The Global Paddling Community

Like the instant classic The Last American Man, Fearless is the story of a remarkable individual who accepts no personal limits—including fear. Freya Hoffmeister, a forty-six-year-old former sky diver, gymnast, marksman, and Miss Germany contestant, left her twelve-year-old son behind to paddle alone and unsupported around Australia—a year-long adventure that virtually every expert guaranteed would get her killed. She planned not only to survive the 9,420-mile trip through huge, shark-infested seas, but to do it faster than the only other paddler who did it.As journalist and expert kayaker Joe Glickman details the voyage of this Teutonic force of nature, he captures interminable days on the water and nights camped out on deserted islands; hair-raising encounters with crocs and great white sharks; and the daring 300-mile open-ocean crossing that shaved three weeks off her trip. For 332 days Glickman followed Freya’s journey on her blog—along with a far-flung audience of awestruck, even lovesick, groupies—as she took on one terrifying ordeal after the next. In the end, he says, “her vanity and pigheadedness paled next to her nearly superhuman ability to master fear and persevere.”

"You can tell kayaks are cool," writes Joe Glickman, "by the number of times they appear in advertisements for SUVs and beer." Today these sleek, fast watercraft are more popular than they have ever been in their 10,000-year history. In THE KAYAK COMPANION, Joe Glickman, a two-time member of the U.S. National Marathon Kayak Team, teaches beginners the basic techniques for all kinds of kayaking - sea, touring, and recreational. For more experienced kayakers, he offers expert advice on how to navigate in all kinds of waters and weathers. And kayakers of every skill level will appreciate Glickman's candid assessments of the various types of boats; how to read a compass; troubleshooting in lousy weather; and how to deal with lightning, big fish, and marauding powerboats. As Glickman discusses kayaking techniques, he interweaves stories of his own adventures as a kayaker, including such magical moments as the time when he saw a magnificent moon rise over New York City's Jamaica Bay and the day he almost made a fatal error during a ferocious 12-hour blizzard in Montana. THE KAYAK COMPANION not only provides kayakers with essential information, it also inspires enthusiasm...