{"id":4598,"date":"2014-03-02T15:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T23:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com-2\/?p=4598"},"modified":"2024-02-06T16:09:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T00:09:03","slug":"aboard-wizards-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2014\/03\/02\/aboard-wizards-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Aboard the Wizard’s Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wizard\u2019s Eye\u2014a 44-foot steel-hulled sailboat that carried Captain Tyler Bradt and his crew across the Pacific last year\u2014currently resides in dry dock in Fiji waiting to start the second leg of its around-the-world journey. When we spoke with Tyler last week, he had just returned from a stint running waterfalls for a television shoot in Chile, and now he was keeping a wary eye on a tropical depression that looked like it could hit Fiji as a full-fledged cyclone. If the storm hit, he said, he\u2019d have to go fly out right away to check on the boat; even in dry dock, a powerful storm could wreak havoc. Such is the life of a professional kayaker turned global expedition leader.<\/p>\n

\"yeraWizardHarry\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first leg of the Wizard\u2019s Eye Expedition was something of an education for Tyler. While complicated logistics were nothing new for him (see the Grand Inga Project<\/a>), being responsible for a vessel and its crew on a trans-oceanic voyage required a whole new level of managerial and logistical skill. But, like the time he ran the world\u2019s biggest rapids, or the time he ran 186-foot Palouse Falls, he pulled it off. With style.<\/p>\n

Sure, there were mechanical troubles, and they ran a little lower on food than they would have liked, and there was a scary encounter with a jellyfish<\/a>, but the boat held strong and the crew had the time of their lives. There were stops in the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and the Society Islands with time-outs for kayaking,\u00a0BASE jumping, stand-up paddling, surfing, snorkeling, spear fishing and hanging out with the locals. The Wizard’s Eye video series, now available for viewing on Outside TV<\/a>, captured all the action and drama.<\/p>\n