#140 - 32-Day Kayak Expedition Navigating Patagonia with Mathew Schweizer

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue. Today's guest is Matthew Schweitzer.

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Matthew, along with Andy Gill and Brody Duncan, paddled 32 days through Patagonia

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from Puerto to Eden to Puerto Natales with great weather, some less than great

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weather, gigantic glaciers, and a few mishaps along the way.

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Enjoy today's episode with Matthew Schweitzer. Hi, Matthew. Welcome to Peddling the Blue.

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Hey, how's it going? It's going fantastic. So appreciate you joining me today.

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And so Will Copestake shared your Facebook post about Puerto Eden to Puerto Natales.

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And sounds like a great trip and I'd love to hear about it. But before I do that, I want to hear

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a little bit about you as a paddler yeah so started

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paddling in new zealand in the south island started paddling

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mainly as a whitewater kayaker and was introduced to sea

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kayaking a lot later and then started down

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a guiding route in fjordland and then went over to canada did a bit of paddling

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over there a little bit in australia and and now been hanging out in patagonia

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these last few years that's pretty cool that's pretty cool now what was it that

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uh i want to say converted you, but what was it that drew you to sea kayaking?

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Probably the ability to go for long distances, you know, you'd be able to pack

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a whole bunch of stuff in a kayak and be able to be on the move for long periods

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of time, being out in the elements for long periods of time.

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Yeah, that sort of journey aspect to it. Yeah, the whole expedition lifestyle.

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Exactly. Yeah, I did a few trips in my early 20s and just every time I got off

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the water, it was just like, this isn't long enough. I need to go longer.

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Be out there for for long periods of time is is what

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i really really love yeah that's pretty cool now

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what were some of those early trips like yeah pretty pretty cool

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yeah with a few friends paddling out in fiordland i'm

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on the west coast of the south island okay and it's

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a pretty harsh and isolated area and and

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you really have to be pretty smart about your decision

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making out there and and then i went on

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to paddle around steward island rakiura which is

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off the south coast of the south island okay and that

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that was kind of uh my first big sort of expedition

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kayak kayaking trip just under three weeks and with a with an aussie friend

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very cool and we spent our days fishing and and paddling through some amazing

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coastline just and really really difficult water really isolated and and quite hard paddling.

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And, yeah, it was an amazing, amazing trip. Wow.

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So now how did you build your skills to be able to get to do the most recent trip?

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I guess it's a collection of paddling through the years, I guess.

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So in my early guiding days, I was around some really, really good kayakers.

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And they were constantly testing, yeah, to build up those skills,

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especially with dealing with folks who can't paddle or, yeah.

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Coaching them through those hard conditions and just being in the elements for

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long periods of time, I guess it just slightly builds over time.

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The last few years in Patagonia has been a big learning curve as well,

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pretty harsh conditions.

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We operate mainly on rivers, and that's the only reason why we can operate is

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because it's usually just too windy to operate safely anywhere else with guests.

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You always have something with you, which is the river. Usually that's pretty

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harsh wind, so it always gets pretty exciting.

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And, yeah, you learn pretty fast. You have to learn pretty fast because otherwise

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you don't do so well as a guide.

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Now, did you start guiding in New Zealand on whitewater or did you just start

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guiding in the sea kayaking?

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Just started sea kayaking, guiding straight away.

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I didn't do any whitewater or raft guiding, just recreationally.

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Yeah, I haven't done much in the last few years, to be honest.

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It's been mainly all revolving around the sea kayak. Okay.

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All right. So tell me about your start guiding.

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So yeah, I started working for a company based out of Te Ano and we ran multi-day

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trips in Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound,

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and just a small fjord sort of system on the southern western side of the South

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Island but it's a pretty rugged area, steep mountains.

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Yeah harsh conditions yeah often you're coming across 35-40 knots and a few

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times got caught out in some maybe 50 plus knots with guests.

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Yeah, it's quite a place to work.

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Yeah, 50 knot winds with a group of guests. That's something for sure.

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Okay, perfect. Yeah, 50 knots with guests is pretty extreme.

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Yeah, only a handful of times where the whole,

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everything's just white and you have, you know,

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the fjords there are quite narrow so you have a lot of cross currents of wind

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bouncing off headlands and points and they create willy walls and water spouts

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and lots of spin drift and, you know,

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most of the time you do all right when that happens.

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You raft up and you time it well with the gusts and the nice thing is that the

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wind predominantly is blowing you back to where you want to go.

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So if you can make it out and the weather comes in, you just paddle back with

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the wind and usually it was pretty safe.

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And, you know, working out there, the great thing was is that we never had any.

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Like wind restrictions it was mostly up

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to up to the guide discretion whether they're comfortable not taking

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people out and in hard conditions and if we

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had wind restrictions like 15 20 knots which you often see elsewhere in the

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world you you just never paddle so you learned you learned pretty fast and it's

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a place that created good guides i was just thinking that same thing it's absolutely

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it set you up in a good position to then transition to guiding in Patagonia.

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So how did you make that transition and how long you've been doing that?

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Yeah, just finished my second season working out here.

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And it was just a curiosity of paddling in fjords, really.

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Through paddling in Fiordland in New Zealand, being in a place that is the coast or is the sea,

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but you feel very locked in by mountains and tucked away and you can use these

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fjords to connect one place to the other, which is pretty cool.

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The connection was just emailing a company that I found out about by connecting,

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well, by following Will Copestack on social media, just seeing his expedition trips.

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And I found out that he worked for a company out in Patagonia and decided to email them.

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A few years later it just all worked and ended up

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out here so that leads us to your trip so puerto eden to puerto natales like

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i said before it sounds like a great trip so let's hear about it walk us through

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that trip yeah so it all started from puerto natales which is where we ended

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up finishing this is a three-day boat ride.

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From Puerto Natales to Puerto Eden. Now, this trip, I guess,

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started 10 months prior with the planning and the process of getting our kayaks on the water.

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The first thing you need to do to do a trip like this is permits from the Navy

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to run any sort of kayaking trip, whether it's under a company or commercial

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or recreational, you need permits to kayak anywhere.

