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Around Iceland 2009 Blog

My second attempt to circumnavigate Iceland will be in June of 2009, please visit
http://aroundiceland2009.blogspot.com/ or http://www.marcusdemuth.com/ for updates.

Iceland 2009/2010

The decision is made: I will go for my 2nd attempt to circumnavigate Iceland in 2010, possibly already in 2009.

I am committed and excited to attempt a 2nd attempt to attempt to ... wait a second ... to do it again!

Thank you to all of you who left these most encouraging and kind comments on this blog, who sent emails, ran into me at the boathouse in NYC, and to everyone who wrote so kindly about my misfortune(s) and my mistakes (I should not have landed in the high surf in the first place) on his or her blogs in the past weeks.

Ironically, the feedback I received in the past weeks re the Iceland trip is far more fun and positive than the feedback I reveived after my (succesful) circumnavigation of Ireland in 2007. A phenomena which may confirm a healthy mindset widespread among kayakers which may be: "Who cares anyway?". I think this is great and says a lot about our fantastic sport and the people who are involved with it.

And although I consider the word "community" as one of the most over-used words (especially in real estate ads), in the conjunction with the word "kayak", I would consider the word "kayak community" as underrated, especially after looking back to the past 4 weeks both in Iceland and here the US. It is real, and you can see it, here, and now.

Thank you, Karel (Israel), Wenley (Spain), Nigel, Chris (UK), Steini, Hofsteinn, Magnus, Gummi, Ari (Iceland) , Murray, Derrick, Lyn, Bill, Biff, Tim, Stevie, Jeff, Ray, Mike, Jon, Juline (all NYC) for your hands-on support.

Shoot me an email in case you like to join me for a few days, a week, or longer, on my upcoming journey around Iceland.

Marcus

End of 2008 Iceland Circumnavigation Blog

It's been two days now since I came back from Iceland, and thought it is time to write the last entry in this 2008 Iceland Circumnavigation Blog.

I brought back wonderful memories from Iceland I am incredibly thankful for. The fun and generous people of Iceland made by far the biggest impression.

I agree with Leon Somme, who suggested that whenever you meet an Icelander here in the US, you should drag him immediately into your apartment, start cooking for him, get the beers out and call all your friends over and then offer him or her your bed afterwards, no questions asked.

I will execute a similar treatment to the following kind people at the next occasion they will make it to New York:

Nigel Dennis of Sea Kayaking UK,
Kerri from MSR,
Chris Heffernan and Murray of LENDAL,
Chris Reed of REED Chill Cheater,
Tim from Patagonia,
Steini from Seakayak Iceland,
Rich of Snap Dragon Designs,
Karel of Kayak Weather Blogspot,
Wenley for onkayaks.squarespace,
Lisa from KOKATAT, and
Danielle from Sierra Design.

In the meantime, I am making lots of notes what I could have done better in the past 2 weeks (it is a long list already), and I started scouting today for a possible second team member for an upcoming expedition:

Around Iceland 2010

(with the possibility of doing it in 2009, pending school and work commitments in the summer of 2009)

Thank you all for your support, and for checking in here at this blog in the past weeks. I wish the trip would have gone a bit better, but I am glad I did it. The past 2 weeks are an experience I do not want to miss in my life, and hopefully one I will be able to build on.

I am sure we will hear from each other, one way or the other, hopefully before the start of the 2010 or 2009 Iceland Circumnavigation Blog.

Marcus

This didn´t go so well ...

It has been 2 weeks ago I set out from the Reykjavik Kayak Club with a Northerly course and the plan to circumnavigate Iceland ... well, to see it in a positive light, tonite I will enjoy again the warmth and hospitality of Magnus, Gummi and the gang of the Reykjavik kayak club with a local paddle originating from their clubhouse.

The past 2 weeks were not really that great which made me decide to take the bus to Reykjavik this morning and change my flight back to NYC to tomorrow, Friday.

It has been a rough trip and did not lead to having a fun and relaxed time ... which puzzles me quite a bit since kayaking is what I love doing so much and every single person I met in Iceland was so incredibly kind to me ...

The past 4 days before deciding to buy a bus ticket I spent on Stagley Island sitting out a storm blowing bucket loads of spray of waves over the island and against the windows of a tiny cabin I lived in for 4 days.

