Posted by Greg on
May 30, 2008
A dry run at packing is always wise when you have a new kayak and new gear. Good old elbow grease and idle threats always seem to help… Many thanks to my good friend Russell Farrow at Sweetwater kayaks for providing a “test” Greenlander Pro.
Early this morning I donned my wool socks, pulled on my jet-black Kokatat drysuit, and wriggled into my size 11 Chotas. I slid into the Greenlander Pro with my boots squealing in protest against the hull until they found the footpegs. A snug fit for my feet, but it will work. All dressed up and nowhere to go! Unfortunately, I wasn’t about to glide among icebergs or sea stacks, rather I was merely testing the fit of my new boots and was racing against time before I began roasting in the sweltering Florida heat. I jumped out just as I started to feel the first trickle of sweat running down the suit. The neighbors glanced over but didn’t even say a word. From rope gymnastics to strange rolls to wearing a black drysuit in “summer”, they stopped asking questions long ago …
Snow fell recently in Newfoundland and icebergs continue to spill down “iceberg alley”. That can be difficult to fully grasp when living in the land of palm trees, humidity and alligators with the mercury rising over 90 degrees. One of the delights of kayak expeditions is that you can jump aboard a jet and suddenly be exploring an alien landscape — literally a different world in a matter of days or even hours. At this time last year, I distinctly remember the excitement of seeing a moonscape of black volcanic rock appear beneath me, as my plane descended in Iceland, one day prior to beginning a kayak circumnavigation.
Preparations for my Newfoundland circumnavigation are proceeding smoothly, and I expect to be getting underway the second week of June. My life is currently a flurry of excitement and activity: buying months worth of dog food for “Bear”, my Chow/Golden Retriever mix (he’s in the photo, but you’ll need “finding Waldo” skills to see him); ensuring that all the bills will be paid; learning to become proficient with new gear (even practicing putting up and taking down my new Hilleberg tent) working out an efficient packing scheme, and hundreds of other details both big and small.
An “expedition” just wouldn’t be an expedition without some stress, worry and concern. But everything always manages to come together in time. The inevitable challenges have to be taken in stride. A roof leak, an expensive car repair and an elbow/bicep injury caused some anxiety. Just a week ago I was researching all options to discover a way to get a kayak shipped from Maine to Newfoundland. I asked for help on the forums and spent hours on the phone with shipping companies. That’s when I received an email from Malcolm Rowe, a kayaker/judge who I met last year, offering to let me use his kayak on the trip. At first I refused — as a kayak takes rough treatment on a solo trip where it is dragged more than it is carried. However Nigel Dennis offered to replace Malcolm’s kayak after the trip, which made this option reasonable. Many thanks to Malcolm and Nigel and everyone else who has provided assistance.
Once the trip is underway, I will be posting daily updates to this blog with the help of Karel Vissel, who will provide Google maps and weather, and Derrick Mayoleth, who will create the blog entires. Between internet stops, I will post short status messages sent from my Blackberry or a satellite phone. I’ll capture plenty of images and post them as possible. I hope that you will follow my progress on the trip, and add your comments!
Posted by Greg on
April 30, 2008
I recently returned from ten days of teaching and playing at the Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium in Wales. This is one of my favorite paddling destinations and I would heartily encourage all paddlers to visit. This area has it all, fantastic tidal races, steep cliffs and interesting scenery, beautiful beach access, castles and a network of hiking/biking trails along the coast (not to mention a fine selection of local “bitters” and smooth Guinness)…
The beauty of the races is that (assuming the ever-present wind is not blowing everything out), you can time your entry according to the tide, to pick the size of the waves you wish to challenge. This makes the races a great teaching opportunity. You can schedule your time to either play/teach in light to moderate conditions or choose “This is the Sea” mayhem that will rudely test your skills. If only the surf of Central Florida was so predictable…
Of course the main attraction is the symposium itself and rubbing elbows with some fantastic paddlers and personalties. I arrived early and picked up a wing to help Freya Hoffmeister train for the Molokai Challenge in Hawaii. After winning a local race with a Greenland paddle I have been enjoying occasional racing with a wing and there are many interesting parallels to a Greenland paddle. In addition to teaching Greenland-style rolling, I enjoyed teaching rolling and rescues with Gordon Brown and Mark Tozer. Although I have known Gordon for a number of years, it was my first time teaching with him, and it was great to finally meet Mark. The nights are filled with presentations of history and expeditions, and afterward, a visit to the pub on the symposium grounds.
As usual it was great to meet the “regular” crowd in the pub. The “core group” of paddlers are an amazingly talented and entertaining bunch. Harry Whelan had me in stitches with his antics once again…
Symposiums are a bittersweet experience. Once over, you may not see many of your best friends for a year or more. As kayakers we make up a very large (and definitely dysfunctiona!) family. But that’s also the very thing that makes these events so special.
