Assignment 7

Assignment 7

Coastel Course on Randoya

  • When: 06- 2.06.21
  • Where: Randoya
  • What: Kayaking, Rowing, Fishing, Biology and Motorboat
  • 3 words, that describe the experience the best: sea, water sports, history
  • My Orange(best moment): biology lesson
  • My Lemon(worst moment): mosquitos
  • What i want to improve on: being more relaxed

 

Summary of what I learned:

  • Reading and understanding sea maps:
    • Lighthouses have green (good) , yellow and red (danger) lights , which represent different areas
    • Fl(2) 10s = Lighthouse flashes twice every 10 seconds
    • Numbers= depth to the ground
    • Cross= rocks under water
    • Cross with points in the corners= rocks that could stick out of the water depending on the tide
    • Stars: rocks that always stick out of the water
    • Light blue areas: shallow water
    • Red curvy lines: electricity lines under water
    • Nadles: informational poles on a rock
    • Red bird= bird sanctuaries, pay attention to the nesting periods
    • board-side= left, starboard- side= right
  • Driving a motor boat:
    • Attache the security key leash to your life jacket
    • mutual gear
    • Stearing handle needs to be in the clock position
    • start the motor by pulling the handle
    • change the gear with little gas
    • have fun
  • Parking the motor boat at a yeti:
    • drive slowly in a 45 angle to the yeti
    • change the gear in mutual
    • let the boat drift parallel to the yeti
  • Biology:
    • The sea weed is full of animals
    • Male crabs have to penises
    • In the past sea shells were used in the hospitals for the breast of pregnant women
  • Rowing:
    • The one sitting in the back is called the brain and needs to adapt to the one in the front
    • Fishing nets need stay out overnight, the fish get tangled up because they can’t see well in the night
  • Kayaking:
    • Forward stroke: pull and push, high hand opens, rotation upper body
    • Sweep stroke: cut in the water in the very front of the boat and move the paddle to the very end of the boat (C-shape), body follows the movement, you generate the most power in the area from the front to the hips
    • Bow rudder: front
    • Stern rudder: back
    • Always check the wind before start paddeling, it can be very windy outside and at the same time calm behind an island
    • T-rescuce: never let go of your boat and paddle, buddy pulls the capsized boat on his/her boat, turns it towardshim/herself to get all the water out, helps the rescued person to  climb back in the boat, takes around 1-1,5 minutes

It was our last excursion and normally the Norwegian Outdoor Education students and the internationals spend a whole week together on the island. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to mix up due corona and so we stayed only two nights. I really appreciate the work that the coordinater put in that this last amazing trip could take place because at that moment the corona situation in Kristiansand got worse and we needed to fulfil all recommendations/rules of the city.

We left the university at Monday morning and took the bus to Kongshavn. 16 people kayaked to the island and the rest with all the  luggage drove with a motor boat. On the way we saw the old village of the island (school, fisher houses..) which are now renovated cabins. The old military houses on the east of the island are rebuilt to hostels with bathrooms and kitchen and nowadays get used for educational purpose.

Our whole group split up in 4 groups and we rotated every half a day to a new activity. My group started with motor boats. We needed to carry the really heavy boats in the water and attached the motor to the back. First we talked about sea maps and i learned a lot!  Kjetal, our teacher, seemed to me very experienced and I loved that he included the students all the time. It was not really easy to start the motor boats with the waves and Kjetal started explaining what we have to do while the motors of the three boats were running, which made it more difficult. At the end we all found out how to start and steer the boat and drove into different bays. It’s pretty useful to have this knowledge, because that’s how you come from A to B on sea but I would never do it just for fun. Motorboats destroy the magical tranquillity on sea and it’s bad for the environment.

In the evening Kjetal told us about the historical background of the island and we visited the military bunker. The norwegian military built a long tunnel under the earth with a command center (where they checked all the boats coming from the sea in the direction of Kristiansand to inform the soldiers to bring guns into position) and a contamination room. It was very interesting to actually be in the rooms under the earth and learn something about Norwegian history.

We found a beautiful sleeping spot where we were almost 360 degrees surrounded by the sea. After a colourful sunset we fell asleep with the bright sky above us.

The first activity the next day was biology and I realised how much I’m interested in the natural phenomenas around us. We got scoops, kind of googles and buckets and collected sea animals to identify  and learn more about them. Our lecturer boilt shrimps, snails and shells and we were able to eat them. My biggest desire was just to release them back to the sea. It was really cool to see how passionated the lecturer was about his subject and I would love to take over some of his teaching methods.

After lunch we went rowing with Peter and his dog, which was with him all the time. We rowed out and fished with a fishing leash but only one boat caught a fish. I was pretty glad that we didn’t catch one! Afterwards we learned how to disembowel a fish.

The evening we enjoyed having dinner all together, played spike ball and volleyball and Maike and Elli played the guitare and we sang. Unfortunately the mosquitos were really aggressive but funnily enough on our sleeping spot we had none. Both nights outside were wonderful!

In the next morning we needed to clean the whole property and did our last activity. It was really windy and so the kayaking was challenging, but we experienced how easy it is to  avoid the wind while staying close to shore on the opposite side of the island where the wind blows from. We did the T-rescue/capsizing drill and paddled back to get changed. Due to the broken motor boat that we used for transportation, we walked to the northest point of the island and a ferry picked us up.

I’m thankful for…

…5 month of freedom and positive vibes

…leaning about different outdoor activities

… experiencing the real wild nature

…being a part of a community/family

…get to know international people

…feeling experienced about planning trips

… get to know myself better and improved my leader skills