Midlifekayak

Just four weeks to go before we head off and the last bits of kit have arrived.  Yesterday I spent the day stuffing all the gear into dry bags and figuring out the best way to pack the kayak.  It reminded me of trying to complete one of those puzzles you sometimes get in Christmas crackers – where you have a plastic frame with 14 numbers that can slide around but only one space free.

"My shoes wouldn't even fit in here!"

The kayaks we are using for the expedition are 17.5 feet long and about 20 inches at the widest point.  As well as the cockpit, they have three storage compartments separated by bulkheads and with rubber hatch covers – which are watertight (mostly).  In total there are 165 litres of storage.  The challenge is to pack the space as efficiently as possible, have some kind of a system so you can find the stuff you need when you need it, and ensure that the kayak is pretty well-balanced.  This last point is important as the trim of the kayak can easily be upset if not in balance and you can suddenly find yourself struggling to keep 17.5 feet of boat going in a straight line when the wind picks up.

Finally, after packing and unpacking what must have been a dozen times, it was all in!  I can see I’m going to have to practice this.

Hand luggage only

Interestingly, you need the same amount of gear for a four month expedition as you do for a couple of weeks.  Tanya is still horrified by just how little we are taking for shore wear compared to the rest of the kit – as you can see in the photo – just one small and one medium dry bag.  Somebody asked me the other day – “how many pairs of underpants are you taking?”.  Apparently on polar expeditions they wear synthetic undies and turn them inside out and back to front and can make each pair last 4 weeks!  Lovely.  We have opted for Merino wool for all our paddling gear which is bacteria and thankfully odour resistant.  In case you need to know – we’re taking four pairs, each that is, but they’ll be changed a little more often than four weekly!

So having finally packed the kayak – it was time to find out how much it weighs.  Including me and paddling gear – a whopping 143kgs.  That breaks down as:

• Empty kayak – 26kgs
• Kit – 25kgs
• Water 8litres – 8kgs
• Food – 3kgs
• Paddler (with kit) – 81kgs

Still lots to do before we head off.  Next week we have a couple of days training together as a team off the Devon coast.  We’ll be focusing on rescue drills and incident management – basically we deliberately capsize one, two or three boats in a variety of conditions and situations and ensure we can get ourselves back in the boats safely and quickly.  We’ll practice launching and landing in surf and on rocks and what to do in the event that one of us gets injured paddling.  Practicing these skills is essential, not just for safety, but also for our confidence and team building.  It’s also a lot of fun!

Aside from that, the Team is getting out on the water as often as we can and training on land to keep fitness levels up.  The week before we head off, the Team is paddling the London Kayakathon – 26.2 miles up and down the Thames on the same day as the London Marathon – a fun way to round off the preparations.