I have been looking for a rigid dinghy for my sailboat. I have an inflatable but I like to row and inflatable dinghies just don’t row well, or sometimes at all. One of the dinghies that has caught my eye is the Walker Bay 8 or possibly the 10. It is plastic and relatively inexpensive, looks like a dinghy and apparently both rows and sails reasonably well.  There is also a kit to add inflatable tubes, effectively turning the Walker Bay into a RIB (rigid inflatable boat.) 

Recently I stumbled across the story of John Martin III, an Alaskan who wanted to be reunited with his wife and son. Lacking money and a passport, he decided to sail across the Bering Sea from Alaska to China to reestablish contact with his family. He chose a Walker Bay 8 dinghy with the RIB tube kit and set off down the Yukon River and sailed out into the Bering Sea. The Anchorage Daily News reported that he sailed in July in the 8′ long boat equipped with little more than a bucket of salmon bellies, a jug of grape juice and water, pilot bread and a compass.

The good and almost amazing news is that he didn’t die. He didn’t make it China either, but he in Siberia after 14 days at sea, being carried north by currents. The Russians were not pleased to see this unlikely visitor and threw him in jail for almost six months while they figured out what to do with him. Finally, the Russians returned Walker to Alaska where is said to be writing a memoir of his adventures. 

Martin’s ‘adventures” fall into the general category of “don’t try this at home.” Nevertheless, I am impressed that the Walker Bay dinghy made it.