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And it can be quite the process. you need a

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lot of planning to do these sorts of kinds

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of trips and we're quite

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lucky in the sense that I work for a company out here so my boss

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helped us out with the communication wise translating

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and and dealing with

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the the naval officers and we're

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quite lucky the naval officers were pretty stoked on this

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sort of thing so they were pretty keen to help and and try

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and get the trip going so it's a fairly painless process

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for us but to do a trip on your

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own without the help of of locals pretty pretty hard but yeah like i said yeah

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boat trip up to puerto eden and then we had an inspection from the local naval

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officers so they meet us once we hopped off the boat and,

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inspect all of our gear, our flares, our communications.

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Our PFDs, paddles, kayaks, everything.

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To make sure that we were professional, that we had everything that we needed

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to really look after ourselves.

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Because once you start paddling from Puerto Eden, there's nothing out there.

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There's no extra or other villages down along the coastline.

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Between Puerto Eden and Puerto Natales, there's really nothing.

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There's chances of coming across a few fishermen, but they don't really interact.

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We had two boat interactions the whole way.

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And they're you know pretty minimal communications

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but yeah once we left

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puerto eden we're pretty much heading south until we

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hit pioluanse fjord and it's

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about 45 kilometer dog leg north

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to south america's largest glacier which

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is about five six kilometers wide and

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you can actually walk right up to the face the right hand

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side of the glacier is really low angle

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and you can land on a beach and walk right up which is

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that's quite an unreal experience the

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the left hand side of that glacier is just constant rumbling

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a falling ice we saw a few really really

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big carvings and what

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was quite nerve-wracking was during our time

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around Piu Anse glacier we actually camped right

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opposite it so every now and then we would

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have these waves that would roll up onto the beach and during high tide at that

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time we had a high tide around 3 a.m we'd wake up to these big waves rocking

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up onto the beach almost getting getting pretty close or what felt close to our tents wow.

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But it was quite, quite a cool experience. That was our first 10 days of the trip was primo weather.

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We had, you know, real high cloud, no wind at all, not a breath.

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And yeah, it was just glassy. So yeah, it was just amazing paddling those first few days.

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And we're, yeah, from Peel Wonsei, then it's a pretty big paddle south before

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we hit another fjord that we really wanted to check out, which was Peel Fjord.

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But between Peel Fjord and Peel Wonse as

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just heading south we checked out a couple other fjords that

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we really wanted to get up to the ends of but there

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was just too much ice yeah lots of

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glasses coming down into those fjords and the ice

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just gets real blocked up and it makes for real slow paddling it's like trying

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to hike through complete bulletproof bush scrub you know it just really slows

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things down So we're lucky that we didn't have wind, so we gave it a go.

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But if there was any wind about it, there's potential for things to kind of

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not go right with moving ice packs and potentially getting trapped.

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That's what I was thinking is, you know, with the chance of getting trapped

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and all that, if it's moving around, I mean, you can't control where it's going.

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Totally. And the issue with paddling around that area is that there's not a

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huge amount of tidal information.

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You don't really have any solid

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tidal information with you we didn't take any any

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tidal information we're just like okay once we're on the

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water we just take a few days to take note of what

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the tides are doing and and try and track it as best ourselves just in within

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our heads what we can remember as we go and and it never really failed us in

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that sense but yeah with with tides yeah the ice changes a lot for sure now

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you mentioned tidal information is not available are our charts available for the areas?

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Yeah, that's another thing. Yeah, charts are quite tricky to get some because

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you have to order online from a specific place within Chile.

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We were lucky Will actually kept a lot of his charts and he passed them on to us.

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And so we had a lot of charts with us, but Pio Wansay doesn't have any charts

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available. So yeah, it's quite tricky to get charts.

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A lot of our navigation was used by GPS just directly from our phones.

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Okay. yeah so we had maps with us but we actually

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didn't even really use them or look at them now you

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mentioned that you're navigating by gps and through phones so

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now are you satellite phone or like a garmin

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inreach or something like that or were you able to get

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phone signal no so just just using gps

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on our phone and just the app gaia which

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is a real basic real basic map

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you can pay more to get more layers but we

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just had the most basic version and and that's

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what we went off we had a within our permits we

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had all of our campsites and all of our

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emergency campsites and all of

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our portaging routes via google

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images okay and so we we refer to that especially for our portaging because

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if you take the wrong route portaging you could spend another two days or So

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an extra day carrying and loading kayaks and unloading kayaks and doing that.

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I was thinking about that cell service piece.

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So you're actually relying on a cell service out there?

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For that no no no cell service so we we

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could have our gps on without cell service but okay

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we could see where we were and and and it worked just

00:15:32.129 --> 00:15:34.709
fine yeah okay yeah i'm thinking you're you know

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you've you've only got two boat interactions over 32 days

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and you mentioned there's not much around there so i'm like this is pretty remote you

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have a cell tower somewhere but no okay yes we

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we had a our boss actually he would give

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us updated forecasts and actually during that time

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there was that earthquake i don't know if you heard about that there

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was an earthquake in just south of kuota williams and

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there was a tsunami warning during our time out there

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so we got to camp one night and

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we we would turn on our gps and we have to

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contact the local navy every night telling them where

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we are and also our boss and we

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get a message saying there's a tsunami warning

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you should camp higher tonight and make sure

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your boats are well away from the water which is

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quite funny but yeah nothing nothing happened and and

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we were just fine but our folks you

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know my folks and and the other boys's folks were kind of worried and and and

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so we're our partners and stuff so but yeah we we saw nothing of it okay so

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you've had a couple a couple fjords so far so we've had and did i get this right

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you said you said pier one say had a five to six k wide glacier Yeah, yeah.

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That's just mind-blowing how large that is.

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It's quite cool. There's these massive big hard blue strips of ice that would

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run through the face and you could see the layers of where it's built up over time.

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But the amazing thing is that where you see the face, you couldn't really see

00:17:02.969 --> 00:17:05.269
much further than the face because it's just so big.

00:17:05.409 --> 00:17:11.269
It was just mad of where it's coming from, but there's so much ice up there on that ice cap.

