Kayak the Amazon Video release.

Where are they NOW?

Sorry, we seem to have dropped of the face of the earth AFTER completing the Amazon!  After making to the sea, we went back upstream to Belem and rushed to re-enter civilization.  Midge was able to catch a flight home in time for Christmas in London.  Don and Darcy got “stuck” in Rio for Christmas, but made it home to Colorado in time for New Years, and then spent the rest of winter wondering what that white cold stuff falling out of the sky was (snow).  We don’t usually like to count, but after 148 days on the Amazon, Don was able to get 67 and Darcy was able to get 60 days skiing in Aspen.  It was a nice way to decompress after all those days on the river.  And good to be COLD again!

After ski season ended, I felt I was finally ready to start tackling some video editing.

Canoe and Kayak wanted me to whip up a short “teaser” video to accompany an article in their magazine.  It turns out that our little trip has been nominated for “Expedition of the Year” and they wanted to post a video on their site.  They asked me to condense 5 months of paddling and video from 6 different cameras into a two minute video.

I went a bit over.

During the process I came up with this longer video of stuff I which I could have put in, if not for the two minute “limit.”  You can see the short video and read the story here on Canoe and Kayak’s website:

http://www.canoekayak.com/touring-kayaks/dispatch-amazons-first-kayak-descent/

 Now that we’ve reached our goal of paddling the Amazon from Source to Sea, our next goal is being voted Canoe and Kayak’s “Expedition of the Year.”  If they are going to have a contest, we want to win it, darn it!  So please vote for us here:

http://www.canoekayak.com/canoe-kayak-awards/vote/expedition-of-the-year/

While fulfilling Midge’s dream of paddling the Amazon from Source to Sea we set these records:

First Englishman to paddle the entire Amazon:  David Midgley

First Woman to paddle the entire Amazon:  Darcy Gaechter

First Vegan to paddle the entire Amazon:  Darcy Gaechter

First kayak only descent of the Amazon (other trips used other craft for downstream travel for parts of the journey)

First person to paddle the Amazon with no record to set:  Don Beveridge

 

We hope you enjoy the video.  Please tell your friends to get out and vote for us.