Amphibious Trekking

Amphibious Trekking is the most direct and minimalistic way of exploring a coastal area.

It consists in alternating between traditional trekking:

and sea trekking:

The key component is a lightweight freediving inflatable board. Deflated it can be easily carried in a trekking backpack and inflated it can carry your backpack across the waves.

As you will always be carrying all your equipment with you, you do not have to worry anymore about having to rent or transport a kayak or a SUP board and you do not have to go back to your starting point.

As an example, I recently used this system to explore part of the Cinque Terre going from Vernazza to Corniglia.

I arrived by train to Vernazza, descended to the beach with my backpack, inflated the board, secured the backpack to it and swam for two hours to Marina di Corniglia.

I then deflated the board, stored it in the backpack and trekked uphill to the village of Corniglia and later to the railway station to go back home.

A great outdoor experience at minimal cost and with total freedom of movement :-)

What you need:

• A freediving inflatable board. There are many models (example), just find one that matches the dimensions of your backpack (the board has to fit into the backpack when deflated and the backpack should not be larger than the inflated board). They can be inflated by just blowing into them, no pump required, and usually have three indipendent air chambers for safety. They include a flag, do not forget to mount it, it will make you more visible. In an emergency, if you are too tired or cold to swim normally, you can put the upper part of your body on the board and rest or continue swimming with your fins.
  
• A vinyl repair kit to fix holes in the board air chambers.
• A freediving lanyard to pull the board. The freediving laynard is elastic, if you dive it will stretch so that you don’t pull the board underwater and when swimming it will contract keeping the board close by.
• A set of dry bags to store your phone, wallet and clothes (the only thing that you might not able to keep completely dry are the trekking shoes, just wrap them in a plastic bag).
• Snorkeling gear: mask, snorkel and fins. If you wear glasses you might want to use a prescription mask (a mask with corrective lens) that will make the experience both more enjoyable and safer. As fins, consider the short training variety as they are way easier to transport than normal size or, worse, freediving fins and they let you swim freestyle, exercising both your arms and legs.
• A trekking backpack, possibly of red, orange or yellow colour. It is absolutely essential for your safety, as well as a legal requirement in some countries, that you are very visible in the water. Once mounted on the freediving board, your backpack becomes part of it and its colour should be as visible as the board that it will partially cover. A 35 liters one is sufficient to carry all the sea trekking equipment plus one change of clothes. A larger backpack will be required if you want to trek for many days and if you need to carry a tent or cooking equipment. Just make sure that is not bigger than the board itself.

To secure the backpack to the board, use the backpack belt and loops/straps, the boards usually have four or five attachment points. Then secure one end of the lanyard to the board and the other to your swimming trunks or to one of your legs and you are ready to go. With calm water, pulling the board is going to be totally effortless.

Keeping it safe:

• Make sure that the water is flat and warm. Even small waves can be dangerous as they will make swimming and pulling the board much harder, and you much less visible.
• Bring water or some sport drink and, if you plan to swim for more than a few hours, some easily digestable (sugary) food
• Find a trekking companion

Happy amphibious trekking!

Resources #

• SwimTrekking Association
  • Based in Rome. Organises courses and expeditions all over the world.
• Barkino.
  • A specialised miniboat for swim trekking.
• Aetem
  • German company offering seatrekking tours and equipment
• Aquatrekking
  • A comprehensive introduction to sea trekking technique and equipment (in Italian)
• Armadillo
  • A cart designed by Sebastian Schweizer, usable on both sea and land and also wearable as a rigid backpack.