I’ve found that the word “Baja” holds different meaning for everyone who hears you might be going. For some it mean’s fast off-road 4×4 racing through the desert. Others think of tequila and Cabo San Lucas. Still others simply think it’s just that deserted land strip past Tijuana. What most don’t know about the area is that lying between the mainland of Mexico and the Baja peninsula is one of the most biologically diverse bodies of water on our planet, the Sea of Cortez.

Home to giant manta rays, sea lions, dolphins, a plethora of whales, and more species of fish than Cousteau could dream up, the Sea of Cortez is packed with life. I took a guided trip through recently to the Island of Espiritu Santo to witness first hand what the Sea of Cortez holds for adventures. I booked this trip through Boundless Journeys, recently rated one of the world’s best adventure tour companies by National Geographic Adventure, and for good reason. Their 7 day Baja Kayaking trip is a fantastic way to experience the world below the waves, the local culture, some serious paddling, and squeeze in some quality reflection time on the beach.

The trip is doable even for those who have never slipped into a kayak before. The local guides are superb. The head guide for our trip, Miguel, has years of experience paddling the waters around Espiritu Santo and stuck close to his newbie paddlers. An introduction to basic kayaking course the first day preps you for the paddling ahead. The excellent instruction on wet exit, re-entry, and basic paddle strokes provides a solid foundation of safety for the week’s explorations.
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The 5th annual Coast 2 Coast event took place this past weekend on the island of Trinidad. I was in Trinidad last year for the event but was unable to compete due to having been in an altercation with an automobile which compromised my ability to train. However, I spent a great week with some great athletes from around the world along with a phenomenal race staff.

The Tropical Power Coast 2 Coast 2009, the Caribbean’s premier Multi-Sport Race, took place last weekend, October 17 and 18, along Trinidad’s picturesque North Coast. This year marked the fifth anniversary of the race, in which athletes competed in three disciplines – trail running, cycling and paddling.

Day 1, which began at the Toco lighthouse on Trinidad’s north-east coast and ended at the beach by the Marianne River bridge in Blanchisseuse, comprised two stages – a short run to Salybia Beach, from which point racers cycled 40 km to Matelot, and a 32 km trail run though Madamas, Tacaribe and Paria to Blanchisseuse. In the Individual category, Clarance Tobias crossed the Day 1 finish line first, in a time of 4:21:48, followed nearly an hour later by Jason Lane (5:18:44), Robert Sharpe (5:26:24) and Paul Carter (5:55:52). In the Relay category, the team of Cantius Thomas, Roger Smart and David Hackshaw crossed the Day 1 finish first, in a time of 4:42:00, followed by Erle Rahaman-Noronja, Robert Cadiz and Colin Wilson (4:53:51), Jason Costelloe, Johan Sydow and David Gibbon (5:19:55) and Ashe Holder, Dave Esdale and Mark Thomas (5:55:47). Former Triathlon champion Diane Henderson and her relay partners Scott Farfan and Peter Dickinson finished the day in a time of 6:08:47. Continue Reading

Two Chilean kayakers/climbers, Cristian Donoso and Mario Sepúlveda, will attempt a unassisted kayak voyage and climbing expedition at the Antarctic Peninsula.

Next month, Cristian and Mario will cross the Drake Passage on board the ship ‘Antarctic Dream’ to get to the Antarctic Peninsula from where they will start their expedition.

According to their website: “These two explorers will seek to complete an itinerary of 1600 kilometers, following a maritime and terrestrial route never tried before that will take them for the coast and the highest summits of the Mountain chain of the Antarctic Andes.”

That will be 1600 km on sea and snow! The approximate distances will be, in kayak, 850 km, on land/snow 750 km; total, 1600 km. Estimated time 80 – 110 days.

“The main goal of this expedition will be to alert the public about the effects of global warming on the Antarctic coast,” they stated, “In order to achieve it we will make a photographic and audiovisual register of landscapes and wildlife of this Antarctic region, from the deep and non-disturbing perspective of a kayak expedition.” Continue Reading

We have been following Roz‘s progress on Stage 2 of her solo row across the Pacific. Included here is a highlight video of that journey. We are excited for her as she is back on dry land and already making preparations for the third and final leg in 2010.

In less than 7 days, Justin DeForest will set out from Hampton Roads, VA to paddle the Intracoastal Waterway to Key West, FL. The route will be broken into 7 sections of about 200 miles each and his plan is to complete each section in approximately one week. The adventure has taken the name Intra-Coastal Expedition (ICE) 2009.

The 35-year-old paddler/adventurer is using the expedition to raise money and awareness for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. He has dubbed the campaign the ‘Penny Paddle Pledge’. The Penny Paddle idea is simple; pledge a penny for each mile DeForest paddles. The estimated mileage for the trip is 1300 so your total contribution would be $13.00. 100% of all contributions will go to the Foundation.

”The Wildland Firefighter Foundation is an organization I respect and support, and this is my way of showing that,” Deforest said. “By kayaking down the Atlantic coastline I will be able to interact with local communities and spread the word about the foundation. There are very few places in the country not affected by wildfire, be it southern California or the coast of South Carolina.”
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In 2007, Freya Hoffmeister circumnavigated Iceland in a record 33 days. Three month later, she set out to become the first woman to round the South Island of New Zealand, solo and unsupported. Seventy days later, the 43-year-old sea kayaker from Husum, Germany completed another record-setting trip!

