Mention Amundsen, Hillary, Scott and Shackleton and most will be able to tell that these were the great explorers of the 20th Century. Add Chichester, Fiennes, Slocum and a few other modern-day adventurers such as Blythe, Swan, Horn and Manser to the list and you’ll have a gallery of risk-takers setting records, or firsts. Mention Freya Hoffmeister and you may be met with blank stares. This is inexplicable as what she has achieved in the adventurer, endurance or sheer guts category simply boggles the mind and puts all the afore-mentioned in the shade. Freya is an athlete, a gymnast, a beauty queen and a mother. And by some opinions is the greatest long-distance paddler and adventurer of all time. Move over Oscar Speck; a countryman who paddled 34 000 kms from 1938 to 1940, all the way from Germany to Australia!
As the world staggers to recover from the Covid epidemic there is a massive swing towards healthy, eco-friendly activities which do not contribute to air and water pollution. Sports and outdoor activities which require the burning of fossil fuel and costly machines which pollute, begin to fall into disfavour. Travel which requires large busses, aircraft and massive cruising ships begin to be cut back upon. Everybody reports the remarkable recovery of nature during the worldwide Covid shutdowns. Earth itself signals the way forward: to shift away from daily commuting and other polluting habits, including and especially during times of leisure. Enter hiking, surfing, sailing, diving, supping and mostly, kayaking and traveling by kayak! And setting the trend in the finest tradition of high adventure? Freya Hoffmeister. In one of the simplest and most humble craft of all: a kayak. No fancy, costly, highly technical equipment. Just a kayak.
Take a look at proper fibreglass and carbon kayaks. Invest in them and follow in Freya’s wake in your own backyard or explore the stretch of water just ahead of you, or venture over the horizon along foreign coasts with your kayak in a bag (see the new PY TravelYak Split, out soon). Invest in a proper kayak and discover the world without polluting it. Phone/WhatsApp PaddleYak at +27 (0)825562520 or email info for your own PaddleYak Kayak, setting an eco-friendly trend.