Author: Justine

  • Final preparations for Tierra del Fuego

    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!

  • Under the weather

    I’ve been skiing on the road outside my house this afternoon! I think it’s safe to say that the parcels of kit for Tierra del Fuego, and Christmas presents I’ve ordered on-line aren’t going to arrive today, and we’re not going anywhere. Axel tested out his snow tires and JUST managed to get to Holyhead and back but he looked almost as white as the snow when he returned! I certainly don’t fancy driving on roads that I could successfully ski on! We were meant to go to the Mitchell blades factory in Chester today, to pick up our shiny new paddles for Tierra del Fuego, but that will have to wait for another time.

    The good news for anyone ordering from the UK / Europe / Australasia Cackle TV webstore  is that the lady who posts your DVDs ( Fflur) lives 5 minutes walk from a post office close to sea level (and less snowy) so all orders will still go out. All UK orders are posted 1st class within 24 hours so you still have time to order Christmas presents.

    On the subject of weather, while in Tierra del Fuego, we’ll be sent daily weather forecasts from the other side of the world, in Israel. Karel Vissel is remote weatherman extraordinaire. He offers support for remote kayaking trips, helping people to make informed decisions about whether it’s safe to go on the water or better to stay in the tent. More information can be found on Karel’s website, www.kayakweather.com

    One slight snag to this plan is that we don’t yet have a satellite phone. We need an Irridium 9555 phone so Karel can send us texts of the weather forecast, and also so we can let the Chilean and Argentinian navy’s know where we are. They won’t let us kayak in their waters without a sat phone. If anyone can lend us a phone for 70 days, or has any contacts which might help, then please let us know.

  • Spot on!

    Our overworked postman delivered a precious parcel from Canada today. Inside are 2 spot devices which are being lent to us by Avantura for our trip to Tierra del Fuego. Aleks Gusev has sent us the original SPOT 1, and the smaller SPOT 2, so we can chose which one we would like to take on our trip. Both are personal trackers which can work out our location and send the GPS co-ordinates to a google map on a website so that people can track our progress while we are away. If all is well, we will use the SPOT every evening to send an ‘OK’ message with our location, to let people know where we are and that we are fine. If things go wrong, we have an emergency SOS button that we can press to alert the GEOS International Emergency Rescue Coordination Centre and other pre-determined people ( and we will also have an EPIRB in case of emergency).

    The new SPOT 2 is 30% smaller and can find a GPS signal quicker, but the battery life is shorter. Since we’ll just be using the SPOT once a day then we’ll probably take SPOT 2, but we’ll have a play with them both over the next 2 weeks to get used to them as see which we prefer.

    Thanks a lot to Aleks for sponsoring us with the loan of the SPOT devices. If you are interested in hiring or buying one, then please visit his website, Avantura.ca.

  • Testing, Testing!

    This weekend, Barry and I paddled joined Kev, Gill, Chris & Matt for a paddle down the Menai Straits and an overnight camp at Aber Menai Point. Although, the snow on the Welsh mountains has largely melted it was still a frosty cold night, so was a good chance for Barry and I to test out some of the kit that we’re planing to take to Tierra del Fuego. It was exciting to sleep in our new Hilleberg Tarra tent for the first time and our first impressions are great. It’s roomy, very sturdy and a fantastic shade of red! We’ve both got a large porch to ourselves so there will be no squabbling over space to put our kit! The footprint extends underneath the porches so our kit is off any wet soggy (or frosty!) ground.

    While we were testing out our kit, it wasn’t all serious! I am happy to confess that we spent most of the evening in Kev & Gill’s big family size tent, crowded round Kev’s homemade fire pit, drinking mulled wine and scoffing mince pies! Kev & Gill were in a canoe which meant they had lots of space to make life very comfortable!

    I was also trying out a few new bits of kit from Kokatat. I’ve had the dry suit that I’ll take on the trip for a few months already and I’ve been wearing it most of the winter so far! but on Friday I received a box with some extra goodies in it. I tried out my new destination paddling trousers which I’ll live in when I’m on land. They are very comfy, and fit over my thermals nicely ( which was definitely needed on Saturday night!). I also had on Kokatat’s long sleeved base layer which is very warm and snug, and the new Msfit tour buoyancy aid ( PFD). The new Msfit has slightly larger pockets than the original one and has a new piece of material over where you can clip your knife, so that it’s less likely to get caught on anything. Thanks to Kev & Gill for inviting us to join them! I’m looking forward to a couple of months of camping in Tierra del Fuego. 3 weeks to go!