00:17:11.389 --> 00:17:15.869
It's the third largest in the world. it's actually that glass there Pio Wansai

00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:19.509
is said to be, it's still growing apparently like 10 metres a day.

00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:26.440
Which is quite crazy. It is. And you've had that, and now you're in another fjord choked with ice.

00:17:26.780 --> 00:17:30.080
There was actually two of those fjords that were choked up with ice,

00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.840
and we spent a day in each of those, and then we headed south.

00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:39.360
And then we had a few portages that linked up a few different lakes that we

00:17:39.360 --> 00:17:45.660
sort of followed Will's expedition a little bit, sort of said there's no such

00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:48.140
thing as a Patagonian expedition without a portage.

00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.840
So we were like oh we've got to have a portage within the

00:17:50.840 --> 00:17:54.560
trip and and there was quite a cool interesting route connecting

00:17:54.560 --> 00:17:57.380
fjord to two of these lake systems and

00:17:57.380 --> 00:18:00.680
then back out to fjord and yeah quite quite hard portaging

00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:05.200
especially with with the amount of gear that we had and we had to use ropes

00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:10.980
for some sections and to to bring it up through trees sort of steep steep trees

00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:16.500
and then and then down onto this lake and yeah it only really saved us 20 kilometers

00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:18.940
and we could have easily paddled it,

00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:22.700
but a portage is quite fun.

00:18:22.820 --> 00:18:25.740
It's a bit of a different type of fun, but it can be quite satisfying.

00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:29.720
Yeah, I mean, that sounds like quite an epic portage with ropes and everything

00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.900
else. I mean, how long did that portage take you versus a 20K paddle? A day.

00:18:34.340 --> 00:18:39.460
Okay. It took us a day to do. We thought it was going to take longer.

00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.140
But, well, I thought it was going to take longer.

00:18:42.360 --> 00:18:45.520
I think Andy thought it was going to take like half a day. yeah

00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:48.380
there was there was areas that we thought oh there's going to be a river

00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.080
connecting these well between the two lakes we had

00:18:51.080 --> 00:18:53.960
the impression that there was a river but when when

00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:56.840
we got to the other side of the first lake there was

00:18:56.840 --> 00:19:02.600
no river and we had to hike again during that portage we had sort of two options

00:19:02.600 --> 00:19:07.220
go to go the long way round or go the short way which was steep and through

00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:14.640
trees and patagonian forest bush is just so so thick it's.

00:19:15.309 --> 00:19:21.529
And painful to walk through like it's the hardest bush you can ever try and imagine to walk through,

00:19:22.169 --> 00:19:25.149
and then so yeah we opted through the long way

00:19:25.149 --> 00:19:28.569
and the long way was swamp which is it's

00:19:28.569 --> 00:19:31.789
hard to walk through but a lot easier when you're pulling kayaks

00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:34.589
yeah now you just rope yourself to

00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:37.589
them and just drag the boats exactly yeah okay

00:19:37.589 --> 00:19:40.849
yeah it's pretty pretty fun yeah like you

00:19:40.849 --> 00:19:43.569
said a different kind of fun but it does sound like it gives you

00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:46.549
some good stories yeah for sure for sure

00:19:46.549 --> 00:19:49.289
how long was the you mentioned it was a day but how much

00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:52.049
how much distance was that portage i think it

00:19:52.049 --> 00:19:55.089
was about 10 kilometers in total including those lakes

00:19:55.089 --> 00:19:59.809
maybe just over and how did you pick that portage route i think will showed

00:19:59.809 --> 00:20:04.989
us okay well copstick showed us that that portage route he showed us a few other

00:20:04.989 --> 00:20:11.349
portages as well but we decided after that first portage we decided we're happy

00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:15.009
with our one portage experience and would rather paddle around.

00:20:17.029 --> 00:20:20.569
Good choice. So where'd you go from there?

00:20:20.929 --> 00:20:25.749
After the portage, we had some just continued south to Peel Fjord.

00:20:26.129 --> 00:20:31.729
During our paddle south in between the portage and Peel Fjord,

00:20:32.449 --> 00:20:35.169
we had probably our wildest weather.

00:20:35.169 --> 00:20:40.529
Luckily, we were heading south because the prevailing wind down there is like

00:20:40.529 --> 00:20:43.009
northwest, more northerly.

00:20:43.639 --> 00:20:49.159
And so, yeah, we had big tailwinds behind us, maximum maybe about 30,

00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:54.319
35 knots and some big open crossings during that time, crossing big fjords.

00:20:54.659 --> 00:20:59.019
We had one nine kilometre crossing and about maybe three and a half,

00:20:59.239 --> 00:21:01.579
four foot waves, which was good fun.

00:21:02.179 --> 00:21:06.219
Then, yeah, it took us about three days to get to Peel Fjord.

00:21:06.219 --> 00:21:14.319
But during that time after that storm, we got pretty wet and cold and we kind

00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:18.059
of had to slow down a little bit because we needed to dry out things.

00:21:18.399 --> 00:21:24.839
Brody's sleeping bag was quite bad at times, just super soaked.

00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:26.999
Just completely wet through.

00:21:27.239 --> 00:21:33.339
So whatever time we had that wasn't wet, we spent trying to dry things out once

00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:40.459
we entered Peelfjord. But Peelfjord is about 70 kilometres, another dogleg north. That was unreal.

00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:45.099
At the very, very northern end, there's about four or five glaciers that run

00:21:45.099 --> 00:21:51.239
down into a small northern sort of arm that comes off Peelfjord.

00:21:51.379 --> 00:21:53.479
Super narrow, really, really steep.

00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:59.739
You're right on the edge of the southern Patagonian ice cap.

00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:03.639
So these glaciers are super steep and really, really active.

00:22:03.639 --> 00:22:07.099
And so there's heaps of ice and we

00:22:07.099 --> 00:22:10.439
had perfect weather yeah again like we must

00:22:10.439 --> 00:22:13.539
have timed it well because the two places that we wanted perfect

00:22:13.539 --> 00:22:17.339
weather and was peel fjord and peel oncee and

00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:21.899
and yeah we got lucky with peel and yeah we spent two nights at the top it was

00:22:21.899 --> 00:22:26.879
the best campsite and it was our halfway mark and so we had done about 400 and

00:22:26.879 --> 00:22:34.119
400 odd kilometers by then after peel fjord We tried to go up a couple of the

00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:35.919
other arms of Peel Fjord.

