German woman attempting to paddle around South America

Earlier this week, long distance kayaker Freya Hoffmeister set off on another epic journey. The German woman, who once spent 332 days kayaking around Australia, has set her sights on an even bigger challenge – a solo circumnavigation of South America.

On Tuesday, Hoffmeister set out from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she immediately started paddling south, down the Atlantic Coast. Her first few days went fairly well, as she knocked off more than 30 miles per day, but high winds appeared late in the week, slowing progress to a crawl.

For the next two years, Freya’s days will mostly be spent in the cockpit of her kayak, while nights will be passed camping on shore. She’ll take occasional breaks along the way of course, enough time to recharge her batteries and enjoy some creature comforts, but for the most part, Hoffmeister will be focused on making progress – rain or shine.

The voyage is expected to take upwards of 24 months and cover 15,000 miles before Hoffmeister completes her journey around South America and returns to Buenos Aires. Before she does that however, she’ll need to brave the turbulent waters off Cape Horn, turn north along the Pacific Coast, and face thousands of miles of remote, empty coastlines. After months of travel, she’ll then navigate through the Panama Canal, back to the Atlantic Ocean, and turn south once again. A daunting task to say the least.

You can follow Freya’s progress on her daily blog and trip map, which is automatically updated as she moves along.

Spending two years in a kayak will require a lot of dedication and hard work. But considering her track record, I think Freya may be up to the task.

German woman kayaks solo around Australia

A 45-year old German woman named Freya Hoffmeister completed an eleven month odyssey on Tuesday as she paddled into the harbor at Queenscliff, Australia, finishing a successful circumnavigation of that continent by kayak. In the process, she became just the second person to complete that journey, and the first woman, while setting a new speed record as well.

Freya set out from Queenscliff, paddling counter-clockwise around the continent, last January, and returned to that point 332 days later. Of those 332 days, 245 were spent in the cockpit of her kayak, covering more than 9400 miles. Perhaps the most difficult and treacherous part of the expedition was when she paddled across the Gulf of Carpentaria, along the northern coast of Australia. That bold move shaved 680 miles off of the journey, but to achieve the crossing, Freya has to spend nearly eight days in her kayak, going so far as to even sleep there. She is just the second person to make that crossing by kayak as well.

This isn’t Freya’s first major kayak expedition, although it is by far her longest to date. Back in 2007 she spent 33 days circumnavigating Iceland, and then later kayaked around New Zealand’s South Island in 70 days, achieving a new speed record on that adventure too.

The only other person to successfully circumnavigate Australia by kayak was Paul Caffyn, a New Zealander who made the journey 27 years ago. Caffyn took 360 days on his journey, and Freya bested him by nearly a month. Upon reaching the finish line, the German kayaker said, “I promise, if anyone will paddle around Australia within the next 27 years, I’ll be at the finish line.”%Gallery-7921%