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Marcus' Sea Kayaking Trips and Pics

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January 26th, 2009:                               
Circumnavigation of the Falkland Islands successfully finished!


Gentoo Penguins at Death Head, West Coast of West Falkland Island


Back in Stanley after 22 Days of Paddling in Strong Winds

Yesterday, Monday, January 26th, I paddled back into Stanley Harbor, successfully finishing my solo circumnavigation of the Falkland Islands. Although the expedition lasted only 22 days, the trip was more demanding than the 6 week trip around Ireland.

 

Due to the high winds during the day, I usually paddled from 3 AM to 10 AM, and then again from 6 PM to 10 PM (with the first hour and last hour of the day paddling in darkness) to avoid the strongest winds. This meant setting up and breaking down camp twice a day, hauling the kayak and camping gear up and down to the water twice a day, and not too long stretches of solid sleep and for recovery.

 

 

Waking up for the 3 AM launch at Black Point, North Coast of East Falkland


Even on land, the stress level was quite elevated since the high winds tried to blew the kayak and tent away (there are no trees in the Falklands to tie the boat to), and thus whenever I left the tent, I took the EPIRP with me in case the tent and/or kayak would have been blown away, which happened twice but I was able to recover both tent and kayak.


Large and many fields of thick kelp - some many square Miles large -, and some mine fields, did not add to the pleasure of paddling around the Falklands either. Paddling through the kelp fields felt like paddling through freshly poured wet cement: The boat got immediately stuck, the paddle blades had a hard time getting into the water due to the thickness and density of the kelp, and you had a similar fun time getting the paddles back out of the kelp. Add a 20 to 30 Miles/hr. head wind to this and you get many new ideas how to spend your next vacation other than kayaking.

 

My best wishes to the 2 other expeditions which are still on their way around the Falklands!


More info and rambling about the Around Falklands 2009 Expedition under the Falklands 09 link.
 





The Around Falklands Expeditions received lots, lots of help by Nigel Dennis, Marta, Lisa, Chris, Murray, Morgan, Kerry, Stacey, Chris, and Danielle working for the following companies:


      


     



     


       




Circumnavigation of Ireland 

Successfully finished July 17, 2007. 1,100 Miles in 42 days

 

 



The circle is closed! On July 17th, 2007 I paddled back into Dun Loaghaire harbor, after paddling 1,088 Miles clockwise around Ireland in 42 days. The circumnavigation was a fundraiser for the Irish chapter of the Royal National Lifeboat Association (rnli.co.uk). Visit the updated Ireland Link above for viewing the pics and for reading me complaining about the weather, the head winds and the gear which broke. There was a nice article in the October issue UK's "Paddler" magazine about this trip, also look out for a quite upbeat trip report of the circumnavigation I wrote for "Grumpy Paddler" magazine.


To visit the Ireland Circumnavigation photo album, please click here.


For more info about the Ireland circumnavigation please click here.




A Nutritionist answers: Why did I become so weak 4 weeks into the Ireland Circumnavigation?

4 weeks into the 6 week circumnavigation of Ireland, I felt extremely tired, and there was no rebound for the better until I reached Dublin, and stopped paddling. By coincidence, I saved all shopping receipts from before and during the trip, which helped the nutritionist answering my question: Why was I so damn tired? Go to the "Around Ireland" page to read the nutritionists' full report, and her rock solid advice for kayak trips.


 

Surf's Up!

Check out this lil' Kayak Surfing Mini-Movie


Wave off Donegal Bay, Ireland, June 2007

To view the footage of the 3-piece Explorer riding the waves last weekend at the Jersey shore close to Belmar, NJ crank up your computer speakers to the max and click here.


Deck mounted camera & editing was provided by my friend Jeff Folmsbee.





Australia, February 2007 
 
 






Falkland Islands Circumnavigation Article in current Issue of Ocean Paddler Magazine (UK)

                

Please click here to read Marcus' article about his circumnavigation of the Falklands Islands in Jan of 2009, as published in Ocean Paddler Magazine's current issue #15.

To view the pics of the trip, please visit the Photos link above.




Adventure Kayak Magazine
"How I paddle" Series: Marcus Demuth                   
 
   
To read the article written by Joe Glickman, please click here

                                         
Photo by Jeff Folmsbee



Photos
From past Trips and Expeditions

Visit the Photo Albums of past trips and expeditions on my Picasa Site by clikcing here.



First Campsite during Ireland Circumnavigation, 40 Miles South of Dublin, June 2007



A Night on the John A. Lynch
While Circumnavigating Staten Island, NY

In April of 2009, 4 paddlers from Pier 66 and I paddled around Staten Island, NY.  An appr. 50 Miles paddle we could have done in one single day like several of us have done before, but this time we wanted to have time to explore the graveyard of ships, and thus decided to spend the night in the graveyard of ships itself, on the half sunken and 20 degree tilted John A. Lynch, a former Governor's Island ferry.


 
The John Lynch under construction, appr. 1920           The John A. Lynch in 2009


The ferry was in a much worse shape than when we visited her 3 years ago, but we were still able to set up camp among the debris, drink and eat, and to enjoy and explore the ship.
     
 
Jon in the crow's nest. "It swayed a little ..."                  Crow's nest in background, us in foreground

Getting the kayaks on and off the ship without banging them up was a challenge, but with some neoprene padding, and team work (no one was yelling or bossing people around - not even me), it worked out great.

 
Notice the white pad between kayak and ferry            Gear, and the happy crew, aboard the John A. Lynch



 Kokatat presents:
Around Falklands Expedition Talks

Trouble falling asleep? Just visit one of Marcus' "exciting" talks and slide shows about his circumnavigation of the Falkland Islands in January and February of 2009.

March 17th, Pier 66 Boathouse, NYC, Manhattan Kayak/Pier 63 Hold Trips
Falkland Islands Expedition & Expedition + Trip Planning
April 7th,  Downtown Boathouse, NYC, 7:30 PM, downtownboathouse.org
A
pril 11th, Sebago Canoe and Kayak Club, NYC, 6 PM, sebagocanoeclub.org
Sept 30th, Downtown Boathouse, NYC 6:00 PM, downtownboathouse.org



Dave & Anthony, Saunders Island, West Falklands



Falkland Islands Circumnavigation Photo Album Online  
Now posted on Picasa, click here to view.
                                 


Female Sea Lion, North of Lively Island, Falkland Islands




View some pics of the Falklands Circumnavigation by clicking here, then choose 'slideshow' (or not).