00:22:36.536 --> 00:22:42.736
But again, just too much ice and had to retreat. We didn't get so far up those.

00:22:43.416 --> 00:22:47.836
And then, yeah, from there heading south, we had another intended portage route,

00:22:47.856 --> 00:22:53.116
but we opted to go around, which was a great decision because it got a lot more

00:22:53.116 --> 00:22:57.816
islandy, got away from the mountains, and we felt a bit more swell from the open ocean.

00:22:57.896 --> 00:23:04.856
Then we went through up to Canal Las Montañas and through a small narrow passageway,

00:23:05.396 --> 00:23:09.556
that leads to a big sort of gulf out to Puerto Natales.

00:23:09.816 --> 00:23:14.816
So about 850 kilometers in total over 32 days.

00:23:15.376 --> 00:23:19.476
All right. And on only two other boat interactions in that entire time, you said?

00:23:20.016 --> 00:23:23.796
Yeah, well, two other boat interactions that we spoke to.

00:23:24.036 --> 00:23:28.216
Okay. We had one fishing boat that did like a weird drive-by.

00:23:28.476 --> 00:23:32.216
They kind of looked at us and drove over to us and then just.

00:23:32.976 --> 00:23:35.876
Sort of a slight wave yep they're still

00:23:35.876 --> 00:23:39.556
alive yeah yeah and and

00:23:39.556 --> 00:23:42.436
then just and just drove off and then as we

00:23:42.436 --> 00:23:46.976
got closer to puerto natales like within 70 kilometers we saw a lot of fishing

00:23:46.976 --> 00:23:52.636
boats and a lot of salmon farm activity there's some quite big salmon farming

00:23:52.636 --> 00:23:58.056
around that area they would sort of come in close to the horn wave they seemed

00:23:58.056 --> 00:24:00.096
pretty stoked that we were out there,

00:24:01.096 --> 00:24:02.536
So you said a couple of things earlier.

00:24:02.696 --> 00:24:06.096
I wanted to kind of jump back to for a minute. And you mentioned when you were

00:24:06.096 --> 00:24:09.676
getting the permits and the naval officers were kind of stoked that you were

00:24:09.676 --> 00:24:12.576
doing this trip. What was it that got them excited about this trip for?

00:24:13.392 --> 00:24:21.032
Maybe just, you know, how rare that sort of foreigners come out here and do these things.

00:24:21.892 --> 00:24:25.132
And it starts from a place, Puerto Eden.

00:24:25.572 --> 00:24:31.932
These naval officers, you know, they probably don't do a huge amount of work out there.

00:24:32.112 --> 00:24:35.512
I don't actually really know. This is me speculating. But, you know,

00:24:35.652 --> 00:24:38.112
there's no roads in Puerto Eden.

00:24:38.232 --> 00:24:41.132
It's all connected by boardwalk and by small boats.

00:24:42.372 --> 00:24:45.172
So these guys probably have not not a huge

00:24:45.172 --> 00:24:48.012
amount of excitement within their work i don't know so

00:24:48.012 --> 00:24:50.832
this may be something a bit different and so

00:24:50.832 --> 00:24:53.612
for them to be involved in something like this i don't

00:24:53.612 --> 00:24:56.472
know i think maybe that's that's maybe why

00:24:56.472 --> 00:25:00.552
they got got in behind behind the trip a little bit okay all

00:25:00.552 --> 00:25:03.592
right then we talked about the uh the five to six k wide glacier and

00:25:03.592 --> 00:25:06.592
you mentioned uh in purefjord that the

00:25:06.592 --> 00:25:09.772
the glaciers were really steep so give us a scale for

00:25:09.772 --> 00:25:12.592
just kind of what we're looking at i mean give us an idea

00:25:12.592 --> 00:25:15.992
of what the landscape is around you for something like that so

00:25:15.992 --> 00:25:19.012
yeah the the fjords there especially up

00:25:19.012 --> 00:25:21.832
at the top of peel fjord are really really

00:25:21.832 --> 00:25:25.592
narrow and really thick bush right

00:25:25.592 --> 00:25:28.492
up the sides of it yeah it's hard to imagine how

00:25:28.492 --> 00:25:31.252
the trees sort of stick to the walls and lots of

00:25:31.252 --> 00:25:34.932
waterfalls yeah it just seems like a a

00:25:34.932 --> 00:25:37.872
wave of ice coming over top of these mountains

00:25:37.872 --> 00:25:41.272
and just dropping straight into the water now the

00:25:41.272 --> 00:25:44.812
ice pack is quite fun to paddle around especially because there's

00:25:44.812 --> 00:25:47.612
so much coming off i guess you call it fresh

00:25:47.612 --> 00:25:54.232
ice where the ice is so dense that the ice crystals are really really big so

00:25:54.232 --> 00:26:00.812
they reflect reflect that color blue a lot more so it is really really deep

00:26:00.812 --> 00:26:06.632
deep sort of awesome glass blue and it's not just white ice,

00:26:06.892 --> 00:26:09.952
old ice, oxygenated ice.

00:26:10.763 --> 00:26:14.723
So it was quite cool paddling through that. And on all the beaches with the

00:26:14.723 --> 00:26:19.523
tides, the ice gets washed up onto the beach. And when the tide goes out,

00:26:20.023 --> 00:26:21.603
all the ice is left there.

00:26:22.003 --> 00:26:26.403
And so in front of our camp, we had these huge, huge boulders of ice.

00:26:26.583 --> 00:26:30.283
I can sort of walk around and sit on. And yeah, quite, quite cool.

00:26:30.743 --> 00:26:35.363
There's a few, a couple of the glaciers at the top of Peel Fjord have these

00:26:35.363 --> 00:26:39.403
little islands right within a few hundred meters of the faces.

00:26:39.403 --> 00:26:46.703
That was our aim to get onto these rocks and stand right in front of the glaciers and just watch it.

