this that
Graham Charles and Marcus Waters feel their way along South Georgia’s perilous southwest coast
RUDDERS TRUMP SKEGS Kiwis beat Brits around South Georgia
BY CHRISTINE McCORMACK
>> ON OCTOBER 31, 2005, the “Adventure Philosophy” team of Graham Charles, Marcus Waters and Mark Jones from New Zealand announced on their website, “We’ve done it!” After 18 days of running scared before the wind, battling through snowstorms and sharing beaches with harems of elephant and fur seals, the team had completed the first sea kayak circumnavigation of the remote sub-Ant- arctic island of South Georgia. Charles described the primary challenge as, “The ever-
present threat of weather that can kill you hanging over our heads all the time. You have to switch off to it after awhile; otherwise you’d give yourself an ulcer.” Situated in the Furious Fifties, the latitude shared by
Cape Horn, the sub-Antarctic island is shrouded with snow and ice and teeming with wildlife. South Georgia was made famous by the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton whose team traversed the glaciated island in 1916 after the wreck of their ship, Endurance. The kayak circumnavigation had been attempted only
twice before, most recently in 1996. At the beginning of 2005, it became apparent that four teams were racing for
14 || Adventure Kayak spring 2006
the coveted world first. And on December 1, just over a month after the New Zealanders, Operation South Geor- gia, a British/Israeli team led by Peter Bray with Nigel Den- nis, completed the second circumnavigation. The New Zealand team had applied to the British gov-
ernment—which controls South Georgia—to undertake the expedition in 2004, but ran into unexpected bureau- cratic obstacles. After they missed the 2004 season, it ap- peared that other teams got wind of their plans and a race was underway. To increase the chance of success, Adventure Phi-
losophy decided to brave the cold weather of October, betting that no other team would risk going so early in the season. Both teams had a support yacht, as dictated by British
law. However, there were major differences in their ap- proaches. The British paddled slim British kayaks with skegs. The Kiwis customized high-volume kayaks from the New Zealand company Paddling Perfection and were fully self-sufficient. Charles said the team considered rudders essential
“when you’re out there thrashing around in the elements, surfing a six-metre boat down a 20-foot wave break with a 50-knot wind behind you.” For two expeditions to successfully circumnavigate this
savage island in the same season is an incredible achieve- ment. In the words of the Adventure Philosophy team, “We can’t help but feel we’ve slipped through a chink in South Georgia’s armour.”
MARK JONES/IMAGE MATTERS
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