So, what’s next for the paddler, known as “The Woman in Black”?.. The Race Around Australia Expedition.

Expected to take her roughly one year, the 9,400 mile (15.000 km) journey around the southern continent is considered one of, if not the, most challenging trip in the world of sea kayaking. While there have been dozens of attempts, if Freya makes it, she’ll become the first woman to complete the journey and only the second person since Paul Caffyn, her friend and mentor, did it 27 years ago.

What makes it so formidable?

Huge salt water crocodiles, Great White sharks, venomous sea snakes and deadly jelly fish, massive surf, exposed crossings, the challenge of coordinating freshwater and food dumps, hundreds of kilometres of sheer cliffs without any landing zones and destroying cyclones are some of the most daunting treats – not to mention the tropical heat and physical toll it will take to average upwards of 35 miles (~ 60 km) per day for one year.
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Good news for one of the athletes we have been following!

On September 6, 2009 Roz Savage, British ocean rower and environmental campaigner, made landfall on Tarawa, a small atoll in the Republic of Kiribati, successfully completing stage 2 of her epic bid to become the first woman in history to row solo row across the Pacific Ocean. She launched this stage of her voyage on May 24, from Honolulu, Hawaii. She spent 104 days at sea, bringing the total number of days alone at sea for her Pacific crossing to 203 days. Savage uses her ocean rowing adventures to help inspire action on environmental issues.

Savage was welcomed by hundreds of people at Betio Wharf on South Tarawa, where children greeted her with flower leis. “What a spectacular welcome – I’m so delighted to be here in Kiribati and to meet the wonderful people of Tarawa. Being here is especially poignant for me, knowing that this land and the people who live here are some of the earliest and most seriously impacted by the devastating effects of climate change.”
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Sara Outen arrived in Mauritius at 8:27PM local time to a celebratory welcome from friends and family after becoming the first (and youngest) woman to row solo across the Indian Ocean. On March 31, 2009, Outen set out from Fremantle (Western Australia) enroute to Mauritius in an attempt to become the youngest (and the only female) person to ever row across the Indian Ocean solo. The 24-year-old (celebrated her 24th birthday at sea) completed the open ocean voyage of over 3,000 miles in just 124 days.

During her journey, she experienced everything that the Indian Ocean had to offer from major storms to a rolled boat. Not to mention that she spent 4 months alone at sea rowing between 8-12 hours per day.

This epic journey was dedicated to her father who died in 2006. Her father had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and she has been raising money for Arthritis Care.

I am sure that in the coming days there will be more info about her trip (after she has gotten some good land based sleep, some cooked meals and recovered from being at sea for 4 months) and as it becomes available…we will post it on the site.

I first watched this video on The Adventure Life website. It is the trailer for Dream Result, a Rush Sturges and Tyler Bradt Film, which contains some super extreme footage of big water kayakers (Ben Marr, Tyler Bradt (186′ world record descent on Palouse Falls), Rush Sturges, Lane Jacobs and more) taking on some amazing whitewater all over the world. As I was listening to the background music on the trailer…I felt like I was watching an epic battle scene from Lord of the Rings. The full length film is due out Spring 2010.

The 13th Annual Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race returned to Hawaii this year, the competition held on July 26th. Considered the world championship of stand up paddleboarding, solo men and women, as well as two-person teams, made the arduous 32-mile paddle across the storied Molokai (Ka’iwi) Channel in pursuit of paddling’s top honor. Along the way they battled tough seas, summer heat, physical and mental limits, not to mention, each other. This year´s long distance mile open ocean race offered a record prize purse of $16,000 and brought all the top athletes in the sport, including record holder Jamie Mitchel (Australian) who won for the 8th year in a row.

In an interview he described the race:
“It felt like six hours today,” said Mitchell, who couldn’t believe he came in under five hours. “The first two thirds was good, but that last third… it took forever to get close, then the current, then the backwash. It was definitely the toughest (race) of the last three or four years for me.

“It was real technical today. It wasn’t easy to catch the bumps. You had to be really on your game to get them…The current had a stationary wave effect. You’d be trying to get down it and it would be sucking you back up.

“The last couple of hours was pretty painful for me,” Mitchell added, supported by his cheese-grated feet that bore the brunt of the hard work. “I felt strong, just the conditions today made it a lot harder than previous years.”

I was checking out some of the photos and videos of the Yukon River Quest and it looks like it was an absolute blast!
Having the opportunity to boat 460 miles of the Yukon river with a bunch of other paddlers from Whitehorse (a Canadian town with a great microbrewery) and ending in Dawson City (a cool old gold rush town) would have been a great adventure.

When I was in Dawson City, the locals told me about a guy who lives in a cave across the Yukon River, and that every year when the river starts freezing over, huge chunks of ice block the ferry from crossing. However, every year this guy continues crossing in his canoe, sometimes getting pushed hundreds of yards down the river by floating ice chunks and has to drag his canoe into town. That and while walking through the town some random drunk challenged me to a duel to defend his honor. It is a quirky town, and loads of fun.

Here are some photos from the event:

And thanks to the PilotGirl for putting these videos together, visit her blog to see more of her great work!

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