On Thursday, Dec. 4  at 7 p.m, Friends of the Lopez Library, the San Juan Islands National Monument and the Lopez Library proudly present a breathtaking evening of adventure with author and world kayaker Nigel Foster.

The event will be held at Woodmen Hall.   In 1975 Nigel made his first multi-day solo sea kayaking trip on the North coast of Cornwall, rounding Land’s End on Cornwall’s southwestern peninsula.

Since then he has adventured and led trips in kayaks to arctic Norway, Scotland, the Faeroe Islands, Newfoundland, Sweden, Finland, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and the English Channel through France down to the Mediterranean.  On an epic trip he kayaked solo from Baffin Island to Northern Labrador, a trip that almost cost him his life. He returned in 2004 to the same area with his wife Kristin Nelson (who will attend) dodging polar bears and paddling around Ungava Bay and northern Labrador for five weeks.

He is the first and youngest paddler to circumnavigate Iceland by kayak and in 2008, at its Sixth Annual  Induction Ceremony, Nigel Foster was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for bicycling, rowing, canoeing and kayaking as a kayaker.

He has taught kayaking skills around the rocks and tide-races of North Wales, was an instructor at the National Watersports Center, has coached kayaking internationally and has produced an instructional video series.

The author of numerous kayaking books, technical and travel, he has designed kayaks, paddles and PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices). In 2012 he published “Encounters from a Kayak” (Falcon Guides) which gathers 39 illustrated kayaking trips from around the world into sections about people, places, creatures and flotsam and jetsam.

His program Dec. 4, “Encounters from a Kayak,” will include lecture and photos.  Join us for a winter evening of travel and wanderlust as we eagerly welcome Nigel Foster to our Lopez paddling and reading community.

To learn more, visit nigelkayaks.com.