00:26:46.783 --> 00:26:52.823
We had an awesome lunch just sitting on these perfectly carved pieces of rock.

00:26:53.003 --> 00:26:58.703
You can just see where the glaciers carved away eroded the rock and smoothed

00:26:58.703 --> 00:27:05.903
it out and it makes a nice sort of chair that you can sort of lie on because it's perfectly smooth.

00:27:06.163 --> 00:27:13.243
And we sat in there and ate our lunch and just watched pieces of ice fall off for a few hours.

00:27:13.523 --> 00:27:16.943
And yeah, and just, we really lucked out.

00:27:17.063 --> 00:27:22.983
You know, I did a trip last April, sort of to a smaller ice cap south of Puerta

00:27:22.983 --> 00:27:25.063
Natales, just a 10-day trip.

00:27:25.223 --> 00:27:29.503
We didn't have, we maybe had about four and a half of scattered sun throughout

00:27:29.503 --> 00:27:32.363
that whole trip. And the rest of the time it was raining and snowing.

00:27:32.803 --> 00:27:37.363
And so I did that trip with Andy, who was on this trip.

00:27:37.363 --> 00:27:41.343
And and we sort of had the expectation of of

00:27:41.343 --> 00:27:44.643
that for 40 days or that for 35 days

00:27:44.643 --> 00:27:47.363
that was our expectation and so for us

00:27:47.363 --> 00:27:50.343
to have these periods of of clear calm

00:27:50.343 --> 00:27:56.323
weather for these places that we wanted them to be it was just pure luck and

00:27:56.323 --> 00:28:01.623
amazement you know it's like man it could be so much worse we we really really

00:28:01.623 --> 00:28:05.483
lucked out with the weather it was amazing definitely now you mentioned 40 days

00:28:05.483 --> 00:28:09.103
in there so what how many days did you did you plan for the trip.

00:28:09.800 --> 00:28:13.460
We had a plan of potentially being out there for 40 days.

00:28:13.660 --> 00:28:18.140
That was sort of our extreme side. So we had enough food for 40 days. Okay.

00:28:19.340 --> 00:28:24.660
And our estimate was between 30 and 35 days. Okay. Then you're right in there.

00:28:25.580 --> 00:28:29.360
Right in there. Yeah. Yeah. So we sort of expected, you know,

00:28:29.560 --> 00:28:33.860
maybe we're going to be stuck at camp for three, four days with a big weather

00:28:33.860 --> 00:28:35.280
system rolling through.

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:39.000
But that never eventuated. the the one

00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.280
thing that we did have one day off the water we paddled

00:28:42.280 --> 00:28:45.140
32 to 31 days we had one day off the water

00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:48.440
and that was because probably our biggest

00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:51.540
challenge and it was me it was i

00:28:51.540 --> 00:28:54.460
got these well what we think was it was sand fly

00:28:54.460 --> 00:28:58.440
bites and just due to elements salt

00:28:58.440 --> 00:29:01.320
weather uh salt water sorry these sand

00:29:01.320 --> 00:29:06.100
fly bites turned to blisters then the blisters popped and they turned nasty

00:29:06.100 --> 00:29:12.700
really really really fast one night I went to go to bed and I just had horrendous

00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:18.480
pain in my hand that next day we decided okay let's stay off the water let's try and get my hand.

00:29:19.320 --> 00:29:22.640
Dry for at least 24 hours and and try

00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.100
and get on top of maybe these potential infections

00:29:26.100 --> 00:29:28.760
yeah it's a paddle with like a

00:29:28.760 --> 00:29:31.820
latex glove on for the next few days after that and

00:29:31.820 --> 00:29:34.620
we managed it pretty well but it was a little bit

00:29:34.620 --> 00:29:37.380
like okay if this gets any worse we could be

00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:40.320
in a in in a bit of a bad place

00:29:40.320 --> 00:29:45.200
here because you don't really want to be out in that sort of area with with

00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:50.200
infection no definitely not and so good good that you uh recognized that quick

00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:55.280
and took care of that before it did become a problem yeah totally yeah it's

00:29:55.280 --> 00:30:00.040
it's left a few scars on my hand actually but it's just about healed now.

00:30:00.780 --> 00:30:06.800
Bit of a wake-up call on how things can go, potentially, yeah, really.

00:30:07.040 --> 00:30:10.940
From your description earlier, it sounded everything went great and there were

00:30:10.940 --> 00:30:12.560
no problems, but you've got that one.

00:30:12.740 --> 00:30:15.860
I understand you had a few more things that went sideways along the way.

00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.100
Yeah, totally. So the first issue we faced was actually my kayak as well.

00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:25.280
So first day, I had water in my back hatch,

00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:28.920
quite a bit of water, about one and a half inches

00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.760
we're like oh yeah all good I think

00:30:31.760 --> 00:30:34.960
it's my my sked box and so we

00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:40.380
did some repairs on the sked box didn't work oh surely it's the sked and then

00:30:40.380 --> 00:30:46.940
it wasn't until maybe day four we're like oh maybe it's a crack and it turned

00:30:46.940 --> 00:30:53.100
out to be a crack in the boat which I got on my last trip guiding of the season so.

00:30:54.389 --> 00:30:59.309
Yeah, didn't realize it until, you know, we were actually on the expedition.

00:30:59.309 --> 00:31:02.949
So we actually had to weld up the back of my kayak.

00:31:03.249 --> 00:31:10.009
Luckily, we had little sticks of plastic and we used our gas cooker to heat it up and we welded it.

00:31:10.449 --> 00:31:18.169
And it was perfect. Then on. Our next issue was my sleeping mat sort of bailed

00:31:18.169 --> 00:31:24.429
on me. I ended up patching 15 holes in my sleeping mat through the whole trip.

00:31:24.649 --> 00:31:28.169
Wow. I only had two nights where it actually stayed inflated.

00:31:29.429 --> 00:31:33.889
But that was a bit of a nightmare, but it wasn't too much of an effect of the

00:31:33.889 --> 00:31:36.609
whole team. So what was it that caused 15 holes?

