Hadas
FELDMAN 37 EXPEDITION PADDLER, INSTRUCTOR ISRAEL
South Georgia was considered the “last unclaimed coast” and the “Everest for sea kayakers.” While the media concentrated on the race to be first between Kiwi and British teams, few noticed that an Israeli woman was one of “the Brits” who successfully paddled 650 kilometres around the notoriously stormy sub-Antarctic island. This silent triumph is typical for Hadas Feldman who has quietly paddled over 10,000 kilometres on challenging expeditions over the last five years. In 2003 she took on surf and brown bears along the remote Pacific coast of Kamchatka in Russia. The next year she spent six months battling headwinds and avoiding typhoons while kayaking 6,500 kilometres around the four main islands of Japan. In 2005 came South Georgia and an 800-kilometre journey in Alaska. Last year she spent three months paddling 2,200 kilometres around Newfoundland. These statistics make Hadas one of the most experienced active expedition paddlers of any sex, but even more admirable is the fact that this accolade doesn’t affect her. She will continue to quietly go on great journeys armed with little more than her honesty and constant good humour. THE SIMPLE LIFE: She lives in a small log cabin with very little money and possessions, and is unaffected by politics and bravado. “The thing I love the absolute most is life on the way, waking up in a different place every morning, the tent being my home, looking out to the green or blue or white around,” says Hadas. “Owning nearly nothing, meeting new interesting people all the time, taking loads of pictures, and having fun.” In Japan, Hadas completed her expedition with only hours to spare before her flight home. IN OTHER WORDS: “It is seldom in this day and age that you come across a person who approaches life head on, armed with so few modern materials to assist,” says Jeff Allen, her expedition partner in Japan and South Georgia. “She never took a single backward step, never faltered in her total commitment. Her simple, honest approach and self belief have been an inspiration to me since I met her.” FAST FORWARD: Since Newfoundland, Hadas has returned home to Israel where she’s working for two sea kayak clubs taking people out paddling six days a week. She hasn’t built up an appetite for another demanding expedition yet and says with characteristic simplicity, “It must come from inside, the urge for an expedition, or better it doesn’t come at all.” —JUSTINE CURGENVEN
36 ADVENTURE KAYAK | SPRING 2008
Women at Sea >
BUSINESS OWNER AND INSTRUCTOR CALLAHAN 39 Ginni
PUGET ISLAND, WASHINGTON, and BAJA, MEXICO If Poseidon had kids, Ginni Callahan could be one of them. The instructor, kayak school operator, and surf demon owns two companies for high-performance kayakers, Columbia River Kayaking and Sea Kayak Baja. Ginni’s love of the rough stuff is legendary. “The first time I saw a big wave from the trough I said ‘I’m going to die!’ Then I came up to the crest and it was really fun, and I realized that my boat floats and it’s not going to kill me.” She’s one of the top-qualified sea kayakers in the U.S., one of only three U.S. women with the BCU 5-Star Sea award. A lot of kayak guides live the itinerant life for a few years and then settle down. Not Ginni, who lives in a 1971 Winnebago and divides her time between Baja and her farm on the Columbia River. “I’d been living on other people’s farms for a decade, parked next to someone else’s barn,” she says. “Now I park next to my own barn.” IN OTHER WORDS: “When Ginni sees surf, she’s like a Labrador that sees a ball” says fellow instructor Karl Andersson. Expedition paddler Jeff Norville says, “She’s at the top of the very strong paddlers on the West Coast. She runs two companies, and is still goofy enough to show up with stuffed animals.” THE SURVIVOR: Being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 led Ginni to appreciate paddling and the paddling community even more: “I thought about the sacrifices I’d made to be able to kayak so much, like living in the ‘Bago, and I’m really thankful for this amazing life I’ve been lucky enough to lead. This blessing came into focus with the realization that life is short and not guaranteed.” Her story inspired Norville and Kierron Tastagh to dedicate their recent expedition around Vancouver Island to raise money and awareness. FAST FORWARD: Look for rough-water instruction courses in Baja, including a Pacific Coast surf camp and a 20-day Sea of Cortez expedition. She’s also scoping out a three-week expedition on the Pacific side of Baja. In the meantime, she’ll keep dividing her time between Washington and Mexico: “If all those whales and migratory waterfowl do it, it can’t be wrong.” —NEIL SCHULMAN
PADDLING COACH, BUSINESS OWNER, ARTIST ORCAS ISLAND, WASHINGTON
FRANKLIN 42
This Scandinavian-blooded, Minnesota-born, West Coast–based paddler discovered she was a sea kayaking natural when she learned both a paddle roll and a hand roll the first time she got in a kayak. She went on to become the first U.S. woman to gain the highly challenging BCU 5-Star Sea award. In 2003 she was the first woman to circumnavigate Iceland by sea kayak on a 1,600–nautical mile, 81-day expedition with her partner Leon Sommé and the famed solo paddler Chris Duff. Last summer she circumnavigated the Queen Charlotte Islands with Leon Sommé and filmmaker Justine Curgenven. She is not competitive, although she could be—she has taken first place in her division in each of the three races she has entered. What motivates her, rather, is to experience life to the fullest. On an expedition, she will never hesitate to slow things down long enough to stop and look at the tiniest wildflower, or sit and paint a sky because it has 100 shades of gray. She’s co-owns the small, successful paddling school, Body Boat Blade International, where her contagious energy and happiness makes her highly sought after as a coach. She also sells her artwork through her own business, Fat Hat Art Company. IN OTHER WORDS: “Shawna has an incredible humility and empathy which has given so many people a mind-blowing introduction to sea kayaking,” says Curgenven. “She has the same beaming smile when she stands in the water and encourages someone to do their first roll as when she surges forwards on a breaking wave in a swirling tidal race.” IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: Shawna says, “I am passionate about exploring this beautiful planet we live on, and I want to share what I see and experience with others. I coach, I lead, and I do expeditions because it all makes me happy.”FAST FORWARD: Shawna plans to attempt the BCU Level 5 Coach certification, an award currently held only by Jen Kleck in the U.S. She is also studying the world atlas for a new coastline to explore.
—LEON SOMMÉ Shawna
PHOTOS FROM LEFT: SAGGI NEHOSHTAN // DAVID NOEL
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