Kayaker rolls with punches, tries trip anew

Monday, July 3, 2000

By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST- INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Fearing he would crave companionship on a 10-month, solo kayak trip along America's lower-48 coastline, Mike Falconeri's friends gave him ... a tube of lipstick.

Their theory: If he gets lonely, his lipsticked hand could become instant kissing practice and amusement.

Falconeri, who started his 4,500-mile "Sea America Expedition" yesterday from the Quinault Indian Reservation, said his entertainment will come instead from a harmonica, dice and a Sony Watchman.

The 40-year-old kayaking instructor from Wallingford, Conn., wants to see America -- pun intended -- from the unusual vantage point of her coasts.

He'll paddle down the Pacific Coast, then join friends to drive the boat overland through Texas before crossing the Gulf of Mexico. Then, he'll round the coast of Florida before stroking up the Atlantic to Eastport, Maine.

He figures the biggest hurdle on his voyage won't be high surf, ferocious winds or muscle fatigue. It will be all that time alone.

Falconeri is a friendly guy. When he asks, "How you doin'?," he's a dead ringer for Vinnie Barbarino, John Travolta's sassy high school character on TV's "Welcome Back, Kotter."

"I am pretty much a social person," he said. "Now I'm going to be shutting myself off from everything. I just hope to not become a recluse after this."

Other paddling journeys have become legend, such as the three-year, 28,000-mile trip of Verlen Kruger and Steve Landick in the early '80s. The Michigan men paddled American coasts, as well as inland rivers, Alaska passages and the Arctic Ocean.

However, Falconeri's three-legged route may be a first.

"That seems like a new combination, but I think all of the parts have been done (individually)," said Chris Cunningham, editor of Seattle-based Sea Kayaker magazine.

Local kayak instructor Lee Moyer said Falconeri's first leg will be the hardest.

"The Washington, Oregon and California coastline is the worst because it has substantial surf and no place to hide," said Moyer, owner of Pacific Water Sports in SeaTac.

Moyer said people on such a trip need to be tough and determined.

"They need faith in themselves. Somewhere along the way it's going to be really discouraging," he said.

Falconeri knows about demoralizing moments. He first tried his Sea America trip last year, starting at Neah Bay, but Washington's October waters were less than hospitable, with rain, fog and waves.

"I ended up getting cartwheeled. I got stuck in a combination undertow, and the sea was dumping waves behind me," Falconeri said. "I had to roll four or five times, and I wasn't going anywhere in the whirlpool."

So he swam to shore on the Olympic Peninsula and later found the boat where it washed up. Quest over, in just 14 days of slow progress and trying to wait out the weather.

The Quinaults let him camp on their land. Friendships were formed, Christmas cards exchanged and a promise that Falconeri would restart his expedition from the reservation.

Part of the problem on his first attempt -- a 187-pound, overloaded boat -- has been fixed. He has lightened his gear so that his 58-pound, 18-foot fiberglass boat will weigh about 125 pounds when fully packed.

Besides a tent, sleeping bag, three sets of quick-drying clothes, a one-burner stove, a pot, a water purifier and four gallons of water, Falconeri also will carry plenty of vacuum-packed, homemade, dehydrated food. A little boiling water and, presto, pasta Alfredo, turkey breast or scrambled eggs.

He'll also carry a boat radio, video camera, biodegradable soap, cellular phone -- which he'll charge on land from time to time -- and three types of maps -- sea charts, aeronautical maps and torn-out pages of a Rand McNally road atlas.

Falconeri will send handwritten accounts of his trip in pre-stamped envelopes to his friends, who will post them on his Web site.