Freya Hoffmeister Paddles Around Cape Horn

Back in September, the queen of long distance paddling, Freya Hoffmeister, set out on an epic quest to circumnavigate around South America in a kayak. Starting in Buenos Aires, Freya began paddling south, following the Argentine coast, and over the past few months, she has continued to make great progress. Yesterday she reached a major milestone in the journey, as she rounded Cape Horn and turned her kayak north for the first time.

Anyone who knows anything about sailing or geography knows that Cape Horn is one of the more treacherous regions in all the world. The area is well known for incredibly bad weather, and the waters, which mark the boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, are frequently turbulent to say the least. It is for that very reason that Freya chose to start her journey in Argentina, timing her arrival at the Cape with the austral summer, which is when the weather is at its calmest and most predictable.

Having now successfully navigated what is likely the most challenging and dangerous portion of the journey, she can now concentrate on the incredibly long distances she still has in front of her. The entire journey is expected to take about two years to complete and will cover more than 24,000km (14,913 miles). That means she still has roughly 20 more months of paddling ahead of her, but considering she has already kayaked around Australia, I don't expect she'll be put off by the challenge.

Thanks to Outside Online for sharing the news of Freya rounding the horn.