There are 30 miles of open ocean between Channel Islands National Park and the coast of Santa Barbara. It felt impossibly far to him. To get there, he would have to overcome the distance and fatigue, the crashing waves, and his own inexperience. Kyle Korver had only been on a paddleboard three times before.
But that—all of that—was the point.
Misogi is an ancient Japanese ritual that, in its modern form, has become a quest to push the mind or body to extreme limits, and each offseason Korver undertakes a new challenge.
The paddleboard voyage was his first.