Press Release

SHE DID IT!

Press Release:

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 that Paul Caffyn called “The most significant solo kayak trip undertaken by a woman in the southern hemisphere”.

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 from the NZ trip, 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.

Starting in Melbourne in January 2009.

You are more than welcome to follow her along!

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