Ieri ho ripreso il mio vecchio Baidarka per una uscita assieme a Sergio col suo Rockpool Alaw, parlando del vecchio scafo calcolavo che non siamo lontanissimi dai 40 anni..
Stando all'etichetta resinata dentro lo scafo il mio Baidarka è del 16-10-1978 quindi 38 anni suonati e fu costruito dalla McNulty, società a cui si appoggiava Hutchinson prima della P&H.
Ripensavo a quegli anni e a tutte le spedizioni, se è vero che negli anni '30 ci furono imprese tuttora ineguagliate (Franz Romer, Oskar Speck...).. è anche vero che l' "esplosione" ci fu negli anni '70 e in particolare negli ultimi anni 77-80
Infatti riguardando il sito:
www.expeditionkayak.com/chronology-of-sea-kayaking
trovo una lista notevole tutta concentrata alla fine degli anni '70
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1977 Capo Horn
The first successful circumnavigation of Cape Horn was made by Goodman (3), who led three others on a successful 1977 mission. Goodman and crew shipped their Nordkapps to the southern tip of South America and then made their way from the U.K. only to arrive and find their kayaks damaged. Patching the kayaks and drying the fiberglass over a stove, Goodman then waited out a two-day gale before starting out from Hershal Island at 5 a.m. on Dec. 22, 1977. Despite 16-foot swells and 50-foot-high spray blocking visibility, Goodman became the first to paddle one of the most infamous and feared stretches of water on the planet.
1977 Islanda
Nigel Foster and Geoff Hunter were the first to circumnavigate Iceland in 1977
1977-78 Caraibi
The stormy Caribbean Sea was crossed by John Dowd and his wife Beatrice in a Klepper double in 1977-78
1977-78 Nuova Zelanda Isola sud
New Zealander Paul Caffyn has become a true expedition sea kayaking legend in his own lifetime. In 1977/8 Paul completed the first circumnavigation of the South Island of New Zealand in a Nordkapp built under licence by Grahame Sisson, a New Zealand kayak manufacturer. Paul’s ground-breaking journey is chronicled in his first book, ‘Obscured by Waves’.
1978 Isole Aleutine
The summer of 1978 also saw Derek Hutchinson’s Aleutian Islands expedition from Dutch Harbor on Unalaska 250-miles to Nikolski on Umnak using Baidarka Explorer kayaks.
1980 Norvegia
In 1980 the Scottish Kayak Expedition to North West Norway was the first formal and sponsored Sottish sea kayak expedition supported by the Scottish Canoe Association. As well as kayaking around the Lofoten and Vesteralen Island group, it involved a double crossing of the Maelstrom (Moskenstraumen) one of the largest whirlpool areas in the world, and was the first crossing ever undertaken by kayak. The four team members were Jim Breen (Leader), Gus Mathieson, Bill Turnbull and Peter Wilson. They used Baidarka Explorers which at that time were made (and sponsored) by McNulty Seaglass in South Shields before Derek Hutchison the designer moved to P&H who made them latterly.
1980 Gran Bretagna
Paul Caffyn joined Englishman Nigel Dennis in a first complete circumnavigation of Great Britain in 1980 after just 85 days of paddling.
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Mi fa sempre impressione vedere come alcune di queste spedizioni furono fatte proprio con i kayak come il mio vecchio Baidarka, mi chiedo sempre come facessero a stoccare tutto attraverso i tappi tondi piccoli, è davvero un mistero se penso alle tende di allora che avevano dei tremendi paletti di ferro che era un impresa anche portarseli in moto.
Mi chiedo anche come facessero a muoverli dato che da vuoto il kayak pesa già 35 kg... non oso pensare riempiti di materiale per spedizioni in aree remote.
Nulla da dire, tempi eroici!