Greetings All, As most may know Larry Koenig and I will be departing on the "La Costa Del Golfo" seakayak expedition. ( www.lacostadelgolfo.com ) on February 2, 2003. We have a request from our fellow paddlers around the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. This expedition will consist of 4,000 miles and almost seven months circumnavigating the coast of the Gulf. With that said we are hoping to have contacts at various points along the Gulf coast of Mexico and the United States that will be willing to accept resupplies to help support the expedition. Our home base will be located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where all resupplies shall be shipped from and to our support groups around the Gulf. We are hoping to have two or three contacts points in each area to assure that someone can be contacted to receive the resupplies and mail back to Baton Rouge any extra gear that may not be needed. I am at this time compiling the list of people that has already stated that they were willing to participate. We could not have to many contacts to help us in our efforts and will be looking forward to hearing from you. Larry's wife will be receiving phone calls from us during the expedition and we will inform her where and what resupplies are needed. With an expedition of this magnitude we can use all the help we can get. Anyone living near the Gulf coast that is willing to assist with our efforts can contact Arthur Hebert back channel at seacajun_at_gs.net . Thanks in advance, Arthur Below is the mission statement for the La Costa Del Golfo Expedition; Mission Statement The 3,900-mile long coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, our American Mediterranean Sea, is formed by three countries, Cuba, Mexico and the United States. Its long shoreline, broken only by two narrow entrances, supports a diversity and richness of habitat that is not approached anywhere else in North America and is largely unappreciated. On February 2, 2003 Arthur Hebert and Larry Koenig, both from South Louisiana will embark on a 7-month, 4,000 miles self-propelled and unsupported journey by sea kayak that will take them completely around La Costa Del Golfo, (the Gulf Coast). Arthur and Larry will be following the coast of the United States, Mexico and Cuba. To the best of our knowledge this circumnavigation of the Gulf has never previously been done by kayak. Staying generally within site of land they will depart Grand Isle on the Louisiana coast and paddle westward, counterclockwise toward Texas and beyond. It is expected that they will cover 20 - 30 miles a day. Most nights they will camp on shore, a variable feature that consists of saline marsh initially but gives way to sandy barrier beaches, high dunes, broad lagoons, vast river deltas, volcanic headlands, mangrove labyrinths and coral reefs. The tremendous diversity of landscape and habitat will present major challenges to selection of the best equipment for safe water procurement, cooking, camping, and general health maintenance. There will be two major crossings of approximately 100 miles each: the Yucatan Channel between Cozumel and Cabo San Antonio on the western tip of Cuba and the Straits of Florida between Havana and the Florida Keys. Through these passages at current speeds up to six knots flow the Caribbean waters that give rise to the Gulfstream. The prevailing winds are easterly and the wind against current conditions will produce steep and challenging seas. While a sea kayak is generally not considered to be ideal for such long exposed crossings, Arthur convincingly demonstrated its capabilities in 1998 with a 700-mile solo crossing of the Gulf from the Yucatan Peninsula to the mouth of the Mississippi River. (See www.seacajun.com ) For their crossings, Arthur and Larry will use the Nigel Dennis Kayaks Voyager rig and thus have the means to join their kayaks together in a stable catamaran like configuration that will allow them, individually, to rest when needed. A website will be maintained by land based support personnel in Louisiana. The kayaking team is planning to send weekly updates to their website ( www.lacostadelgolfo.com ). With the updates everyone can travel around the entire Gulf coast along with the team. Together we all can learn more about the culture and ecology of the coast of Mexico, Cuba and the United States. This will permit those interested in paddling, camping, foreign travel, and other outdoor pursuits to follow the course of the expedition as it progresses. Both Larry and Arthur are concerned with the ecology of the Gulf coast and would like to share their experiences with everyone around the world through their website. The Expedition mission is to support ecotourisim around the entire Gulf of Mexico. Safety is critical in an expedition of this magnitude, and forethought and preparation are the keys to safety. Larry, an emergency physician of 20 years experience and Arthur paddled the entire Louisiana coastline, (approximately 500 miles), together in 1994 and, in anticipation of Arthur's Gulf crossing, began an unceasing study of safe sea paddling. Arthur has become a coastal kayaking instructor in the American Canoe Association and Larry, a kayaking coach in the British Canoe Union. Both organizations emphasize safety above all. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Dec 09 2002 - 02:55:05 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:01 PDT