For the next decade, 鈥檚 kayak will be her part-time home.听The 54-year-old German explorer is less than halfway through a multiyear project to circumnavigate all of North America in her boat, equating to roughly 30,000 miles of ocean paddling. But it isn鈥檛 her first time kayaking around a major landmass. She circled both Iceland and New Zealand in 2007,听Australia in 2009, and Ireland in 2016. Between 2011 and 2015, she navigated around听South America off and on. 鈥淚 like to do big things,鈥 Hoffmeister says. 鈥淚鈥檓 chewing on the elephant of North America听right now. So far听I like it, and I want more.鈥
Like a section听hiker knocking out听pieces of the Appalachian Trail over the course of several years, Hoffmeister will paddle around North America for three to five months, then spend three months in Germany working and resting, then do it all over again. The first massive phase of the project took three years, starting in Seattle and ending at听the southern tip of Baja, Mexico. Soon听she鈥檒l head back to Seattle and point her kayak north, navigating听along the coast of Alaska and into the Arctic. 鈥淧addling with polar bears will be interesting,鈥 Hoffmeister says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about giving them space. People have paddled in polar bear country before, and they鈥檙e still alive. I鈥檒l make it.鈥澨
Like most of her past expeditions, Hoffmeister will be traveling alone and听completely unsupported. She piles all of her gear, food, and water into a custom-built expedition kayak that, when loaded for multiple days, weighs about 220 pounds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a heavy, stable truck,鈥 Hoffmeister says. She doesn鈥檛 listen to music while she paddles (but carries an e-reader for camp), pees in a sponge inside her drysuit, and eats whatever is stocked at coastal towns鈥 supermarkets when she stops to resupply. If she can, she likes to find a secluded beach to set up camp听but has spent many nights sleeping in her kayak.
Hoffmeister could finish her North American circumnavigation in eight听years鈥攐r eleven听or twelve. It鈥檚 impossible for her to estimate exactly how long it will take, because it鈥檚听so dependent on weather and sea conditions. On a good day, she鈥檒l spend an average of nine to ten听hours working her way along the coast, enjoying the views, and covering about three miles听an hour. Sometimes she鈥檒l head to deeper, calmer water if the coastline is too rocky or choppy.
Hoffmeister could finish her North American circumnavigation in eight听years鈥攐r eleven听or twelve.
Hoffmeister started paddling in a lake in Germany in 1995听when she was pregnant with听her听son, and her passion for the sport鈥攁nd the length of her projects鈥攇rew from there. Iceland was the first large island she tackled,听and Australia听the first continent. 鈥淚 look at islands the way other people look at mountains,鈥 she听says. 鈥淭he islands have gotten larger and larger. It鈥檚 the same thing with mountaineers. That is the nature of these expeditions.鈥
She鈥檚 also had her share of roadblocks听along the way. While making her way around South America, Hoffmeister inadvertently surfed a massive tidal wave at the mouth of the Amazon at night. She also听battled extreme heat and constant headwinds in the Suez Canal听and sea snakes, venomous jellyfish, and saltwater crocodiles off the coast of Australia. But these things don鈥檛 phase her. 鈥淚 like the challenges,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 like to do something that people have not done before.鈥
Hoffmeister is confident that nobody will repeat her South American circumnavigation鈥攐r听her North American journey. But toothy crocs aside, Hoffmeister says the biggest challenge of these multiyear expeditions is realizing she鈥檚 not getting younger. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 recover as fast as I used to,鈥 she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 54 now, I鈥檒l be in my sixties听when I finish North America. I never wanted to believe it, but at 50 your body feels different.鈥
Still, Hoffmeister is more than capable. She听says her strength and endurance builds as she paddles, and when she鈥檚 back home in Germany, she works hard to stay fit, mostly by cross training.听This includes biking, lifting weights, and swimming, activities that give听her body rest from the repetitive motion of kayaking. 鈥淭hese expeditions are doable at my age. The key is to never stop doing it. It鈥檚 easy to get rusty and lazy and sad. So听you should never stop,鈥 she says.听
Her advice for others looking to get into expedition kayaking is to start small鈥攁lthough Hoffmeister鈥檚 definition of the word might be different from the average person鈥檚. 鈥淒on鈥檛 start with a continent. Start with a small island,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 paddled around Iceland, which is a small island, just to see if my body would like it. And it did.鈥