Canoe/kayak circumnavigation

April 5, 2013 7:21 PM

Has anyone ever circumnavigated the earth in a canoe or kayak?
posted by hafehd to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I read about crazy boat voyages a lot, and I know of people who have rowed across the atlantic, and across the pacific, [and from the arctic ocean to tierra del fuego], but I have never heard of a complete circumnavigation, even in stages.

Some crossings to australia have taken about a year, and atlantic crossings have been done in something like a month [but more regularly in two]. I wonder if the big thing holding people back is the human danger in travelling along so many different coastlines...
posted by Acari at 7:45 PM on April 5, 2013

Wikipedia has a "list of circumnavigations of the earth" which should help.

Or, if by "the Earth" you mean Manhattan (as you do), my brother has done it.
posted by grobstein at 7:53 PM on April 5, 2013 [4 favorites]

I'm going to guess no - in addition to the "circumnavigations" page on Wikipedia, this list of pioneering sea kayak expeditions also seems useful (although I don't trust that it's complete), and as far as I can tell the longest is Oskar Speck's 1932-1939 trip from Germany to Australia (when he arrived in Australia he was promptly interned).

I think another barrier to a complete circumnavigation is that it would take years. Freya Hoffmeister took a year to circumnavigate Australia and is in the process of a two-year circumnavigation of South America.

(Fun question, btw!)
posted by mskyle at 6:06 AM on April 6, 2013

A Voyager "Montreal" canoe could/can transport 3 tons of cargo. Combined with a RO water filter you should be set even for extensive time away from land. A traditional canoe isn't the boat I'd pick for circumnavigation but cargo carrying capacity isn't a problem.
posted by Mitheral at 8:07 AM on April 6, 2013

Wikipedia "The Tilikum was a 38-foot (12 m) dugout canoe that was used in an effort to circumnavigate the globe starting in 1901."
posted by lungtaworld at 9:43 AM on April 6, 2013

I don't know if you could call anything big enough to carry all those supplies a canoe or kayak, but there has been at least one human-powered circumnavigation.
posted by adamrice at 10:35 AM on April 6, 2013