Location: Kapelloya Island
Our Sea Kayaking overnight expedition started Thursday morning in Paradisbukta. The previous two days were focused on our basic paddling skills, kayak rescues and paddling around Odderoya and Dybingen for a day trip. These days of experience boosted our class to a standard where we could competently carrying out a simple overnight kayak trip. I’ve done plenty of paddling before at high school, university and in my own recreational time, however I’ve never paddled overnight in the ocean so I was definitely excited.
After finally finding the car park we quickly said hi goodbye to Len and then we were underway with Evan. With my map and drink bottle bunged down to the deck we started paddling in perfect sunny and warm conditions. Evan had us navigate in pairs similar to the canoeing trip which ensured us to communicate well together and double check our navigational thoughts. This was an element of Sea Kayaking that I didn’t have an experience with; ocean navigation. Initially it seems quite simple however when you’re so low the the water and all land features blend into one you can begin to second guess yourself. Frankie and I navigated for 2 sections and found ourselves often coming together double checking which features were what. Similar aspects to land navigation are key for water navigation, keeping track of time, distance, speed, keeping it short distances and checking often.
Thursday we started at 11 am and paddled 5km before arrving at a small inlet for lunch. It great being in a kayak and having 200L of storage full anything you desire and weight really isn’t an issue. After having a 3 course lunch meal of fruit, wraps and chocolate we found a great 10 m cliff jump off, Evan sent it first and we all soon followed afterwards. We had a good long break as we were quite a fast group and ahead of schedule. To kill time in between looking at the amazing green island scenery we played tag (3 taps on the back deck), creating different levels of splashes (Mark 1 – Mark 5) and racing without paddles. Scott at one point found a wooden chair floating so he managed to haul it onto his back deck and paddled a good 2km with it till it fell off.
It was 4pm when we docked our kayaks on the island shore of Kapelloya after paddling a total of 10km today. We walked ashore with legs that felt like jelly however it didn’t stop us exploring the large rocky island. I felt like a kid scrambling around on the rocks exploring an island filled with small birds, a random troll stone sculpture and awesome 360 views of the islands around. As we still had plenty of daylight left so Evan ran through eskimo rolls with us for a couple of hours. Initially we were trying to grasp the general foot, hips trunk and head technique on the grass. Jo, Frankie and I jumped in our kayaks and began just simple exercises without the paddle and using either Will’s or Evans kayak nose to assist us up. This especially helped me understand that the feet, knees and hips initial the flick before the trunk, head to shoulder following last. I slowly began to rely less on my arm assisting me up, so Evan guided me what to do with the paddle. This is where I really understood how complex this movement is, combing these elements to bring yourself and the kayak the right way up. By the end of the session I felt I had the hip flick down however the paddle trunk sweep rotation is something I’ll have to keep pushing. This was the first time every trying so I’m happy with the progress and experience I’ve gathered so far.That night I fell asleep immediately on nice soft grass and had one of the best sleeps I’ve had all week. I look forward to camping nights as I typically have a better night sleep in nature than in my bed back home in Norway or Australia.
We woke up to a beautiful 3:30 sunrise before falling sleep soon afterwards and having an easy wake up at 8 am. We were all packed and ready to paddle by 10 am, if we were carrying more gear I’d be more conscious where the weight would be however I still spilt both dry sacks into the front and back hatches to keep it as balanced as possible. We took an alternative route back, Frankie and I were in charge of one section were more confident about navigation than the day before. We had lunch on a nature reserve island with an abundance of birds around, there was a sign stating that April – July was nesting time. Evan had us raft up helping some people with their navigation skills, this is when a group of us decided to sabotage him and soak him through, we all got into it afterwards as it was such great weather. As Frankie and I were paddling into the final 200 metres we both said how sad it was that we couldn’t kayak any longer….
This was my first ocean kayaking experience and I’m already planning trip back home now. Ocean Navigation is something I’ll need to keep improving on as I’m still sometimes second guessing some of my thoughts and intuitions. Additionally back home at University there is a kayaking course with focuses more on flat water skills (lakes and rivers) however I’ll going to pay privately to qualify myself on the ocean too as this will be more desirable for my Freelancing future.