# Interview: IK, Solo, in the Grand & Lots of Swims



## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

That was a nice interview John. Thank you so much for taking the time to do the interview, transcribe it, and share it! All the best, tom


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## tmacc (Sep 6, 2009)

Very Cool. Have thought about soloing it in our cat one of these days. IKs can carry an amazing amount of gear, but 22 days worth took some careful planning. 

Thanks for the interview.


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## nessles (Sep 8, 2011)

tmacc said:


> Very Cool. Have thought about soloing it in our cat one of these days. IKs can carry an amazing amount of gear, but 22 days worth took some careful planning.
> 
> Thanks for the interview.



Glad you liked it! You definitely have to adopt more of a kayak self-support attitude with the IK's compared to a raft, but as long as the gear is compact they can carry a ton of weight. I'm sure it's a totally different story in big water though with a loaded IK..


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## mikesee (Aug 4, 2012)

tmacc said:


> ...22 days worth took some careful planning.


What?!!!? 

It looked like he threw everything he could think of in a pile, then doubled _that_, then tossed a bowling ball bag or three on top of _that_. And then maybe doubled it again.

That said, he did a cool trip, and I'm impressed by and envious of many aspects of it.


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## teletoes (Apr 16, 2005)

mikesee said:


> It looked like he threw everything he could think of in a pile, then doubled _that_


So many dry bags and so few D rings. How did he even pull that off?


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Yeah, impressive feat but what was with all the gear?One large and maybe one medium sized dry bag ought to hold every thing you need except maybe food and booze.I suppose some is stuff you are required to bring like groover and fire pan.You would think you'd go minimalist and ultra lite.On another thread a guy was packrafting carrying in an 80 lb. pack kind of defeats the purpose of a packraft doesn't it? Hennessee hammock(or small compact tent) ,esbit stove,water purifier,one pot to boil water for dried compact food,strong liquor with dry mixer,etc.,seems like the way to go.


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## InflatableSteve (Jun 12, 2013)

That looks like one Grand trip! (pun intended). Any tips for solo IK trips? I am thinking of doing some Solo trips in the future.


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