I have about 24 hours left to finish packing, organizing and modifying for Tierra del Fuego. A lot of our kit is already packed but there are a few last minute decisions about things we might leave behind & things we want to take after all. I have multiple cameras, batteries, memory sticks and chargers to sort out, and we both have a few jobs to do to make sure things run smoothly at home while we’re gone, not to mention, finding time to submit our tax returns!

Today we went for a last minute paddle to test out a few bits of kit. We had planned to do this a few days ago but Barry had a severe case of man flu so we had to postpone it!

Barry was testing out his new Reed drysuit. Chris Reed has put hard-wearing cordura on the seat and knees for him and he has single thickness wrist seals. I was seeing how warm my new icebreaker thermals are (very!), and playing with the Oregon Scientific ATC9K camera. I am taking 2 of these cameras to Tierra del Fuego as my on-the-water POV camera. I tested the camera for Seakayaker magazine and was sufficiently impressed with it to want to use them on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. See the full review in an upcoming edition of ‘Seakayaker’.

Thanks to our local kayak store, Surflines, in Llanberis, who have sponsored us with a few bits of gear that we still needed, like a compass with a mirror (we need to have a signal mirror to satisfy the navy in TDF), a pelicase for my G10 camera & lots of bits of string!

Thanks to Kari-tek for a couple of paddle bags for our Mitchell blades, and to Lyon Equipment Uk for giving us some lovely Ortlieb drybags, aquapac waterproof cases and a pair of Julbo floating sunglasses.

We’re working on a map for our Tierra del Fuego trip that will be updated live as we paddle using our SPOT device. Thanks to Track leaders for making that happen.

Enough talk… I’ve got plenty of things to be getting on with!

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