Hayley Shephard is trying to solo kayak around South Georgia. Here's some recently recorded unedited news shots of her in Alert Bay. She is required by British law to have a support vessel, but she insists it is not there for support. It is there for search and rescue if she fails.
It looks like she will be in touch with the outside world. She is posting Audio updates on her blog and there's a documentary film-maker with her so we can follow her progress which starts on 22nd January.
Hayley calls her expedition Kayaking To Save The Albatross. Her website says it's believed longline fishing is the main culprit, with hundreds of thousands of seabirds caught on baited hooks.
Here's some info about Hayley:
Being born and raised in New Zealand, having owned, operated and lived on a 31ft sailboat and now residing on an island in the northern regions of Vancouver Island, it seems Hayley has spent her entire life surrounded by the sea.
Her profession as a teacher extended gradually into the wilderness and as a guide and naturalist, Hayley has lead people of all ages into the world’s richest natural environments on wilderness expeditions and nature tours.
She spends her winters in the far south on the frozen coastal edge of the Antarctic continent; her summers include exploring the Northwest Passage, Baffin Island and various other islands and regions of the Canadian High Arctic as well as piloting vessels in the remote, northern inlets of the Pacific Northwest.
Here she guides people on excursions in grizzly and black bear habitat, and leads marine tours in the waterways where killer whales and humpback whales are frequently sighted.
In Hayley’s earlier guiding career she lead 7-10 day kayaking expeditions in the coastal paradise of Baja in Mexico, and the inside passage of British Columbia, Canada.
If you'd like to hear what it's like to kayak around South Georgia as part of a team, listen to Jeff Allen's Podcast - (Direct link to MP3 file).