00:31:38.109 --> 00:31:41.989
So I probably shouldn't name the company. We'll keep that out.

00:31:44.529 --> 00:31:47.209
But because i i use i've only had it

00:31:47.209 --> 00:31:50.689
for about a year but i think just the whole season guiding

00:31:50.689 --> 00:31:53.669
working using it where the

00:31:53.669 --> 00:31:57.349
heaviest part of my body sits on the mat it's actually on the top of the mat

00:31:57.349 --> 00:32:03.749
where's where all the holes came the seams on the mat just gave out okay and

00:32:03.749 --> 00:32:08.969
so all the holes were in where my hips are and where my shoulders are on the

00:32:08.969 --> 00:32:10.789
top of the mat And so it just,

00:32:10.789 --> 00:32:17.549
it just bailed on night one and I first thought it was one hole and then the

00:32:17.549 --> 00:32:20.889
next night it was two holes and, and it just went on from there.

00:32:22.069 --> 00:32:25.729
So the thing holds out for the entire guiding season and then decides on this

00:32:25.729 --> 00:32:28.809
trip, I'm giving up. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

00:32:30.769 --> 00:32:34.869
And then, yeah, during that bad weather period,

00:32:35.289 --> 00:32:41.089
one of our tarp rips, a pretty significant rip right down the middle through

00:32:41.089 --> 00:32:47.069
just a big gust that bolts through the camp and decided to rip it.

00:32:47.369 --> 00:32:52.069
But we actually fixed it all right. We sewed it up with some fishing line.

00:32:52.209 --> 00:32:53.729
That actually worked pretty well.

00:32:54.009 --> 00:32:59.349
It wasn't too much of a setback. and then that was about it.

00:32:59.469 --> 00:33:04.989
Well, we had one hole actually in mine and Brody's tent in the fly, but we fixed that.

00:33:05.349 --> 00:33:08.169
We patched it all right and that held out as well.

00:33:08.969 --> 00:33:14.429
So, yeah, a lot of repairing, a lot of repairing our gear.

00:33:14.889 --> 00:33:19.089
You know, we're just guides really, so we don't have the best of gear.

00:33:20.409 --> 00:33:24.489
It's well used, right? It's well used, yeah, yeah.

00:33:24.969 --> 00:33:28.389
Well, I guess the moral of the story here too is that bring your repair kit.

00:33:28.709 --> 00:33:33.489
It's one of the reasons that it's on the list, but sometimes we might think,

00:33:33.649 --> 00:33:37.349
oh, I don't use it that much, so do I really need to bring it?

00:33:37.449 --> 00:33:40.589
Yeah, you needed to use it several times there, so that's definitely something

00:33:40.589 --> 00:33:41.689
to keep on the list and bring.

00:33:42.416 --> 00:33:47.596
Yeah, I have a new love for Seam Seal. Oh, that thing's magic. Yeah.

00:33:48.456 --> 00:33:51.796
So how did this team come together? Oh, yeah.

00:33:52.036 --> 00:33:55.556
So I met Andy in my first season here in Patagonia.

00:33:55.736 --> 00:34:00.776
He's from Scotland. He knows whirlwind, and that was his connection to Patagonia

00:34:00.776 --> 00:34:04.496
through guiding together and our last trip last season.

00:34:04.716 --> 00:34:07.456
And that's how myself and Andy met.

00:34:07.896 --> 00:34:13.656
Brody, he's a Kiwi, and we met in our first season of guiding together or first

00:34:13.656 --> 00:34:15.936
season guiding in Fjordland.

00:34:16.236 --> 00:34:18.116
So we spent a few years living together.

00:34:18.556 --> 00:34:20.476
We did a bunch of whitewater kayaking together.

00:34:20.976 --> 00:34:26.196
I just called him up last winter and was like, do you want to come do a trip?

00:34:26.476 --> 00:34:29.036
And he was like, he said yes immediately.

00:34:29.456 --> 00:34:35.376
And Andy and Brody, they connected when Brody arrived like three days before

00:34:35.376 --> 00:34:40.816
the expedition. So that's when they first met. So I was the connector between Andy and Brody. Okay.

00:34:41.256 --> 00:34:47.096
So let's make sure we give them their props as well. So Andy and Brody's last names.

00:34:47.296 --> 00:34:53.016
Let's make sure we have them. Andy Gill and Brody Duncan. All right. Very cool.

00:34:53.596 --> 00:34:56.756
So glad they were able to join you. And you're still friends today, huh?

00:34:57.556 --> 00:35:03.156
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We didn't get too pissy at each other. Yeah, we were.

00:35:03.756 --> 00:35:07.056
Well, you know, sometimes you have a few tense moments.

00:35:07.056 --> 00:35:13.736
Of oh I like it done this way and oh you like it done that way and but no no

00:35:13.736 --> 00:35:18.276
we we work pretty well together I think all right so it's so the permitting

00:35:18.276 --> 00:35:21.016
process you mentioned that earlier and it sounds like that went pretty smooth

00:35:21.016 --> 00:35:24.696
and you had some help with that if you don't have help with that yeah how do

00:35:24.696 --> 00:35:26.896
how would somebody go about the permitting process,

00:35:27.698 --> 00:35:32.618
Yeah, that's a tricky way to do it.

00:35:32.858 --> 00:35:36.978
Yeah, you really almost need someone on the ground in Chile.

00:35:37.418 --> 00:35:44.138
Say if you're coming from out of country, from overseas, you need someone here

00:35:44.138 --> 00:35:50.518
in Chile who has a connection with the naval officers or the navy.

00:35:50.758 --> 00:35:57.058
It's quite a hard process. Otherwise, a really good resource for folks that

00:35:57.058 --> 00:36:01.678
want to do a trip like this is Will Copestick's blog.

00:36:01.958 --> 00:36:10.198
He has a pretty detailed explanation on the process and all the contacts you need to do it.

00:36:10.338 --> 00:36:14.218
That's your best resource if you're coming in from overseas. Okay.

00:36:15.138 --> 00:36:20.058
Otherwise, sourcing kayaks and you can either import them or buy them or rent

00:36:20.058 --> 00:36:24.758
them. Renting them would be the hardest way because not many providers would

00:36:24.758 --> 00:36:28.558
risk their kayaks for a trip like this.

