2 Day Sea Kayak Expedition

Aim-Introduction to Sea Kayaking and a 2-day tour around the Southern Norway Coast.

The aim of the two-day sea kayak journey was to introduce basic sea kayak skill and practice coastal navigation and leading several legs. I was already confident in my kayaking ability due to previous experience and teaching the sport. We set off SE of Kristiansand around the Hellivga area the Archipelago south of the coast. On the Monday, we had a skill based day on the river through Kristiansand working forward, backward, edging, side pulls and bow rudders the day was fun and a starting point for some novices.

Day 1 was a short day. We took turns leading legs, with most of time sticking to the coast line and ferry gliding across to other islands. Day 1 consisted of around 4 hours paddling before arriving at our camp for the night. Once camp was set up myself and several others set of for an evening paddle where we explored the coast line of our camp. The conditions were choppy at times and I was the most experienced paddler so I was acting as the supervising boat. We came across a cove of jelly fish which freaked some members out. It was also strange to see sheep on the island in the middle of the sea. Once returned to the cove where our campo was decided up exploring the island opposite. We did some bouldering and free climbing which was fun and watch the sun disappear below the horizon. Later that night we played Sardines which is a variation s of hide and seek and played it till it went dark.

Day 2 consisted pretty much the same as day 1 and we paddled south of our position more stopping at several islands to observe the wildlife and break. The navigation was not hard and we started to act more like an expedition style format with a lead boat support boat at the back the leader floating. Once we returned to where we started we practiced recuse and used the rafting system where raft up to provide the best support but also that we all bound together. Myself and Timon practiced rolling which wasn’t easy and I got feedback on points I need to work on.

The kayak expedition didn’t provide any further development for myself as I used my previous knowledge and personal level with ease, and I believe a longer exped would be more beneficial with more development focused aim.