This summer, Freya Hoffmeister’s attempt to circumnavigate North America by kayak has taken her to the Labrador coast in northeastern Canada.
The 62-year-old endurance kayaker began in Black Tickle, a small fishing community that is the only town on the Labrador coast without running water. (Locals fetch their water from ponds.) Over the winter, she left her kayaks and gear with a local family, and is now continuing toward Nain, Labrador’s northernmost town, a distance of around 900km.
Part of the Labrador coast between Black Tickle and Nain. The photo does not show Hoffmeister’s expedition. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko
Her attempt to circle North America is a huge, decade-long project totaling nearly 50,000km and including several challenging stretches of coastline.
Saying Hoffmeister has plenty of experience is an understatement. She has already circumnavigated New Zealand’s South Island, Australia, Iceland, South America, and Ireland. South America took her four years, from 2011 to 2015. She began work on North America in March 2017 and has been knocking off stretches of the route each year.
Hoffmeister’s progress so far around North America. Photo: Freya Hoffmeister
Circumnavigation or no?
Alternating between paddling north and paddling south to take advantage of the best conditions, she has already completed a good chunk of the continent. In late March, she paused progress on the south loop in Key Largo, Florida, where she will continue this coming November. She took a short break and then headed north.
By the usual rules of adventure, circumnavigations should only go in one direction. But the scale of this project is so huge and unique that few will complain when she claims a circumnavigation after closing the loop in the next few years.
Having already completed the Northwest Passage from west to east, she is now working in the opposite direction on the remainder of her northern loop.
Hoffmeister, Ivry, and a local family in Black Tickle. Photo: Freya Hoffmeister
Her partner this summer is Debbie Ivry. Last year’s companion, Paul Maxan, “has not yet recovered enough from his severely broken foot to join us,” Hoffmeister wrote on social media.
Ivry arrived in Black Tickle in June, and the pair has already paddled about 700km north. Last week, they reached the town of Hopedale and have only 200km to go along a rugged but fairly straightforward coastline.
The hardest part of her Labrador section will take place next year, when Hoffmeister paddles north from Nain along the Torngat Mountains. The route features long sections with few places to land and some of the densest concentrations of polar bears in the world.
