The Seven Settlements

In connection with planning the expedition I have been surfing the net a lot and I have discovered that the settlement of Illorsuit figures heavily in kayak lore. Rather than repeat the kayak history of Illorsuit I would like to write a little about my experience there and encourage you to follow the links below to read what others have written so well.

You can find plans and photos of replicas of the Illorsuit kayak at Bryan Hansel's website here and further information about the history behind the kayak and the Greenlander who built it in Duncan Winning's article on Seakayaker here.



My own visit to Illorsuit was far less interesting and far quicker than any that have been described in the links above. My wife and I were on our way from Uummannaq to Nugatsiaq and Illorsuit is the settlement where we were to have a mini-layover of 15 minutes or so as post and passengers were loaded and unloaded. We met a some of my students from 10th and 11th grade while we waited at the grass and gravel helipad and admired the view.


When I return in 2010 I plan to explore the settlement properly and hopefully get to know more of the people and learn more of the history of Illorsuit. As I intend to write much more about the settlements at a later date, this will just have to be a "teaser" until then.

Posted by Chris
12. martsi 2009

I am experimenting with "Twitter" with a view to facilitating expedition updates. I have no clue how it works yet! : )

You can find the TSS twitter page here.

Posted by Chris
5. martsi 2009

There is life beyond the building/modifying of webpages! HTML is not my strong point and while I will have to wait several months before paddling at least the sea ice is thick with that all important fine covering of snow.

Over the next few months I intend to enjoy travelling by dogsledge, Greenland style, as I explore the frozen fjord around the island. The picture above of me paddling a Folbot Cooper was taken at the end of May last year as the ice was beginning to break up.

At minus 20 C there is, thankfully, no sign of the ice breaking up anytime soon.

Posted by Chris
20. februari 2009

If you stumble across the blog then just know that I'm working on it! : )

Posted by Chris
16. februari 2009

First post to get the show on the road, or the expedition on the water. There is plenty to be done and plenty of time in which to do it. Most importantly, Folbot, the expedition sponsor has generously agreed to sponsoring a Kodiak expedition ready folding kayak.

Check out the Folbot company and their kayak by following the links above or this one here:

There has been a change of plan. I have decided to continue the expedition alone, solo. Lars and I are still firm friends and have agreed upon this change in the crew line up.

I have decided that after many years in Outdoor Education and personal trips in the wilderness I am still searching for the ultimate challenge: a solo journey. Living, dogsledging and paddling in this incredible part of Greenland I have been inspired to finally take the plunge and paddle this trip solo.

I have also decided to move away from the previous idea of using plastic/fibreglass boats and, in keeping with the local hunting community, adopt the skin on frame design of the traditional Greenland Kayak, albeit a modern version. To that end I have had the pleasure of discussing possible sponsorship with the Folbot company and we have agreed that it will be possible and we are looking forward to working out the details.

The educational aspect of the expedition will also change focus and become cultural with an emphasis on communication, i.e. I will be learning and discovering the language of West Greenland during the expedition. See the specific pages for further details.

So while I continue to plan the expedition Lars is looking forward to exploring more mountainous areas of Greenland and developing his photographic portfolio; currently featured in an traveling exhibition, calendar and many postcards. Look out for his website coming soon.

The proposed date of the expedition start remains unchanged: July 2010.

Posted by Chris
29. januari 2009

Not much happening around here, but the thought is there. We are currently working on the purchase of the kayaks and figuring out when and where to get them shipped. We both want to get out and paddle in them next season, but now Lars is in Nuuk and I am still in Uummannaq. We’ll figure it out.

Also, is this just a long holiday or an actual expedition? Either way, it is going to happen. Right now though it is more of a glorified holiday - there’s nothing wrong in that per se but it means we’ll be looking at the goals sometime this winter and making the decision as to what we are going to call it and what we hope to achieve.

There are advantages to starting the planning phase this early, but it means there is very little news to post.

Posted by Chris

10. oktobari 2008