Finding Fritz Sprandel
Fritz T. Sprandel is an American adventurer and folk hero best known for his 1971 canoe trip from New York City down the east coast. While attempting to cross The Gulf of Mexico he drifted off course and was arrested as a possible spy by Fidel Castro’s soldiers in Cuba.
Other big adventures followed: longest snowmobile journey in the United States which earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, another canoe trip mirroring Lewis and Clark’s 3,300 mile famous cross-country trek. His trips were chronicled in Argosy Magazine, Sports Illustrated, television and radio stations, as well as many local newspapers whose readers avidly followed his journeys.
Click the button below to watch a short film shown at Fritz's memorial Service.
This time legally - Invited back to Snowmobile Across The Mackinac Bridge - Featuring Fritz Sprandel
After a daring crossing of the Mackinac Bridge In 1977, Fritz Sprandel was invited back to The Mackinac Bridge on December 14, 2024, to lead a pack of vintage snowmobiles as the Grand Marshall of the event. As an adventurer, who had already become a household name for some of his well- known exploits, which started in the early seventies, decided to drive a snowmobile from coast to coast and set a World Record. Leaving Westport, Washington on December 4, 1977 and accomplishing his goal by arriving in Eastport, Maine on February 6, 1978. Everyone he asked about this trip, said it couldn't be done. Fritz ran into a little trouble trying to cross The Mackinac Bridge. Eventually, he just jumped on his sled and crossed the bridge. This was not his first adventure and not his last. However, it ranked among his most daring and challenging adventures, which included an attempt to paddle a canoe from New York to Los Angeles. On this trip, he wound up drifting into Cuban Waters and was captured by Fidel Castro's Army. This story is shared in his book - Adventure On A Dare. This video is an overview of that trip and the parade across the bridge.
Books About Fritz Sprandel
Snowmobiling Across America - In 1977, adventurer Fritz Sprandel and his mechanic, Ed Kasmerski, set out to snowmobile coast-to-coast—despite never having ridden one before. With minimal planning, a brand-new Scorpion snowmobile, and sheer determination, they defied the odds, overcame countless obstacles, and made history.
Finding Fritz: The Heart of an Adventurer is the rest of Fritz’s story. It chronicles Fritz’s adventures from his point of view as well as venturing into the compelling mental territory of WHY an adventurer risks everything—family, a life of “normal”—for the bragging rights of one more bridge, one more mile, one more river. It’s due out this year.
Adventure on a Dare, which tells the tale of his Cuban adventure, was published in 2011. But it just whetted people’s appetites. They wanted to know the rest of the story.
Finding Fritz: The Fritz Sprandel Story
Finding Fritz is the rest of the story, but it’s not the end of the story. Almost 80 years old, Fritz is planning yet another adventure: navigating the Great Loop in an electric pontoon.
Hollywood East is producing a documentary of Fritz’s life and escapades due out this year.