Australia - first solo kayak circumnavigation
Still the benchmark for long-distance sea kayaking. Cyclone in the Coral Sea, tiger sharks in the Gulf of Carpentaria, crocodiles, sea snakes, three sections of sheer limestone cliffs.
On 28 December 1981 Paul Caffyn set out from Queenscliff near Melbourne and spent the next 360 days achieving the first kayak circumnavigation of Australia. This 9,420-mile paddle is acknowledged as one of the most remarkable journeys ever undertaken by kayak. Paul had to contend with a tropical cyclone which nearly swept him off a small offshore islet in the Coral Sea, raging surf, tiger sharks which frequently bumped into the kayak in the Gulf of Carpentaria, crocodiles, sea snakes and three sections of sheer limestone cliffs. To overcome the three 120 mile plus long sections of cliffs, Paul used Nodoz tablets to stay awake and lomotil to keep his bowels dormant during these overnight paddles. The longest stint along the awesome Zuytdorp Cliffs in Western Australia took 34 hours of continuous paddling. Documented in The Dreamtime Voyage. Caffyn's kayak Lalaguli is on permanent display at the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum.
Further reading
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