir remarkable for its quiet confidence and acute natural observation, the author of Paddling Hawaii and Paddling My Own Canoe begins with her decision, at age 60, to undertake a solo, summer-long voyage along the southeast coast of Alaska in an inflatable kayak. Paddling North is a compilation of Sutherland’s first two (of over 20) such annual trips and her day-by-day travels through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Skagway.

In 22 years she encountered over 30 bears, four wolves, and hundreds of whales. Her lifelong philosophy, “Go simple, go solo, go now,” is illustrated in this reflection-filled story of kayaking adventure. Includes maps, illustrations, and the author’s camp food recipes.

Author Biography

Audrey Sutherland grew up in California but lived in Hawai’i from 1952 until her death in 2015 at the age of 94. She raised her four children as a single mother, supporting her family by working as a school counselor. In 1962, she decided to explore the coast of Moloka’i by swimming it while towing an inflatable raft with supplies, a story told in Paddling My Own Canoe (Patagonia, 2018). Ever after she was an inveterate water traveler. She was also the author of Paddling Hawai’i. Yoshiko Yamamoto is one of the premier block printers in the Arts and Crafts style. Yamamoto’s block prints are letterpress printed using hand cut blocks on acid free paper. She is the co-owner of The Arts and Crafts Press, and co-author of several books about the arts and crafts movement, published by Gibbs Smith and Chronicle.