BEST OF 2015 – “Those Crazy Kayakers…”
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“You who are Ligurian, this story is yours. Those crazy sailing kayak people have arrived in Santa Margherita.“, they tell me in the newsroom. “Those crazy people” are Dane Lars Simonsen and his Dutch wife Suzi (former hostel managers in Denmark) with their children Tiuri and Liva, aged eight and six respectively. The four set sail from Copenhagen bound for Istanbul (where they will arrive next July) aboard two Hobie Tandem Islands, which are small trimarans whose central hull is a “sit-on-top” kayak where two people can fit.
The rigging is essential: a rollable mainsail without a boom. This is no joke: “It’s about 7,000 kilometers, following the route we have planned,” Lars tells me, “this means we will have to cover about 20 kilometers a day to keep on schedule.” Departing from the Danish capital, the Simonsen family traveled along a stretch of the Baltic Sea, the canals of the Jutland peninsula, the German, Dutch and Belgian coasts on the Atlantic, and then crossed Europe using the French canal system.
Having landed in the Mediterranean in Marseille, the four continued westward via Liguria. They will coast the Boot to Brindisi, where they will make the crossing to Albania. “If the trip goes well,” Simonsen continues, “we will find sponsors to continue supporting us and, once in Istanbul, we will cross the Black Sea to Georgia.” The children get along just fine: “We chose the sailing kayak because when sailing we would avoid splashing Tiuri and Liva with water raised by paddling,” jokes Lars.
The two children follow the regular Danish school curriculum via computer, taking advantage of tablets. On the other hand, they are already experienced travelers: Since Liva was born, the Simonsens have traveled to Greenland, Europe, the U.S., Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and South America. Sometimes in a rickety car, sometimes in a camper, on bicycles, on foot and in tents. “But this is the first time we are using a sailing kayak; we have never gone sailing, but it is not a problem. The best way to learn to sail is to go sailing“.
The Simonsen family’s adventure, called Life Is Good Follow Us, can be followed live (with up-to-date news and tracking) on the website www.lifeisgoodfollowus.com: the four are also testimonials for the nonprofit Nuru International Against Poverty.
Taken from the March 2015 GdV
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