Seth Peichert, 24, paddled his 17.5-foot kayak into the Inner Harbor yesterday on the last leg of a nearly 1,500-mile trip that began near Miami on April 1. The Towson resident had spent 90 days on the water and most nights camping on sandy beaches. He had lost 20 pounds from his lanky 6-foot-5 frame, grown a thick beard and despite gallons of sun block, he sported a leathery tan.
Family and friends who had followed his trip along the Intracoastal Waterway and up the Chesapeake Bay on the Internet gathered at the Inner Harbor Marina and quickly spotted the white kayak as it rounded the turn from the Patapsco River.
"It's him!" shouted his mother, Joyce Peichert. "I am so glad to get him back on land."
For one brief moment, her son stopped paddling and waved back.
"All he wants to do is get here and get that boat out of the water," said his father, David Peichert, a cardiologist, who would eventually help his son lift the 150-pound kayak onto the pier.
As he paddled to the dock, Phil McKnight, a college friend, played a lively rendition of "Over the Waterfall" on the fiddle and then handed out slices of Smith Island cake. Girlfriend Sara Schultz, who had posted Peichert's daily blogs, held a hot-pink "welcome home" banner. Devin King, a young fellow kayaker who had met Peichert in Florida, clanged a cowbell. Joan Hurley snapped photos of her former St. Paul's School student.
Peichert's 92-year-old great-grandmother came from Virginia for the homecoming, while others traveled from Kentucky, Boston and New York.
Climbing out of the kayak, he said, "It's so nice to see everybody and to know I don't have to get back in that thing." He added that he was looking forward to a jumbo egg custard snowball.
When he started the trip on April Fool's Day, friends thought he was joking. He and his older brother, Adam, christened the kayak with a bottle of wine. Adam wasn't worried as he pushed the kayak into the waves at Key Biscayne, Fla.
"I knew if he got into trouble, he could just rent a U-Haul and drive home," said Adam, who might write about his brother's adventures.
Along the way, many asked why.
"This was purely a personal challenge that grew from a whimsical idea, which came together very quickly once I made up my mind," Peichert said.
A kayak guide on Hilton Head Island since graduating from the University of Vermont, Peichert trained at home for several months. He had the advantage of sea legs and a sturdy vessel, he said.
