Confidence is a powerful thing.
But is it enough to power a kayak from Florida to the Bahamas?
Kyle Jackson, a 21-year-old Navy veteran and bartender from Port St. Lucie, apparently thinks so.
Jackson, who admits he’s merely “familiar” with kayaks, plans to paddle from South Florida, across the powerful Gulf Stream, to Grand Bahama Island in June and claims that, if he’s successful, he’ll be the first person to accomplish the feat.
That’s a heckuva feat for someone who didn’t own a kayak when he started his training and has paddled, at most, 12 hours in one stretch.
“I know I’m going to need to be ready to go for 20 hours,” Jackson said, “although I hope it won’t take that long.”
Given the number of kayakers and the relatively short distance — the gap can be as narrow as 50 miles as the crow flies — it’s hard to believe no one has ever paddled from Florida to the Bahamas.
But thanks to the northward flow of the Gulf Stream, you can’t paddle a kayak “as the crow flies.”
Jackson plans to launch near the northern end of Key Biscayne and touch land again on the western end of Grand Bahama Island: a distance of about 120 miles.
“There’s no way I could paddle directly across the Gulf Stream,” Jackson said. “At 4 to 6 mph, it’s just too strong. I know it’s more distance than I may need to go, but I sure don’t want to overshoot Grand Bahama. If I did, there’s no telling where I might end up.”
No one knows the power of the Gulf Stream better than Bruce Gipson of Boca Raton, who became the first person to kayak from the Bahamas to Florida when he shoved off from Bimini at 10 p.m. June 21, 1984, and came ashore 11 hours and 46 minutes later at Fort Lauderdale, 22 miles north of his target.
Paddlers tend to agree that kayaking from Florida to the Bahamas is more difficult than going from the Bahamas to Florida.
