# Freya Hoffmeister attempting first solo kayak circumnavigation of South America. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568 "2011-12-17T20:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/1 "2011-12-17T20:46:06Z")
A friend of mine who is a devoted sea kayaker told me about his kayaking idol [Freya Hoffmeister](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freya_Hoffmeister). She has kayaked solo around Australia, and is in the process of [circumnavigating her second continent - South America](http://qajaqunderground.com/). She’s paddled 3462 kilometers so far, and is doing this in three eight month long stretches, hoping to finish the trip to celebrate her 50th birthday. She’s going clockwise, having departed Buenos Aires on August 30th, getting Tierra del Fuego, the scariest part of the trip, out of the way first. Though I’d imagine the trip through the Panama Canal should be lots of fun as well. She’s a successful business owner, former gymnast, former Miss Germany contestant, body-builder and sky-diver (she has sky-dived onto the North Pole). In a world where celebrities get attention for nothing more than existing, here is someone doing something extraordinary and being pretty much ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/2 "2011-12-18T16:03:34Z")
Very cool. I’ve long enjoyed seeing satories about people doing stuff like that, going back to when I first read about [Richard Halliburton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Halliburton) and [Thor Heyerdahl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl) several years ago. It’s good to see there are still people like that out there. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/3 "2011-12-18T16:08:26Z")
Wow. Interesting person. Cool endeavor. I approve. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/4 "2011-12-18T17:37:49Z")
Yeah, I was reading about her circumnavigation of Australia. She took a 357 mile “shortcut” across the Gulf of Carpentaria that took 8 days of paddling, which meant she had to sleep in the kayak. How the _hell_ do you **do** that? Meanwhile, Kim Kardasian got a new puppy. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/5 "2011-12-18T19:01:20Z")
I knew as soon as I saw the name Freya that she’d be interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/6 "2011-12-19T21:03:48Z")
Bumping one last time to allow people to reflect on the fact that she spent 8 days in a kayak traveling across a stretch of water [roughly the same size as the Black Sea](http://g.co/maps/p5v8r). Solo. No support boat traveling alongside her. That meant she she did everything in a kayak - eating, sleeping and even pooping. How the hell do you _poop_ off the side of a kayak? How could anyone sleep in a kayak? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/7 "2012-01-04T02:41:01Z")
Hopefully this extra bump won’t annoy the admins, but Hoffmeister has successfully made her way around the Horn. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/8 "2012-01-04T22:16:30Z")
Awesome! ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/9 "2012-01-04T22:22:29Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > …That meant she she did everything in a kayak - eating, sleeping and even pooping. How the hell do you _poop_ off the side of a kayak? How could anyone sleep in a kayak? Maybe [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Fearless-One-Woman-Kayak-Continent/dp/0762772875) explains it? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/10 "2012-01-04T23:09:39Z")
I found the book, [Sailing Alone Around the World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World), to be incredibly fascinating. Especially the section where he sailed through the Straits of Magellan in the late 1800s. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/11 "2012-01-05T00:17:34Z")
The quote about the book has this from the author: “her vanity and pigheadedness paled next to her nearly superhuman ability to master fear and persevere.” It’s like the old saying “well-behaved women rarely make history.” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/12 "2012-10-28T00:02:19Z")
Hoffmeister has started the second leg of her trip. She took a planned break from May to August for winter, and started up again on August 25th. As of this moment she is in Mollendo, Peru and coming up on 10,000 km. Meanwhile Kim Kardasian’s puppy is now housebroken and no longer shits in her purse. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/13 "2012-10-28T00:23:53Z")
Changed the title for you as you wanted, **gaffa.** ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/14 "2012-10-28T00:46:21Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Changed the title for you as you wanted, **gaffa.** Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freya-hoffmeister-attempting-first-solo-kayak-circumnavigation-of-south-america/606568/15 "2012-10-28T00:52:04Z")
Not to minimize the accomplishment, but circumnavigation-circumschmavigation, try kayaking across open ocean from California to Hawaii, unsupported, with no intermittent landings. Ed Gillette did it, and [wrote about it here](http://members.iinet.net.au/~rokhor/canoe/edgillet.html): > [@](#): > > On my sixtieth day at sea, I ran out of food. My school of mahi-mahi had left me a week before. I had eaten my toothpaste two days earlier. There was nothing edible left in the boat, and no fish were biting my lures. Looking up, I watched a line of jet airplanes heading for Hawaii. I thought about the passengers eating from their plastic trays. My food fantasies were so real and so complete that I could recreate every detail of every restaurant I had ever visited. I could remember the taste, texture and smell of meals I had eaten several years ago. I thought about how I should have gone to a grocery store in Monterey and bought fifty cans of Spam, or chili, and stuffed the cans into my boat. > > ``` > I had nearly completed the world's longest open ocean crossing, but I did not feel any closer to land. I had been scribbling different latitude and longitude numbers on the side of my boat, but I had no sense of progress. My kayak trip seemed as though it would last forever. In my 63rd day at sea, I was taking my usual noon latitude sight. When I swung my sextant to look at the southern horizon, I was annoyed by the mountain filling my sextant viewfinder and fouling up my view of the horizon line. "That damned mountain..." I thought. Seconds later, I realized I was looking at land! That dark mountain had to be Mauna Kea, 80 miles away on the 'big island' of Hawaii. The island of Maui 40 miles ahead was hidden under a blanket of squally clouds. As the clouds cleared, Haleakala reared its head and I knew I was almost home. > > I whooped for joy when I saw land. I had only been pretending to be a sea creature. I was a land creature traveling through a hostile environment. My survival depended on the life support system I carried in my kayak, and my support system was exhausted. Nearing land, I felt as though a weight was being lift-ed from my shoulders. > > After paddling and kite sailing all night, I brought my kayak into the calm lee of Maui outside Kahului harbor. The scents of rainwashed soils and lush tropical plants washed over me like waves of perfume. No one greeted me when my bow dug a furrow into the sandy beach. Stepping onto the beach for the first time in more than two months, I could not make my legs obey me. They crumpled underneath me and I sat down heavily in the shallow water. A local character staggering down the beach asked me where I had come from. When I told him that I had paddled my kayak from California, he whistled. > "That's a long way," he said. "Must've taken you two or three days, huh?" > > "Yeah," I said. > > ```