Posted by Greg on
April 9, 2008
Photo Copyright Greg Stamer (Olympus SW 720. Click on image to view enlargement)
Yes, it’s hard to believe that Columbus and crew mistook the Manatee for a mermaid, but, well, it was a very long voyage…. 😕 Manatees are beautiful creatures in their own right, of course. One of the joys of living in Florida is discovering that beyond the theme parks and condos is a very rich world of wildlife. Eagles, alligators, manatees and countless dolphins are among my normal paddling companions. Although I greatly enjoyed my time in Europe last year, I saw more marine wildlife in several days in Mosquito lagoon (a large estuary East of Orlando), than in all my months overseas.
After the Sweetwater Symposium in February, I kayaked the outflow of Weeki Watchee springs with Russell Farrow, Nigel and Kristin Foster and some other good friends. The warm water is home to a number of manatees in the winter months. Donning a mask and capsizing in my kayak, the young, “sad-eyed” manatee shown in the image above eagerly approached me to investigate (yet another great reason to learn to roll — to explore the depths below with a dive mask). Perhaps, capsized in my kayak, I looked like kin. Its mother visited too, but wasn’t as interested in this strange half-man/half kayak. Up close a manatee looks much like an elephant (one of their closest relatives) with their stiff hair and thick skin. Manatees are vegetarians. They are friendly and inquisitive and can move quite fast when they want to.
It is amazing how the interaction and connection with such a creature fills you with an intense and overwhelming sense of humility, peace and wonderment. Like being a kid again.
I only wish that we were worthy of the trust shown by this young manatee. Humans are the main reason that the manatee is endangered. Many are killed each year from boat collisions. Most of the adults have deep scars cut into their back, the result of being slashed with the blades of boat propellers. Some die from infection caused by the cuts and others suffer a broken back from the collision with the lower unit of boat engines. Still others are crushed in locks. For information on helping protect these amazing creatures please visit the Save the Manatee Club
Posted by Greg on
March 29, 2008
Greg Stamer and Freya Hoffmeister among Icebergs in Newfoundland, 2007. Photograph by Neil Burgess (click on image to view enlargement)
As a bit of a teaser for my upcoming Newfoundland trip I have created a photo album of my trip around the Avalon peninsula in 2007. This trip was undertaken after teaching Greenland-skills at the Kayak Newfoundland & Labrador (KNL) symposium. The trip served as a dry (wet?) run for Iceland, and to test and hone our gear choices.
Icebergs are a common sight from the east coast of Labrador to Newfoundland’s southern shore — “Iceberg Alley”. These are bergs from Greenland that have been transported south via the Labrador current. I should mention that paddling close to bergs, as in the image above is very risky business. Kayakers have died when the ice rolled suddenly, due to erosion of the immense ice mass underneath the surface. The ice is as beautiful as it is dangerous.
One local custom is to collect small “bergy bits” surrounding the iceberg and to cart it home via kayak. When added to scotch (or the drink of your choice) it fizzes loudly — literally a “Bergie Seltzer”. The effervescence comes from compressed air bubbles — Greenland air from centuries ago — trapped in the iceberg, that sizzle, fizzle and pop when thawed!
Posted by Greg on
March 23, 2008
Early Morning Fog on Lake Destiny. Photograph by Greg Stamer (click on image to view enlargement)
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”. — T.S. Eliot.
I must admit that I generally don’t enjoy reading kayaking travelogues. You know, those blow-by-blow accounts where someone describes their trip — what they ate for breakfast, how many miles they paddled, what they ate for dinner, how they smelled on day fourteen, and so on. I have a hard time reading them. The reason being, for me, the trip is only the canvas on which a broader and more interesting story is told. For example, in the case of my Iceland circumnavigation with (ex) partner Freya Hoffmeister, I’m currently writing an article for Sea Kayaker Magazine. In it Iceland is just a fascinating backdrop to frame my struggle to create a new lifestyle for myself amid the pain of how the stresses of the trip accelerated the demise of the relationship that Freya and I shared. It’s a very difficult article to write well, and balance, but hopefully the result will be worth the effort — if I have the courage to be honest enough.
Following a trip blog is much more interesting than most published travelogues, precisely because the action is “live” and therefore, as in life, unpredictable. But even so, for me the interest is not so much the trip itself, but the circumstances behind the trip. Any sea kayaker of modest ability has the physical strength and probably the camping/weather/sea knowledge to complete an “expedition”. After all, an expedition is but only a series of daytrips (although in remote areas the price of failure can be a steep one).
