She's Off!

Final preparations have been made, test paddles undertaken and permits attained. Freya has completed the exhausting tasks and logistics of preparing for her historic expedition around South America; not the least of which is organizing all her gear to pack in the 18XS Expedition!

Now, time to start paddling! Freya is on the water, settling into her ambitious expedition. We wish her the best of luck, and look forward to hearing the tales.

Check out the facts and highlights of Freya's trip:

"The Second Continent - South America"

Trip reaches from 10th north to 50th south latitude; crossing the equator twice

Follow Freya's progress, and tune in for updates and photos at her website and blog

And be sure to get your order in for Joe Glickman's new book, Fearless, the story about Freya's successful circumnavigation of Australia. You can pre-order from Amazon here.

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.”