He Takes a Walk From Catalina and Makes a Splash

When David Moe made the crossing from Avalon Harbor to Newport Beach on Saturday, he did it his way--on foot.

The Catalina Channel has been sailed, swum, skied and paddled countless times before, but Moe claims to be--and most likely is--the first to have walked it.

“Walking on water has always been a dream of mine,” said Moe, 38, who a few years ago introduced para-sailing and cross-country skiing on sand to Southern California beaches. He has also climbed up and skied down North American peaks from Mt. McKinley to the snow-capped volcano Popocatepetl in Mexico, kayaked alongside Alaskan ice floes and once put himself in the ring for a 10-round boxing match against “a friend” on the beach in Newport.

“I’m sort of a George Plimpton type--I like to try everything,” said Moe, who lives in Capistrano Beach.

So, at 1:45 a.m. Saturday, Moe plopped out of his friend Terry Fell’s boat inside the breakwater at Avalon, strapped on his 11-foot-long “skijaks”--hybrid water skis-kayaks--and set out to make history. Ten hours later, he reached the edge of Newport Harbor--a 32-mile hop, skip and skijak. He now claims to have set a new world record for the longest water walk.

Feet Never Touch Water

Moe’s methods may meet with objections from some purists, however: His feet never actually come in contact with the water. Instead, they are encased in the 16-pound skijaks (pronounced skeeyaks ) that look like miniature kayaks and are attached to the feet much like water-skis. Moe even uses a paddle to propel himself along while he shuffles the skijaks back and forth in a skating-skiing motion that Moe said is like “dancing in the water.”

Moe acknowledged that “the first man who walked on water, whom I’d like to thank as my sponsor,” had no need for such equipment. But then, walking with a cane or crutches is also considered walking.

His friends describe Moe as a religious man, intelligent and always prone to do things no one else has ever dreamed of.

“If (Olympic diving gold medalist) Greg Louganis is a golden trout, then our David is the carp of the sports world,” joked Chris Ostlind, 36, of Newport Beach, who was videotaping Moe’s feat from Fell’s support boat.

Ostlind said that he and Moe plan to cross-country-ski across the Scandinavian peninsula following old Lapplander trade routes.

How He Got Idea

“I don’t like triathlons, marathons or aerobics,” said Moe, who is field editor for the ski publication Powder Magazine. “They’re too organized. I’m into sea kayaking and ski mountaineering. I guess I just want to see how far inside myself I can really go.”

Moe said he got the idea to cross the channel on foot after he kayaked across several years ago, and began considering the project seriously when he saw the European-manufactured skijaks advertised in an outdoors magazine. “They’re popular in Europe--this could be the next big sport here, too,” Moe said.

Until Moe’s Saturday stroll, the water-walking record belonged to Richard Novak, who crossed the 27.9-mile English Channel on a pair of skijaks, Fell said.

In addition to Moe’s editorial and athletic pursuits, he and Fell have also formed a company called Snow Beach that “tries to apply the beach life style to the snow, and vice versa.” One of their products is called the Mountain Lounger, an invention of Moe’s that enables a skier to lean back on his skis and bask in the sunshine on a hot day. Snow volleyball and snow badminton are not far behind, Moe said.

Athletic Achievement

Whatever else one may think of Moe’s adventure Saturday, it was an impressive athletic achievement. On no sleep and a meager pre-walk meal at an island pizzeria, the lanky blond set out on a black sea that only hours before had been rough enough to drench Moe and three other passengers in a 24-foot motorboat on the way over.

“I’m scared--the swells are making me nervous,” Moe said shortly before taking his first step.

But the seas calmed and soon two green lights attached to the tips of Moe’s skijaks could be discerned, rhythmically sliding back and forth.

A leisurely, silvery-orange sunrise found Moe past the halfway point--and brought friendly, finned creatures to the water-walker’s side, as schools of porpoise rolled and jumped across Moe’s path for the next two hours.

Moe made periodic rest stops during his journey, squatting on his skijaks alongside the support boat while chugging water or eating a piece of fruit or bread.

Pain in His Knee

Moe complained only of pain in his left knee--”I tweaked it skiing a few years ago,” he said.

Even with a navigational error that had Moe heading toward Huntington Beach before the course was corrected, he still was able to triumphantly stab the Newport breakwater rocks with his paddle at 11:45 a.m. on the dot--bringing him in far ahead of his predicted time of 12 or 13 hours.

“Mission accomplished,” Moe said. “I’m spent, but it was worth it--this is a dream come true.”