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Freya Hoffmeister

She is an Animal!!! Wow.. simply incredible. I have really enjoyed reading her posts on this trip. I love this quote... "DEADLY TIRED, PIED IN PANTS, THREW UP, RAIN, COLD, DARKNESS, ROUGH, BAD VIS, WIND… " Just imagine being there.... YAYYYYY Freya!! Keep on keepin' on!!

Lila

Read
 
Dibs out. I'm happy to live vicariously and watch along from my armchair. No way I could live up to her standards. She came up frequently during last week's 10 kayak trip (which was awesome). The 3 of us concluded that she's mentally and physically tougher than the 3 of us combined.
Bryan
 
Minor update. Freya has transited almost all of the WA coast, pausing at Cape Shoalwater, WA for a few days until conditions near/on the Columbia River bar improve, aiming for a takeout on the OR shoreline near the mouth of the Columbia. Timing TBA.

Starting from Cape Flattery, WA, she and a companion put together some helacious days, making good use of strong NW wind and following seas, camping at the infrequent safe takeouts. Details last few days on her blog: http://freyahoffmeister.com/posts/
 
Hey Dave, she will be in your neck of the woods pretty soon. Will you be able to meet with her? That would be pretty cool.

Lila
 
Hey Dave, she will be in your neck of the woods pretty soon. Will you be able to meet with her? That would be pretty cool.
Was. She hooked up with two buddies of ours, who helped finesse setup for crossing the mouth of Willapa Bay, which she will take care of tomorrow. Check the blog posting for Sunday, August 20. She had some chores that needed doing as well, which we took care of.

Next major obstacle is the mouth of the Columbia, which I believe she will tackle Wednesday.

Both of these openings have tricky areas, one because there are no jetties to define and control the sand bars, and the Columbia because the ginormous jetties make for large boat busting surf outside their tip to tip envelope. She described her plans, but her blog will detail how she solves these. Clicking on the lat/lon pair at the top of a blog entry will bring up the campsite for that evening in Google Earth, satellite mode, and it is an easy job to back track her route from there.

Freya is very gracious, and down home. It was a pleasure to spend a little time with her.
 
Followup to previous post. Over the past two days, Freya finessed the mouths of Willapa Bay and the Columbia River in fine style. The former is a mess of sand bars and hard charging channels, with no jetties to define the open water, and few navaids. She skirted it inside the bars, and camped on the S side Tuesday night, followed by a clever sneak route out a sketchy side channel on Wednesday, reaching open waters without much headsurf mayhem.

Once in open water, off the Long Beach Peninsula, she rode her surfski hard enough to reach the Columbia before any strong ebb began, this afternoon, and hopped from jetty tip to jetty tip, thereby avoiding a crossing of the Columbia River Bar. She slid 4 plus km along the S side of the S jetty, reaching Clatsop Beach for her Wednesday nite campsite.

Hit these two links to see the areas described. These waters demand good rough water skills and careful use of currents to avoid a pasting, most usually from having to transit overhead plunging surf. She met these challenges with aplomb and style.

Tuesday: http://freyahoffmeister.com/north-america/na-sec-1-north/tue-2208-2017-day-146/

Wednesday: http://freyahoffmeister.com/north-america/na-sec-1-north/wed-2308-2017-day-147/
 
A big deal now - at least inland - is all the smoke in Oregon from forest fires. I think there were some around Tillamook too. So frustrating to see weather reports of "sunny, no precipitation" for days and days; and yet not be able to see the blue sky. Of course she is on the water. But if the wind it blow the smoke out that way, or covering landing spots, it is not fun.
 
Some haze here, but not enough to make things unpleasant. Couple minor fronts have washed through, cleaning the air.

Freya finished up paddling on Sunday at Pacific City, in fine form. After decompressing in Warrenton a day or so, she took off for Seattle for a one day visit and flew out for home today. Some of her gear and one of her boats remain here, the latter in need of some patching. I believe she plans to resume her southbound trek in March 2018.
 
Illuminating article from the fellow who paddled with Freya, Neah Bay to Grays Harbor, most of the WA coast. A good read.

Summary quote: Lessons learned: Insights for other paddlers. Over the next 3 days as we drove to pick up my car and head home, I did a lot of reflecting. If a paddler like me can make it all the way down the Washington Coast with Freya, I feel that most skilled paddlers can do it. In summary, if you have been invited, or are on the fence about reaching out to Freya Hoffmeister, you should do it. This trip has definitely made me a stronger paddler, as 20-30 mile paddles have become the norm as I finish my 2017 day expeditions around Puget Sound, and I am very glad to have completed this “adventure of a lifetime!”

Link: http://mayoutfitters.com/paddling-with-freya-hoffmeister-the-paddling/
 
Good one, Al.

It surprises me a bit how tolerant and patient Freya was with this fellow. However, she obviously knew her relatively broad pleas for company would net some folks of high skill levels and some not so much. The first couple of days together, there was a fair mount of back and forth on whether he would continue, and the account seems to suggest she encouraged him to stick it out.

I think the Freya of 7 or 8 years ago would not have been so gracious.
 
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