How is this for a huge trip? On May 5th, Brian Hansel is going try to become the first person to circumnavigate all 5 of the great lakes in a kayak. The journey is 3,800 miles and will take 5 months to complete.

How is this for a serious endeavour? Jennifer Figge is 56 and she is planning on swimming across the Atlantic.

The total swim is 2,100 miles. She'll do it in a shark cage attached to a sailboat, swimming for six to eight hours a day without rest. The journey will take about two months, and would make her the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

Here I was all proud of my 20 min bike commute to work each morning.

More info: news-leader.com

Are you planning a major expedition in 2009? Polartec just announced another round of the $10,000 Polartec® International Challenge Grant.

If following along with really cool expeditions is your thing, here is another one to add to your RSS Reader.

Starting in June 2008, Alan Brook and Kobi Sade will begin an unsupported sea kayaking expedition from Kullorsuaq in north-west Greenland and paddling around 600km along the coastline.

Located almost a 1000km north of the artic circle, Kullorsuaq can only be reached by helicopter flying out of Upernavik.

They decided to paddle in that area of Greenland because it is one of the least developed and visited parts of Greenland. What's really interesting about that area is that a ban on the use of mechanically powered vehicles for hunting and fishing means that the dogsled and traditional kayak are still the primary methods of transport for these hunters.

Find out more about this expedition and follow blog updates of the expedition progress at http://northkayak.blogspot.com.

For those like me who had no idea where Kullorsuaq, Greenland actually is, you can see a map after clicking "Read More".

A couple of weeks ago we talked about Ken Campbell's quest to become the first person to circumnavigate Vancouver Island during the winter.

That came to a halt when he tore his left rotator cuff in the Johnstone Strait north of Sayward.

"It was tough in the sense that I had been planning for it for a year - budgeting the time, the money, the time off. In that sense it was a very hard decision to make," Campbell said.

"I really noticed the pain level was pretty much unacceptable when I had to brace myself against the waves," Campbell said. "If I had maybe stayed in Sayward for a week, it might have healed up some.

But disappointment eased when his wife, Kathy, arrived in Sayward with their 1-year-old son.

"Micah was just ecstatic. They got there about 11 p.m., and he had been sleeping in the car. But he woke up when they came inside," said Campbell. "He was just giddy for about an hour. You could tell ‘Yeah, he missed me.' That was the nicest reception I could have gotten."

More info: thenewstribune.com