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Expedition News Hotline May-June 2000 Print E-mail
Monday, 01 May 2000 02:52
Central America Slog

Honduras and counting. That's the sentiment of American paddlers Luke Shullenberger, 28, and Jean-Philippe Soule, 32, who are 1,500 miles into a two-and-a-half-year, 5,000-mile sea kayak expedition from Mexico to Panama. Half of the mileage, says Shullenberger, comes from paddling up jungle rivers to document indigenous peoples and their traditional lifestyles. Having already completed a 900-mile paddle through Baja, the duo, dubbed the Central America Sea Kayak Expedition, most recently spent time exploring the Mosquito Coast of Honduras after a tour through Belize. Paddling Feathercraft K-1 Expedition folding kayaks, the team used its limited land-based hours to document cultural practices of the Maya. Info.: www.caske2000.org.

North Atlantic Sea Kayak Crossing

What would you do for summer vacation as a self-employed teacher? If you're Peter Bray, 42, of South Wales, you get as far away from your students as you can by sea kayaking from Newfoundland to Ireland. Having developed kayaking and survival skills in the British Army's elite Special Air Services, Bray has competed in endurance events worldwide. It's a good background for his current endeavor, the North Atlantic Kayak Challenge 2000. The trip--taking place in June--is expected to take 110 days, with all provisions carried inside his 24-foot, carbon-fiber Kevlar kayak. Although the crossing has been paddled before, Bray maintains the previous journeys used sails and took place in the calmer South Atlantic. "Sailing is not paddling," he told the Toronto National Post. "I know what I can do and I know that the Challenge is 90 percent mental." Info.: www.outdoorchallenge.co.uk/nakc2000.

Po Tsangpo Paddle

Calling it "the Middle Fork of the Salmon with Mt. McKinley's all around," Steve Curry and Earth River Expeditions recently discovered a middle portion of Tibet's Po Tsangpo River that they feel is perfect for commercial rafting. "We spend a lot of energy combing the world looking for great trips, and usually we don't find anything," says Earth River's Eric Hertz. "But this time I think we found one of the greatest rafting rivers in the world." The exploratory took place last November, with the group finding a waterway with rapids comparable to those of Chile's Futaleufu, minus the Class V, surrounded by easily viewable peaks rising more than 15,000 feet overhead. Of course, as with all things too good to be true, there is a downside: the trip requires three days driving to get in and three to get out. Earth River plans to offer the first commercial trip on the section this fall. Info.: (800) 643-2784.

Originally Published, Paddler March-April 2000
 

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