Wednesday 13 August 2008

getting ready: gadgets, kayaks and info...

I'm starting to think that paddling is the easy part of an expedition….
Learning how to work with the blog, finishing al the obligations to the university and trying to get ready in the best possible way takes more effort then a few weeks of paddling. Into the wind…

By now we contacted a kayak store in Valdivia. We have 3 "sirocco" kayaks by "current designs" ready for us. The rest of the gear, as I mentioned will come with us.
Topographic maps and marine charts are still not available for us and we hope to sort this out in the next few days.
Found a great tide predictions for the area, by the Chilean armada (navy)- http://www.shoa.cl/
Since our starting time is mid November, we can start looking at the predictions, figuring out more or less where we are about to be and when. Of course, it's just a rough guess, but it's another step in the way off getting familiar with the area from home…
By the way, at the day we are about to start paddling, 6 meter of vertical tide difference is expected in Puerto Montt which means there will be strong tidal currents in the narrow channels of the bay…
That's about it for now. Waiting for Roy to come back from the states next week with plenty of gadgets:GPS, barometer watches, VHF radio and more. I'll write some more of the electronics once we will have them in hand. I don't think I will trust the on-line reservations till I'll see the stuff we ordered over here…

About Us

israel
Roy Shatzki-(27) an air force officer, traveler and sea paddler. Lives in kibutz Regavim. On Arnon-(32) an engineer, outdoor instructor, and sea paddler. Lives in kibutz Gaaton in the north of Israel. Yosale Dror- (28)- sea kayak instructor at Optimist kayak club in Sdot Yam, student of Psychology, lives in kibutz Nahsholim.