What I find most interesting is not the trip around something but the much more difficult and challenging trip within. Why is that person doing the trip? How are they coping with leaving lovers, friends and family for so long? What kind of lifestyle do they have where they can go off for months at a time? Why are they choosing solitude? Why are they choosing to put themselves in harm’s way? What are they searching for? What are they running from? What are they running toward?
Heraclitus) of Ephesus (c.535 BC – 475 BC) Greek philosopher wrote: No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
I cannot answer for anyone else. I’m sure that some “expedition” kayakers are looking to “make their mark” or be “the first”. I think that pushing yourself and achieving a record is an interesting goal, but the ego-boost, if any, is fleeting. Personally, I feel that any trip that I have ever taken, whether it’s a lazy day on a local lake or battling a fast tidal race in Iceland, is a first. A first for me, anyway. But we are all driven by vastly different winds….
Long trips in the wild, whether they be kayaking, backpacking or other pursuits, reduce life to simple terms. While doing them, I feel a razor-sharp sense of purpose, and the joy and exhilaration that arises from living fully — truly living every second of every day — rather than just trying to “get through the week” (the feeling that I often felt during my corporate life). Each day seems packed with more life than weeks of “ordinary living”. Perhaps this simply reveals a character flaw. For example most people apparently get this same sense of purpose from being husbands, mothers, fathers, providers and such. Other people feel trapped inside the very same roles. Are these people satisfied or are they leading lives of quiet desperation? Are expedition paddlers, as a group, taking long trips around the globe in search of something that is right in front of their noses, or to complete something from their past?
I imagine the answer is as varied and as individual as each of us who explores both distant (and local) shores and the depths of our own soul, from the seat of our kayak.
Posted by Greg on
March 18, 2008
Greg Stamer off “The Rock” (Newfoundland) 2007. Photo by Freya Hoffmeister. (click on image to see enlargement)
Hello and Welcome to my new blog and website!
For a few weeks this site will be under heavy construction but please stop by and view the changes. In addition to sharing my thoughts on life and kayaking in this blog, this site will allow you to follow my progress on kayaking trips.
I must admit that I’m not completely comfortable with the humility aspect of having a domain name in my own name, and having my face sprawled across a website. If you are put off by this, then I hope that you find the content to be down-to-earth and interesting.
My next long adventure is a solo circumnavigation of Newfoundland, planned to start June 2008. I hope that you will follow me virtually around Newfoundland and freely share your comments. I will be using an NDK Greenlander Pro and Superior Kayaks carbon Greenland paddles. Many thanks to Sea Kayaking UK and also my friend Tom Bergh of Maine Island Kayak company for help with the logistics of obtaining a kayak for the trip. Please see my complete sponsor list for the people and companies that make my trips possible.
Karel Vissel, who provided weather reports for my trip around Iceland will be providing weather assistance on this trip as well. Thanks Karel!
Derrick Mayoleth will be updating my blog entries from satellite phone text messages that I send nightly. Thanks Derrick! I will be adding my own blog entries and uploading images as I find internet access during my journey.
Press Release:
Greg Stamer will be undertaking an unsupported, solo, sea kayak circumnavigation of Newfoundland, “the Rock”, Canada’s easternmost province, starting from St. John’s in June, 2008. This adventure is more than 1,700 miles around one of the most windswept locations in North America. Newfoundland is also one of the world’s most beautiful kayaking destinations with Icebergs, seals, puffins, breaching humpback whales, sea caves and a formidable rocky coastline. Abandoned fishing villages dot the coast.
Greg fell in love with Newfoundland and its people while teaching kayaking at a symposium there in 2007. “The country has a raw, primal beauty. Never before had I seen so many sea caves to play in, or so many thousands of birds, such as what I witnessed at Cape St. Mary’s in the Avalon Peninsula. Likewise the people are among the friendliest that I have ever met and would literally give you the shirt off their back if you were in true need. During my stay there I was offered berth in houses, inside cabins of ships and inside trailers. While I plan to stay in the wilds as much as possible, I know that interacting with the people of Newfoundland will be one of the greatest highlights of my journey. Winds will be a challenge as will the toll of long, high-mileage days”.
During his Iceland circumnavigation with trip partner Freya Hoffmeister last year, Greg completed two crossings of 90km, and 100km, the latter requiring more than 22 hours to complete. Neither of these crossings had been completed by kayak before. For the Newfoundland expedition Greg will be again be kayaking headland to headland, and making a number of challenging crossings, but he will also allow himself to be seduced into visiting the country’s beautiful bays and historic sites, including the ancient Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows. Greg is president of Qajaq USA (http://www.qajaqusa.org), an organization devoted to promoting Greenland-style paddling. As he did while circumnavigating Iceland, Greg will use Greenland-style paddles for his Newfoundland expedition.
