The mountain to Fjord trip was meant to be a tour with a variety of outdoor activities. Unfortunately I got sick on the second day hence I went home after the canoeing. I decided to go home because I didn’t want to hold back the group or to rent a bike if I would only be able to keep up with the others using medicine. As I overheard there were some discussions about it in the group because people would have decided differently. It is interesting to observe these different opinions and how it discussions start because of an individual decision.
However I wanted to tell about the two days of canoeing. After our arrival we split up into boat pairs and two of the persons who already had experiences in canoeing started to teach the others close to the coast. Approximately one hour was used to practice different strokes and steering. During this time I realized why people get annoyed by others teaching them stuff they know already. As I am experienced in canoeing, kayaking and traveling in these boats it got on my nerves to be thought the technique I was already able to use. Of course one can always improve but this was not the aim of this lesson. The im was to teach beginners how to go from A to B which is a whole different hing than improving. Apart from my own experience it was of course a good plan to first teach some moves before starting the tour. Especially considering risk management the ability to steer your own canoe is obligate.
the group making a decision
Once we started and had our luggage fixed in our boats the weather changed. From sunny to cloudy to rainy to stormy to snow. The wind gave us a hard time moving forward and as most people were not this experienced in steering it took us a long time to reach the coast and make a break. The question was wether we should stop and build our shelters or continue and try to reach the island which was our aim for this day. Considering the weather conditions we came to the conclusion that we wanted to paddle a bit further and stop if we would be too tired. Leaving us the decision our instructor used a democratic leadership behavior. Discussing about this made us all take part in the decision and kept us active and motivated.
STORMING
As we reached a small bay and the weather stayed windy we then decided to stay. Some of us put up the shelters on the beach. My group found a nice and wind sheltered spot in the woods. While building the shelter we argued a lot about how to do it and how to improve it. We were criticizing and testing each other which is typical for the storming state during a group’s development. In the end we made a nice little shelter and played “rock, paper, scissors” about the sleeping spots. The girls lost and had to sleep on the sides which shows how not gender typical our storming process developed 😉 . Later this evening when the hail storm was gone and the sun came out, we joined the others around their fire on the beach. Unfortunately I melted my shoes and spilled a pot of water over the fire. Nevertheless I managed to keep it going.
On the next morning I was sick and during the night i didn’t get much sleep. I alway rolled down on my tent neighbor so that he pushed me and I had to crawl uphill again. It is not always just comfy and cosy once you are in Bivouac+Sleeping bag+ inlay+uncounted layers of spare clothes. Alright thats enough complaining. We paddled downstream and the river got wilder. We had a nice little break on an island relaxing in the sun. However it can’t alway stay nice and easy. In the end of the day we learned how to maneuver the canoe in wild water which requires a lot of energy and effective communication. Me and my boat mate had some issues about effective communication. In the end I was exhausted and grumpy, sorry mate I would like to blame it on the cold. In my opinion it was important to learn and repeat all these wild water strokes. Certainly it would have been helpful to practice exactly these maneuvers in easier water and in the beginning while we were all full of energy.
Weel, this was it. The next morning I went home. As it always influences a group when a member leaves I was curious about the stories of my team mates. Funnily some of the group members didn’t realize that I was gone until we were all back home in Kristiansand.. This made me wonder if a group’s development only changes i the members are aware about each other.