18.05 – 22.05 (monday – friday)

Randøya

 

At 10 o’clock we started at Kongshavn with the motor boot to get to Randøya, a small island in the archipelago in front of Krisitansand. We stayed in old German military buildings and had beds and a kitchen to use. We could bring all the stuff we needed as we didn’t have to carry it.

18.05 Monday

Kayak with Len in the afternoon

As we couldn’t use the sailing boots we did kayaking instead. I’ve never been in a kayak but it was a lot of fun. We used sea kayaks, a life west, a double paddle and a spray deck. The most important thing in the kayak is to stay in balance. Put your feet on the pedals and have your knees up touching the wall area. Like this you have the most possible stability. We trained the balance by shaking the hips and testing how far you could lean to one side before the kayak capsizes. We also practised to slap the water with your paddle to move the kayak back into a straight position.

You paddle with the double paddle in a steady movement and try to push more than pull.

Strokes:

–       Forward paddling

–       Backwards paddling

–       Support stroke

–       Sculling stroke

–       Turning 360 degrees

–       Stopping

 

I like kayaking even more than canoeing, as you are in charge all the time and no other person can do the steering for you.

 

19.05

In the morning we kayaked again with Len and the plan was to make a little tour. In the bays this worked out well but when we came out of the bay into the moving water some of us were struggling in the high waves. But it was fun to cross the waves and keeping the balance. Nobody capsized. But after a while we decided to go back into the easier water to practice the strokes and techniques.

 

In the afternoon Svein told us something about shallow water biology. With wetsuits and boots we went into the shallow water and picked up snails, algae, starfish, crabs, plants and jellyfish. We tried to order the stuff on big placards and the Norwegians told us some more information. To end it up Svein cooked us some sea snails that we tried.

 

In the evening we had a lecture with Kjetil and he showed us around the area and explained us the different bunkers and how the island was used during war period.

 

20.05

In the morning we had deep water biology with Svein and this time we went snorkelling. As yesterday we tried to pick up all the things we could find in the sea.

 

In the afternoon we went on the rowboats out to the sea. That was not too easy as we didn’t have any experience with that and it was not really explained how we should do it. On the way to the island were we would spend the night Kjetil showed us how to cast the net. As we had really nice weather we got the island that had no trees on it. So we had to go on the rowboats and get some wood from other islands. Then we fished on the rowboats and our boat got 4 fish, so for each of us one. That was enough as dinner and Kjetil told us to not fish more than we could eat.

We were supposed to pack a daypack and pretend to be capsized and then spent the night on the island. Luckily we didn’t have to do the capsizing.

We had a big fire and ate our fish for dinner. It was really nice and warm to sit around it and it didn’t feel like were forced to stay there.

We spend the night under tarps, it was not that bad as I expected.

In the morning we left early at 7 to pick up the nets and bring them back to the island. Our net had only 3 fish in it.

 

21.05

The task for the morning was to clean the nets. We took all the fish out and laid the net along the way. Then we had to pick out all the algae and sea grass that were entangled in the meshes. We also had to untie all the knots that were in the net. It was a lot of work. For 3 fish this work is not worth it.

I also think that the net fishing is somehow brutal as the fish die slowly in the net. Some of them were still alive in the morning.

If you get a lot of fish with the net then it is very less work compared to fishing. You can lie out the net and just wait and get it later. While fishing you have to be active all the time.

Afterwards we learned how to filet the fish. First of all you have to take out the guts. You do this by cutting from the after towards the kills in the belly of the fish. Try to not cut too deep inside to not cut the guts. Then grab everything with your hand and pull it out. You cut into the meat right in front of the fin in an angle. Then you go in direction to the back fin while following the backbone. If you don’t want to have the skin you start in the back and pull the skin while cutting along it.

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon we went on the motorboat with Kjetil. Everybody of us learned how to steer it and we had to navigate the boat in small groups around the islands. At the same time we tried to practice some knots that are important for boats.

 

22.05

In the morning we rowed again and this time we learned at least some techniques.

–       you row backwards, so the rowing people don’t see where they’re going

–       try to row with the whole upper body

–       move the body forwards and backwards

–       both people row at the same time, the front man decides the rhythm

–       one person sits in the back with the view to the direction and gives instructions

–       instructions: miss right/ miss left

The steering on the rowboat works quite well and once you found a good rhythm you can go really fast.

 

 

I really enjoyed this week on Randøya. We got really close with the Norwegian students. Unfortunately we had this trip so late and there’s no chance to deepen the new friendships. It was nice to be there with so many people, everytime you met somebody and even if we were split up in groups we mixed up well in the lunch breaks and while dinner. The big mess hall enabled us to play games and sit together in the evening.

I enjoyed learning how to kayak and how to filet a fish. On Randøya I caught my first fish.