Join the Lopez Island Library for an evening with world kayaker Nigel Foster. In the second program of the Lopez Library’s series Beyond Limits, world-renowned kayaker Nigel Foster presents “On Polar Tides” the story of two trips paddling and surviving the coast of northern Labrador. Born in England, Nigel Foster is an expedition kayaker, kayak designer, instructor and author of numerous books on kayaking. He has led trips to Iceland, arctic Norway and Scotland, and in 1977 along with Geoff Hunter, became the first and youngest person to circumnavigate Iceland by kayak. The library’s evening features the Labrador trips the first in 1981 when he accomplished the first solo crossing by kayak of the Hudson Strait. After crossing the 40-mile wide Strait in howling winds and fighting a 10 knot tide race, he crash-landed on a small island in the dark. He had frostbitten fingers, was 300 miles from the closest village and without a means of communication. Eight days later in a stroke of luck, he caught a ride south on an oil tanker that had taken shelter behind Killiniq Island. He had survived marking one of the most notable solo crossings in history. The trip was described by the editor of the BCU Canoeing Handbook as “arguably the most impressive of any sea kayak adventure in the world.” But the failure to complete the second portion of that trip haunted him and in 2004, accompanied by kayaker Kristin Nelson, he completed the Baffin Island to Labrador part of the expedition by paddling from Kuujjuaq in Ungava Bay to Nain, a distance of over 675 miles of uninhabited coastline. Kristin Nelson will join Nigel Foster for the Lopez Library program. His new book “On Polar Tides” will be available for sale and signing at the event and is also available as a new addition to the library’s collection. In this program these two life-affirming trips are brought to the Lopez audience with beautifully shared personal perspectives and images of a vanishing wilderness – polar bears, calving icebergs, wildlife and a rugged coastline. Not to be missed! Sponsored by Friends of the Lopez Library and the Ramsey Shirk Fund. For more information contact Jen Krajack, Lopez Island Library. 468-2265