Peter, As for the foot gear part of your question be careful if you have long legs and big feet. Very likely your Wellies won't fit into the kayak if it is a narrow Greenland style boat. Our local club has a guy who insists on wearing his big rubber boots for winter paddling in his Romany. His solution was to cut out two big circles in the deck and cast fiberglass domes for the toes of his boots. Unless you want to deface your kayak by adding "breasts" on the deck you might want to try Chota boots as a compromise. They are neoprene dive boot type booties with a high upper that comes up over the calf. I agree with Dave Seng that a Gortex drysuit would probably be wise for that part of the world. It will be cool, very windy and according to John Turk there are parts on the west coast where they get 400+ inches of rain per year! Water temps likely will be very chilly as well. Even if you don't fall in the drysuit will keep you comfy during those lunch stops in the 40 knot winds 50F temps and horizontal rain. Any chance you could share some advice on getting maps, charts, kayak shipping etc. in that part of the world. Any Chileans or Argentinians on the list who could help us out? Do you have local contacts for getting your boat or are you shipping it from New Zealand? With any luck I will be part of an expedition leaving at the start of January and paddling for two months from either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales through the Western Islands and Fiords to Seno Andrew, and then for the really crazy part - portage 12 miles over the mountain pass and down into Lago Argentina where the Mayo Glacier falls into the lake. Then head east down the lake and the Rio Santa Cruz to the Atlantic and circle back around through the Straits of Magellen. If we don't fall into a crevasse with our kayaks we should be able to complete a 1000 mile circumnavigation of Patigonia. Rod Johnson of Midwest mountaineering is the one that hatched this crazy idea. For now we just have Rod myself and one other who are firmly commited to the trip. Any paddlewisers with the free time and lack of common sense needed to be part of our expedition? Bill Newman *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> -----Original Message----- > From: wanewman_at_uswest.net [mailto:wanewman_at_uswest.net] > Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 8:02 AM > Even if you don't > fall in the drysuit will keep you comfy during those lunch > stops in the 40 knot winds 50F temps and horizontal rain. Bill, Bill, Bill - I left the part about sideways rain out for a reason - gotta give Peter a chance to make the trip first<grin>. If anyone else thinks those conditions sound like fun paddling just come on up to SE Alaska this fall - we'll have more of the same....just bring your drysuit and a smile! Dave Seng Juneau, Alaska *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Cold, cold cold (as my grandmother used to say each word three times for emphasis. Windy as well. Big waves. I remember various stories of people who have paddled there and, while exciting, most ended do to the weather. I would wear a dry suit with a lot under it, if you get too hot, you can roll or splash yourself. Didn't Eric Stiller and Chouinard paddle down there? I've also heard there are a couple of baidarkas in storage with someone there. Being from Australia it might be hard to imagine how cold it is there - we had a man come up from Mexico for a course with us in Washington, and we gave him a lot of extra clothes as he had no idea. (On the other hand, I just got back from his area and had a ton of fleece I never looked at it was so hot). Andree Hurley - http://www.viewit.com/ Viewit Dot Com - Websites for Specialty Businesses On Water Sports, Kayaking Resources - http://www.onwatersports.com Online Editor - Canoe and Kayak Magazine - http://www.canoekayak.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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