“Hey, how would you like to be part of my Friendship Paddle on September 24?” asked my good friend and longtime colleague Ethan Stewart a couple of weeks ago. “I’m in,” I quickly replied, envisioning kayakers and surfers cruising around the Channel Islands for a fun afternoon. I had no idea what was in store: Since then, my neck, mid-back, and rotator cuffs haven’t found anything friendly about it.
The paddle began in 2003 when friends and family of Doug McFadden, who had inoperable brain cancer, decided to raise money and spirits by paddling on prone and stand-up paddleboards 30 miles or so from Santa Cruz Island to the mainland across the Santa Barbara Channel. Donations and goodwill flowed in. Doug’s life expectancy was doubled, and, every year since, the Friendship Paddle crew honors a new person from Santa Barbara County.
This year they chose Ethan, who’s written about his pancreatic cancer and major, exhausting operations on these pages. He’s a natural choice since his connections to the ocean and the environment are deep and span continents, including work as a journalist on climate change, ocean acidification, natural resources, and the Gaviota Coast.