Hadas Feldman of Terra Santa Sea Kayak Expedition Center in Israel is certainly one of those amazing personalities of sea kayaking. She has traveled the world over and has had some wonderful adventures. Her previous expeditions include; a 600 km journey up the cost of Kamchatka with Justine Curgenven, a 6 month, 6500 km circumnavigation of the four main islands of Japan along with Jeff Allen, an 800km trip in Alaska with Saggi Nehushtan, and last winter she was part of the team which achieved the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the sub Antarctic island of South Georgia. Truly amazing achievements.

She first caught my attention, like many of us I’m sure, in the two, “This Is The Sea” DVDs. Hadas is a scene stealer, bubbly and energetic and a laugh a minute. When asking around about her you quickly find that anyone who knows her well can’t seem to talk about her without gushing. It’s funny, When I got to ask Hadas a few questions recently I wondered about something she said about choosing a partner on her expeditions, ” he must be fun. .nature loving person, with a kind heart” At first I thought, well those guys must be few and far between. But then I thought, I bet she finds a lot of these kind of partners really. One great thing about humans is we tend to rise to the level of those around us

Hadas is now planning a trip to Newfoundland in 2007 with Tomer Sabag who is also from Israel. As soon as I heard about her plans I was filled with all those deep meaningful questions like; Why, When, Where??. So let me hand you over to Hadas. . .

“Honestly I just started planning it 2 weeks ago, at the Georgia sea kayak symposium, while talking to Nigel Dennis about my dreams…… and Newfoundland came up….cause its such a different place to when we come from. All those icebergs, whales, bears, birds, wolfs, and most important lots of small towns along the way.

I think what makes a trip the best best best are the people you meet along the way of your journey, so first of all is the partner I choose to go with ….must be some one I can feel will share the same interests, and will teach me from his knowledge and experience. and maybe I can even teach him some of what I know…???? He must be a fun, and nature loving person, with a kind heart. and ya,,,, until I don’t find that one I don’t come up with a new dream, soooo now I found the right partner for the next adventure… its time to start planning. “

Well, that says a lot for Tomer eh? She also added in that he was; a strong paddler, responsible, fun patient, warm, friendly, happy and a very positive person. Where do they hide these guys anyway?? Ok, sorry for the interruption, back to Hadas. . .

“We are both doing different researching; finding out weather, season, best rout (I think it’ll be clock wise as usual), wild life we will encounter, tides, currents, trying to find some local sea kayakers we would love to meet on the way, the best put in for the first day, history, nature, culture, and of course trying to find sponsors (since we are only sea kayakers and not yet multimillionaires), to help make this the best it can be, so we don’t have to sleep in the cold and wear our Israeli hot weather paddling clothing we already own. hhh. Even though it’ll still be really cold we are planning to start in mid may 2007 to paddle around 2700 km., in about two and a half months…”

Hadas is an NDK sponsored paddler and often paddles a Greenlander Pro which struck me as a unique choice. I asked her about that; “For Kamchatka I used a 3 peace Romany. On the Japan I used an Explorer, but yes my favorite is the Greenlander., its like it was made for my body, and fits perfect. I think its a fantastic fit for women, but even some tall big men in our club love it. first of all it looks most sexy on the water, thin, low deck, with pointy ends. beautiful. it does have a bit less room in it because of the low deck but Nigel promised to bring forward the bulk head for me this time, so no worries on that. and ,,,, its fast,,,and can surf the most gentle following sea before wind picks up to the speed that all other kayaks can surf. I love how it edges,and I love playing with wait shifting so the nose doesn’t go under in big swell. but then again, I like that it can do that in surf. Still I think the explorer is an perfect kayak for expedition, for men and that why Tomer is going to use that one.”

She also said she hates white kayaks even though she seems to always paddle them. Funny, I tell that same story about blue kayaks!! Must be some karmic retribution. . “Yes you may paddle to your hearts content, but you must do it in a kayak of the wrong color. . .” Life! And speaking of “life” this is the question I asked purely for myself, “Why?” What does an expedition like her upcoming trip to Newfoundland do for her head? How does it effect her personally? I asked Hadas what expeditioning means for her. . .

“I love love love going on these expeditions cause first and most important. . . its the best way I found to diet!!!!!! second, I always loved traveling, seeing new places and meeting new friends that are far from our small island in the middle east called Israel. traveling gives me energy and as much as its hard work on the way, it always bring a smile to my face, and when I’m happy everyone around me is too. I would like to hope.hhh???? I love telling stories of different cultures and experiences. I love building a tent and living in it,much more then in a house. love not using toilet paper,hhhhhh!!!!!! only what nature gives. I hate getting into the tent stinky so love bathing in salt water, even though it gives you major salt water rash on expedition. I like finding special shells and eating sea weed. I absolutely love the sounds of nature and its colors. and of course of course, I get adrenaline rush from the great big seas and waters. And I am quite happy and surprised when I get to the right place at the end of a long paddling day. where is the right place????? mmmmmm ….. every day somewhere else I guess.”

*Thank you to Hadas, Tomer, & Josh at Terra Santa. Oh, and an almost unrelated “hats off” to Jeff Allen for taking that picture of Hadas while in Japan, that one with her hiding behind all those tentacles… no one should be able to be beautiful while standing behind tentacles!! Glad you caught it on film or no one would believe it!! What? don’t believe me? Click here. Oh, and thanks to Hadas & Tomer for todays pictures as well. Next comes the headstands. . .