00:36:29.118 --> 00:36:35.918
But you're buying them and then on-selling them would be the easiest way with getting kayaks.

00:36:36.078 --> 00:36:39.758
And logistics in that sense would be quite hard.

00:36:40.158 --> 00:36:43.018
Kayaks and permits logistically is probably the hardest part.

00:36:43.398 --> 00:36:47.598
Yeah. Now you mentioned buying them. Are they plentiful down there that you

00:36:47.598 --> 00:36:49.598
could get there and buy them?

00:36:50.318 --> 00:36:56.298
Or is that a big risk? If you're starting from the north, it's a little easier.

00:36:56.898 --> 00:37:00.718
If you're starting in Puerta Natales, buying them would be pretty hard.

00:37:01.158 --> 00:37:02.838
So starting in Puerta Montes.

00:37:03.788 --> 00:37:07.328
And you'd be able to buy kayaks reasonably easy there.

00:37:07.528 --> 00:37:12.228
You could go to Pucon and then transport them down to Puerto Montt.

00:37:12.828 --> 00:37:18.348
And then that's really where you'd start your expedition if you're going from north to south.

00:37:18.588 --> 00:37:20.948
And if you're coming from out of country, that's the easiest way.

00:37:21.108 --> 00:37:25.248
The only reason why we started from Puerto Natales is because that's where I'm

00:37:25.248 --> 00:37:26.328
based during the summer.

00:37:26.748 --> 00:37:30.008
Yeah, and it worked out pretty well in that sense.

00:37:30.008 --> 00:37:32.728
And you mentioned uh you had a three-day boat ride

00:37:32.728 --> 00:37:35.428
up there and so i'm thinking what's the area like from

00:37:35.428 --> 00:37:39.988
an access standpoint because in my head everything is an epic there just to

00:37:39.988 --> 00:37:44.428
get anywhere but i may be wrong on that so i'm curious as to just how how accessible

00:37:44.428 --> 00:37:50.708
and developed it is yeah totally for this there's one ferry route along the

00:37:50.708 --> 00:37:53.668
coastline that that connects Puertumont,

00:37:53.928 --> 00:37:55.528
Total, Puertu Eden.

00:37:56.188 --> 00:37:58.388
Yangai and Puertunatales.

00:37:58.608 --> 00:38:01.288
There's one ferry route. There's two different companies.

00:38:01.708 --> 00:38:06.588
There's one company that just sort of does a drive-by of most of those places

00:38:06.588 --> 00:38:09.368
and connects Puertumont and Puertunatales.

00:38:09.788 --> 00:38:13.768
And then there's another ferry that is a bit smaller, that's the one that we

00:38:13.768 --> 00:38:20.968
used, that connects Yangai, Total, Puertu Eden and Puertunatales together.

00:38:20.968 --> 00:38:29.788
But that runs this time of year once a week so not overly often okay um we saw

00:38:29.788 --> 00:38:37.108
it from a quite far away during the trip maybe three times i think yeah but

00:38:37.108 --> 00:38:38.748
actually most of our route.

00:38:39.528 --> 00:38:43.348
Was off that main ferry pathway

00:38:43.348 --> 00:38:46.668
so and we kind of wanted it

00:38:46.668 --> 00:38:49.748
that way in a sense because you don't want

00:38:49.748 --> 00:38:52.488
to be just paddling down a ferry route you want to you want to

00:38:52.488 --> 00:38:55.288
be away from that stuff yeah the idea is

00:38:55.288 --> 00:38:58.108
to be away from people yeah you're in you're in an area

00:38:58.108 --> 00:39:01.568
like that with the uh with the natural beauty that is there you want to really

00:39:01.568 --> 00:39:06.168
immerse yourself in it it sounds like you guys certainly did totally yeah yeah

00:39:06.168 --> 00:39:12.468
and and we we often talked about that like you know you don't you don't get

00:39:12.468 --> 00:39:16.508
much connect time away from that connection to the outside world you You know,

00:39:16.688 --> 00:39:18.028
we kind of asked ourselves, like,

00:39:18.308 --> 00:39:24.168
when was the last time you didn't have Wi-Fi or you didn't have data or you

00:39:24.168 --> 00:39:27.348
weren't connected to everyone through your fingertips?

00:39:27.348 --> 00:39:32.548
What was the longest period of time or when was the last time you weren't connected in that way?

00:39:32.688 --> 00:39:35.908
And yeah, it's kind of hard to think back.

00:39:36.048 --> 00:39:40.608
Man, when was the last time I didn't have data or Wi-Fi or connection to the outside world?

00:39:40.608 --> 00:39:48.088
And to be disconnected for 30 days was pretty cool you know it's a good feeling

00:39:48.088 --> 00:39:53.088
yeah sounds like it what advice would you have for others considering a trip like this.

00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:59.590
Well, plan early, I guess. I would say going more towards the winter,

00:39:59.950 --> 00:40:02.090
not so much middle of the summer.

00:40:02.590 --> 00:40:04.970
Just because the middle of the summer, things are warmer.

00:40:05.730 --> 00:40:10.170
You know, storms are pretty frequent and unpredictable.

00:40:10.890 --> 00:40:16.290
And the wind is stronger during the summer. So sort of on the edge of winter,

00:40:16.770 --> 00:40:23.310
you know, we started on 10th of April, ended around the 11th or 12th of May.

00:40:24.030 --> 00:40:30.830
And, you know, we experienced one significant sort of wind event or storm.

00:40:31.150 --> 00:40:35.610
And during the summer, yeah, you'd probably be the whole time windy.

00:40:36.210 --> 00:40:41.310
Definitely go north to south. Don't go south to north because of that prevailing wind.

00:40:41.730 --> 00:40:46.210
You wouldn't really get anywhere if you wanted to go from south to north because

00:40:46.210 --> 00:40:49.790
you'd just be fighting wind all day, every day.

