Serious expedition kayaking books/manuals

[Viking_Voyager]

Hello everyone! long time lurker but finally my first post:


Can anyone recommend any good manuals, books etc I should read specifically focused on extreme solo expedition sea kayaking (as in 200 mile open water crossings, weeks without resupply, lethal conditions etc.)

I’m just hoping to build up a little theory knowledge as an “aperitif” and to keep me sane, I don’t expect to learn everything from a book and I'll be joining a club, going on courses etc when I've finished my job. Thank you for your time!

[charleston14]

Not manuals but worth a read are:

Fearless: freya hofmeister
A solo circumnavigation of Australia
Included in that is camping near crocodiles, and a 3 days at sea open crossing of the gulf of carpenteria, and a really long section of coast with vertical cliffs and zero chance of a landing

Blazing paddles; Brian Wilson
a well written book about solo circumnavigation of Scotland, he’s also done a book about circumnavigation of Ireland that I enjoyed

[Chris Bolton]

Have a look at https://www.expeditionkayak.com/chronol ... -kayaking/ for names and ideas. It doesn't seem to have been updated past 2012? Definitely look up Andrew McAuley (misspelt as McCauley in that chronology)

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksander_Doba - missing from the chronology above.

[Oisin]

I'm not an expedition kayaker but I enjoyed the videos that Beau Miles has on youtube on his trips

https://youtube.com/c/BeauMiles

Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk

[Chris Bolton]

Also remembered this - while it's a canoe expedition on a wilderness river, not a sea kayak trip, it's a good insight into the mental side of solo expeditioning.

[DirkZ]

John Dowd is a classic

[Dave Gorman]

Not manuals but worth a read are:

Fearless: freya hofmeister
A solo circumnavigation of Australia
Included in that is camping near crocodiles, and a 3 days at sea open crossing of the gulf of carpenteria, and a really long section of coast with vertical cliffs and zero chance of a landing

Blazing paddles; Brian Wilson
a well written book about solo circumnavigation of Scotland, he’s also done a book about circumnavigation of Ireland that I enjoyed

The one he wrote about circumnavigating Ireland is called Dances With Waves. ⚓🙂

[charleston14]

Also check out sea kayak podcasts .com for loads of interesting interviews with people that have done expeditions

https://www.seakayakpodcasts.com/sea-ka ... tions.html

Tons to choose from and not just about expeditions too. Most can be downloaded to I tunes, I phone podcasts app etc

These have made light of many a dull drive.

[Mark Graham]

Southern Exposure, by Chris Duff - some serious paddling!

[andynormancx]

Not a book, but it is probably worth checking out some of Justine Curgenven film's, not all of her stuff is expeditions, but when it is she tends to go for fairly hardcore ones.

She doesn't have a lot of technical content, but plenty to see on the tactical/psychological side of things.

https://www.cackletv.com/sea-kayaking-d ... aleutians/

[Mac50L]

For long trips it is hard to beat Paul Caffyn -
He has paddled round New Zealand, Britain, Japan, Australia, Alaska, Thailand's west coast and a few other places. Check the books about his trips that are available.
https://paulcaffyn.co.nz/

On his website there is also a section on books, the list has nearly 1000 titles -
https://paulcaffyn.co.nz/paddling-books/
Download the PDF. The latest version has another 10 titles and to be uploaded in the next day or so. The list includes trips and manuals.

There is mention of Chris Duff, "On Celtic Tides", his round Ireland trip and "Southern Exposure" was his South Island of New Zealand trip.

As for all of New Zealand, a number of paddlers have done it. The youngest would be Tara Mulvany. When kayak guiding for summer finished she and another paddler did the South Island in winter. He gave up about halfway round. The book is "A Winter’s Paddle (South Island NZ in winter)"

She then did the other two islands. Supposedly for a bit of a holiday after that she paddled round Vancouver Island. She was a bit of a late-comer as she didn't get to the top of Mount Cook, the highest in New Zealand at over 12,000 feet, until she was about 12 years old.
https://kokatat.com/team/tara-mulvany
She also did a circumnavigation of Svalbard Archipelago with two others.

[Viking_Voyager]

Thanks so much ye pack of legends! Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do :)

[Ceegee]

Two good videos are Harry Whelan and Jeff Allen's 'Into the Wind' record breaking (at the time) 25 day Ireland circumnavigation, (short excerpt here)

and a year after my daughter Niamh went and did it, one of her mentors, Jon Hynes, followed suit, and made a film of it available in its 45 minute entirety here...
Ireland at 1,600km is a bit shorter than the UK, but the west coast is far more exposed, and the north coast has tidal challenges to rival anything in Scotland or Wales. Freya did it the same summer Niamh did (4 days behind her) and when they met up afterwards, she reckoned it was every bit as challenging as Iceland and NZ.