Plan and Facts

North America

2017 - ca. 2029

This expedition around North America will be Freya’s third continent and her challenge for the next ten to twelve years. She still cannot judge how long it will take to complete.

Freya will paddle in two half loops, starting twice in Seattle and finishing twice in New York. She will paddle northwards for half of the year’s trip time and southwards the other half, in blocks of about three months, about six months each year. The distance is roughly 50.000 km/ 30.000 miles.

It is another mind-boggling and insane long-distance trip – more demanding and more extended than Freya’s first and second continent continental trips combined.

From Canada to Panama – through the North West Passage and the Panama Canal. Freya will paddle inside the extensive Gulf of Mexico and Bahia California but cross Hudson Bay.

No one has circumnavigated this whole continent by kayak before. Will her body hold up? The northern sections are only ice-free for a few months per year, so paddling in just one direction would extend her circumnavigation by many more years. Age is proceeding with all of us - so “Never stop starting – Never start stopping!” is her motto for her new trip.

The challenges, despite her vast kayak expedition experience, are impossible to list here – it is just another continent! Paddling with Black-, Brown-, Grizzly- and Polar bears plus a lot of ice in the north will be new to Freya - is the rest just ‘business as usual‘ after her two other continental circumnavigations?

Freya chose now to paddle mostly with paddling partners. Integrating others into her trip will add to the challenge of this unsupported expedition. For personal security, in Middle America she will cooperate with most of the local Coast Guards.

The trip will be documented in her diary books she regularly publishes in English and German on Amazon. You can enjoy all her pictures, the trip map, and the trip table here on her website.

Freya’s previous expeditions included record-circumnavigations around South America 2011-2014, Australia 2009, New Zealand South 2007, Iceland 2007, and Ireland 2016. She is the most experienced expedition paddler in the world. Freya has received a range of awards, including the “World-Paddle Award,” National Geographic’s “Adventurer of the Year, and the “European Adventurer of the Year” Award.

Recently, she felt like she deserved a new title – the G.O.A.T. of expedition sea kayaking.

More information about her biography is here. For more general information on Freya’s expeditions, please visit her FAQ’s (Frequent Asked Questions) page.