00:40:49.790 --> 00:40:52.850
Yeah like like you said the repair

00:40:52.850 --> 00:40:57.910
kit have a really good repair kit yeah a

00:40:57.910 --> 00:41:02.010
really good repair kit and a good first aid kit because you'll

00:41:02.010 --> 00:41:05.090
need it for sure and then read uh read up

00:41:05.090 --> 00:41:07.870
on will's blog which we'll make sure we put links in the show

00:41:07.870 --> 00:41:13.130
notes for that any other good resources that you used to help plan not well

00:41:13.130 --> 00:41:19.050
google earth yeah you know all the satellite satellite imaging that's We use

00:41:19.050 --> 00:41:25.530
that a lot for our permits because they want a day-by-day of each leg of the trip.

00:41:25.810 --> 00:41:31.670
So having those satellite imagery of your campsites, that's probably a good

00:41:31.670 --> 00:41:37.050
resource to really use while planning a trip like this. Okay.

00:41:37.570 --> 00:41:41.750
Any other blogs or online resources or that that you might have used?

00:41:42.561 --> 00:41:45.441
Local information, yeah, is probably another one.

00:41:45.581 --> 00:41:49.541
When you get here, to do the trip, talk to fishermen, you know,

00:41:50.001 --> 00:41:55.421
talk to captains when you have your inspection, ask your naval officer heaps

00:41:55.421 --> 00:41:57.501
of questions about, you know.

00:41:58.241 --> 00:42:03.841
Areas of interest or areas to stay away from, you know, what fjords are clear

00:42:03.841 --> 00:42:06.661
of ice, what fjords aren't, yeah.

00:42:06.981 --> 00:42:10.481
And they're pretty forthcoming with that and wanting to give you that info. Totally.

00:42:10.781 --> 00:42:14.121
Good. yeah yeah for sure yeah super

00:42:14.121 --> 00:42:17.081
well sounds like an amazing trip and uh really appreciate you

00:42:17.081 --> 00:42:21.641
sharing that with us and sharing the uh the experience so thank you i'm curious

00:42:21.641 --> 00:42:25.281
no pleasure yeah how can listeners connect with you if they have other questions

00:42:25.281 --> 00:42:30.181
or uh maybe want to guide with you probably the the easiest way is through my

00:42:30.181 --> 00:42:35.181
instagram share most of my my ventures and a bit of photo stuff on there.

00:42:35.401 --> 00:42:44.801
So that's Matthew underscore Schweitzer, M-A-T-H-E-W underscore S-C-H-W-E-I-Z-E-R,

00:42:45.001 --> 00:42:46.601
Matthew Schweitzer. All right. Yeah.

00:42:46.841 --> 00:42:50.561
Well, I'll include that in the show notes as well so people can follow you in

00:42:50.561 --> 00:42:52.201
the future and go from there.

00:42:52.621 --> 00:42:56.361
So appreciate that. One last question for you as we wrap up here,

00:42:56.461 --> 00:43:00.001
and that is who else would you like to hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:43:00.701 --> 00:43:03.401
I'll get on Paul Caffin. yeah he's a bit of

00:43:03.401 --> 00:43:06.181
a kiwi legend and a legend in the sea

00:43:06.181 --> 00:43:09.481
kayaking world absolutely paul's done uh some

00:43:09.481 --> 00:43:12.381
amazing things be a pleasure to have him on the show just as

00:43:12.381 --> 00:43:15.601
it's been a pleasure to have you on the show today so thank you cheers john

00:43:15.601 --> 00:43:20.041
yeah again matthew thank you very much i appreciate the opportunity to to hear

00:43:20.041 --> 00:43:24.441
from you to experience patagonia through through your eyes and congratulations

00:43:24.441 --> 00:43:31.081
to you to andy to brody on the 32 days 850k and some amazing experiences that

00:43:31.081 --> 00:43:34.021
last a lifetime, so thank you. My pleasure.

00:43:35.458 --> 00:43:39.018
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:43:39.018 --> 00:43:42.678
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00:43:42.678 --> 00:43:47.078
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.

00:43:47.258 --> 00:43:51.098
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

00:43:51.178 --> 00:43:52.738
and they can make a difference for you too.

00:43:53.178 --> 00:43:56.698
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and

00:43:56.698 --> 00:44:00.578
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy

00:44:00.578 --> 00:44:04.478
with each stroke, use force generated from your lower body to make your paddling

00:44:04.478 --> 00:44:08.038
strokes more efficient, have the endurance to handle long days in the boat,

00:44:08.478 --> 00:44:11.918
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00:44:11.918 --> 00:44:15.118
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00:44:15.318 --> 00:44:20.438
And who wouldn't mind that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:44:21.158 --> 00:44:27.258
Thank you to Matthew for sharing his, Andy's, and Brody's 850 kilometer journey through Patagonia.

00:44:27.378 --> 00:44:30.078
I can't even imagine a glacier five to six k wide.

00:44:30.238 --> 00:44:34.058
It just sounds like an incredible place to visit and definitely bring your repair kit.

00:44:34.298 --> 00:44:37.758
I'll add links in the show notes to Will's blog and Matthew's Instagram.

00:44:38.038 --> 00:44:42.558
And a big thanks to Will Copestake for sharing Matthew's post and helping make that connection.

00:44:42.818 --> 00:44:47.138
Will was a guest way back in episode 22, where we talked about his trip titled

00:44:47.138 --> 00:44:52.778
McCair to Monroe, where he circumnavigated Scotland and then climbed each of the Munroes in one year.

00:44:53.218 --> 00:44:57.118
Thanks again to our partners at OnlineSeaKyaking.com and now Online Whitewater

00:44:57.118 --> 00:44:58.838
for extending that special offer to you.

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00:45:08.718 --> 00:45:11.898
Until next time, thanks again for listening, and I look forward to bringing

00:45:11.898 --> 00:45:14.098
you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:45:15.418 --> 00:45:18.978
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:45:18.978 --> 00:45:23.498
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your

00:45:23.498 --> 00:45:27.398
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00:45:27.598 --> 00:45:31.698
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00:45:31.698 --> 00:45:35.958
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00:45:35.958 --> 00:45:38.478
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00:45:38.678 --> 00:45:41.758
Until next time, I hope you get out and paddle the blue.