Paddling My Own Canoe (Kolowalu Books) [Paperback]

Audrey Sutherland (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (September 1, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824806999
• ISBN-13: 978-0824806996
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Canoeing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful solo adventure story, January 10, 2002

By 

Rodney Thompson "mythris" (Redding, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paddling My Own Canoe (A Kolowalu Book) (Hardcover)

An exciting and joyful adventure of one woman paddling the wild coast of Molokai in Hawaii. A bold feat, battling waves and rocky coastline all alone, yet more than an adventure story, laced with natural history, Hawaiian history, ecology, and survival techniques. Her strength, serenity, and humor,is interwoven with a zen-like philosophy that makes for great armchair adventure reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making an Adventure, February 15, 2007

By 

Lawrence W. Boyd Jr. (Honolulu) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paddling My Own Canoe (Kolowalu Books) (Paperback)

I think most of us deserately need an adventure, a trip that both allows us to both escape and recliam our lives at the same time. Thus the market for all sorts of adventure books; from Clive Cussler's novels to non-fiction works about Scott's expedition to Antartica. Sutherland's story simply and wonderfully captures the daring and curiosity that makes these trips possible. As she points out there is a childlike quality to this sort of thing that we probably all share. The desire to see what's on the next block, over the next hill, down that big river. In her case while flying she sees a beautiful place that is very difficult to get to. All visitors arriving on Oahu, seated on the left hand aisle of the plane see this same sight; the North Shore of Molokai. A wilderness with sea cliffs thousands of feet high, turquoise and cobalt blue water, fringed with verdant jungle. It also has waves that break on those cliffs that are fifty feet high, a windward shore mariners do well to stay away from, and no easy way to walk in. Her attraction basically overcomes her fear and she prepares her own expidition, alone. She sets out to swim from the closest available site she can get to, towing a pack, and come out at an old leper's colony that has a trail that evenutally leads back to civilization. The route is eighteen miles long, and is filled with the sort of edenic paradise Hawaii once was. This is the stuff that all great adventures are made of; Scott, Amudson, Cook. The difference is that it is on a small scale and available to us all. This book takes us through that first impulse, to planning the trip(s), to what happened. Its both a wonderful read and an adventurer's how to book. While she tell's very little about herself and her inner life, her actions reveal a great deal about her, and anyone who kind of chases a dream.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars twice read, May 16, 2009

By 

B. S. Day - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paddling My Own Canoe (Kolowalu Books) (Paperback)

Loved the book the first time I read it many years ago.....have thought about it often and could no longer find it on the library shelves. thusly thanks to Amazon I enjoyed it again.