The paddle towards Stagley Island was a little horrorfying since I did not have a weather forecast, but saw the barometic pressure on my watch falling as steeply and fast as I have never seen it before. The winds picked up slowly and I was eager to reach land as fast as possible. At this point Stagley Island was the nearest island on my way to Flatey Island. I reached Stagley Island after 2 hours of paddling as fast as I could. A few hours later the winds reached Force 8-9 and developed to a full blown storm over night. The waters became paddle-able again 3 days later.

In my last 12 days paddling in Iceland I spent

5 days on shore due to winds,
2 days off fiberglassing (one beach, one shop repair day), on
3 days I paddled only half a day due to bad weather, and was only
2 days paddling full days.

When I was paddling, unlike during my past trips, I did not feel confident on the water for the first time in my life. I had this funny feeling in my stomach since the first day when leaving Reykjavik when I had trouble reaching the shore after only a few of hours being on the water when a quick appearing strong offshore breeze made it very hard to reach land. These offshore winds definitely gave me the creeps.

Adding to my uncomfortable feeling was that I blew the surf launch a week later which set me back equipment wise, making me paddling now

- without weather forecasts due to the damaged sat pager-
- without spare paddles
- a not rechargeable VHF, and
- and a severely damaged kayak with 7 holes and one 13 inch long crack, causing me to live with wet hatches and to paddle & pump for 2 days until I reached the fg repair shop in Hellisandur.

Anyway, I feel content, maybe not entirely happy, with my decision having ended the trip and will visit Iceland again hopefully with a new attempt to paddle around this beautiful country. The next time hopefully with a paddling partner, or a team of 3.

We know it can be done!

Thank you all for your love and support in the past weeks. I will email you back separately in the coming days.

Thank you Karel, Wenley, Nigel, Steini, Olafur, Magnus, Gummi, Ari for never loosing your sense of humor in the past few weeks and for all your help and friendship!

Much love,

Marcus

Give him a great kiss.

First, the good news. The visit card devise worked well. I have a string of polite messages from unlikely strangers who after jumping into Marcus Demuth in the isolated coasts of Iceland, have cared enough to contact me about his intrepid exploits. This has worked so well that now I am happy to launch a campaign addressed to any undulating quartet of Icelandic teenagers to receive Marcus - a happenstance I would relish myself - on his next port of call to the pulsating tunes of the Shangri-Las.
Now, the bad news: Although, an executive vice-president of Standard Horizon regardless of warranty issues, is looking now into send him a replacement charger for his handheld vhf radio, this might take longer than he needs. Besides, as the coasts of Iceland are not precisely sprinkled with Radio Shack outlets, in the absence of a kind soul who might be inclined to lend him a satellite phone, insulting fortune might capped the circumnavigation, as his inner Bcu men is telling him that the best judgement is not to advance into new territories without a reliable forecast. The hazards are just too pressing.
I will be just too happy if my global influence reaches any reader that by chance, is able to muster the support that Marcus now badly needs. If so, please contact Karen Wissel, as I must leave to the Lofoten 24 hours from now.
However minimal the odds, my sincere thanks to you all in advance.

Boat Repair Day

Hafsteinn, the kind owner of the boat building shop in Hellissandur is putting in lots of hours to repair the boat and sacrifying his weekend. While the fiberglass is curing and we are waiting to apply the gelcoat over the repairs, Hafsteinn found out that the charger of the VHF radio is not working and he jury-rigged the charging station as shown above.

This is both great and bad news. While I will have a charged radio with me over the next couple of days, I may not be able to re-charge the VHF for a while. I was just about to get amped up about the soon to be repaired boat, the damaged charger is another blow for the trip, and if I continue the trip, for my safety.

As of today, I do not have a properly working VHF, no weather forecasts by satellite pager, and no spare paddle anymore.

I did a lot mistakes during my past Ireland circumnavigation, but have not been punished by any of them during last year´s trip. Maybe Ireland was beginner´s luck. This time, I feel that when I do a wrong decison, the bill will be severe.

Whenever I have these serious doubts about continuing the trip, Hafsteinn and his son are start talking about the beauty of the West Fjords which are lying ahead of me, so I may just head out tomorrow and paddle along the islands in Breidafjoerdur towards the West Fjords and will see what breaks next, or better, what I will manage to break next.