J.J. Kelley and Josh Thomas built a couple of plywood kayaks. Then they paddled from Alaska to Seattle via the Inside Passage in the plywood kayaks that they built. During the trip, they filmed everything. After the trip, they whittled all the footage down to an 80-minute movie. Everyone from Paddler Magazine to Outside Online is raving about this new movie. You’ll see why after watching the trailer.

Paddle to Seattle

What intrigues me is that they took the time to build their own kayaks, invested the extra work into filming the movie, they got sponsorships, but they come across as just a couple of guys on an adventure. They seem very humble. For me it’s a fresh change from recent paddling movies, like Jon Bowermaster Ocean 8 series–it seemed overdone and preachy to me.

Although Thomas and Kelley have fantastic filming and editing skills, they make the movie seem like it’s something that anyone could do. To me that’s much more inspiring than watching a paddling film that looks professionally produced. The film is screening in select locations, including Minneapolis on Dec 6th, 2009.

Don’t miss this film.

Pedal to the Midnight Sun

It’s not the first time the team filmed their adventures. In 2006, Thomas and Kelley completed a 1,200-mile bike ride across Alaska. They made a movie about that bike ride. Pedal to the Midnight Sun is available on Amazon.com

• The team’s website: Dudes on Media
  
• More Inside Passage Action: Check out Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla’s North American Odyssey.