18. – 22. May

The International as well as the Norwegian Friluftsliv students were sent together on an island approx. 20 minutes away from Kristiansand. And with them 4 well trained teachers – Len, Svein, Ketil and Kjetil – who should help us students learning new things about coastal activities and also do practice these.

Learning outcomes: Students will be capable of using the sea and coastline as an arena for learning, development and experiences in diverse user groups.

We shall:

                ¤ Plan a several days field course

¤ Receive insight into the work of the SNO

¤ Gain knowledge of life in the eco-systems of  the sea and tidal waters

¤ Gain knowledge about boat and sea safety, sea laws and regulations on sea travel,                 navigation, principals of sailing and first aid,

¤ Learn through practical experience:

–          Life in tidal waters

–          Deep water bioligy

–          Netts and trap fishing

–          Fishing tools

–          Preparation and arrangement of a dinner using raw materials from the sea

–          Boat and sea knowledge

–          seamanship

–          regulations at sea

–          navigation at sea

–          snorkling

–          rowing and use of outboard engines

–          kajakking in sea kajakk

–          sailing i small boats

That was our shedule (I was in group 4):

Dag	Session 1: 09.30 – 12.30 NB! Students responsible for the session meet the lecturer prior to session (ca 30 min)				Session 2:  14.00 – 16.30 NB! Students responsible for the session meet the lecturer prior to session (ca 30 min)				“Island survival”
Mandag	Depart Kongshavn kl. 10.00 Info and Island tour after arrival  (Len/Kjetil)				Fish with Island night Grp 1 Ketil	Biology (Shallow water) Grp 2 Svein	Sailing Grp 3 Len	Large boats Grp 4 Kjetil	Grp 1
Tirsdag	Net catch of the day Grp 1 Kjetil	Biology Deep water Svein Grp 2	Sailing Grp 3 Len	Rowboats Grp 4 Ketil	Large boats Grp 1 Kjetil	Fish with Island night Grp2 Ketil	Biology (Shallow water) Grp 3 Svein	Sailing Grp 4 Len	Grp 2
Onsdag	Robåt Grp 1 Ketil	Net catch of the day Grp 2 Kjetil	Biology Deep water Grp 3 Svein	Seiling Grp 4 Len	Sailing Grp 1 Len	Stor båt Grp 2 Kjetil	Fiske med øy- erob-ring Grp 3 Ketil	Biology Shallow water Grp 4 Svein	Grp 3
Torsdag	Sailing Grp 1 Len	Robåt Grp 2 Ketil	Net catch of the day Grp 3 Kjetil	Biology (Deep water) Grp 4 Svein	Biology (Shallow water) Grp 1 Svein	Sailing Grp 2 Len	Stor Båt Grp 3 Kjetil	Fish with Island night Grp 4 Ketil	Grp 4
Fredag	Biology (Deep water) Grp 1 Svein	Sailing Grp 2 Len	Robåt Grp 3 Ketil	Net catch of the day Grp 4 Kjetil	Packing, cleaning and tidying – depart 14.30

Unfortunately the sailing boats could not be repaired in time that we had to do sea kayaking instead.

The trip

We were sleeping in luxury cabins owned by some Scouts and had enough space for activities as Frisbee, Slakelining and Fishing in our free time. We also had a large, well equipped kitchen, where we were able to prepare our cought fish – i have never seen so many cought fish in such a short time period!! Luckily we also learned different possibilities how to prepare a fish.

Monday:

Large boats: We were allowed to use a small (8 – 10 m) motorised boat. We were shown how to use and steer it. Other activities were orientiering in the sea, learning different knots and fishing.

Tuesday:

Rowboat: We were told some history about it, how to use it and of course using it by ourselves – not as easy as you think!! Hard work… But at least we were mostly 3 – 4 person in a boat that we could switch if somebody got tired.

Kayaking: Len teached us the basics of sea kayaking including some tasks as building a raft of 5 boats and the two on the edge have to change places, balance tasks, steering tasks…

History of Randøya: Stories of the island and surrounding. Tour around the old military buildings and through the bunker.

Wednesday:

Kayaking: Tour around Randøya. Learning behaviour in the sea (not to close to the rocks – waves will press you against, group stays together), in emergencys (nearest kayak paddels to the capsized person as fast as he can, capsized person grabs kayak of the helper, raft building next to helper,capsized person climbs on raft out of the water, deflate capsized canoe by pulling it half on the raft, put canoe next to the kayak with bow to stern of raft, capsized person climbs back in the kayak).

Biology Shallow water: Wading in the shallow water with special suits and water pinoculars. Species identification of shells, snails, algs and small water animals as sea stars, crabs and shrimps.

Thursday

Biology deep water: Snorkeling in wet suits, collecting algs and small water animals as fish, sea stars, jelly fish. Species identification.

Fish with Island night: Line fishing and setting nets while rowing to the island Krakoya. Prepare for Island night: builing a tarp shelter, fishing, making a fire, filleting and cooking, keep yourself as warm as possible just with items of your daypack and things on the island (wind sheltered sleeping place!).

Island survival bivuac:

The intention is for each group to be self sufficient and survive the night on the natural shelter and food resources, animals, snails or mussels which may be found, gathered or caught on the island. Either because of a capsize or and unexpected / unplanned overnight stay. Each group may take a storm kitchen or equivalent with them. We would advise taking a sharp knife, fishing line, water bottle , matches. In addition each person may have their own personal clothing for a normal day out on the sea. Take a tarpaulin for 4 people in case of ”very high air humidity”

Groups will receive a small ration of basis food. Fishing and preparation is a part of the task.

Friday

Catch of the day, Clean nets, prepare fish: Our boat got 3 crabs, 2 flatfish and a big codfish. It was quite easy to clean the ‘catch’ out of the net but more difficult were the sticky algs… After the nets were clean and fold together, we cooked and ate the crabs and filleted the fish.

Learning outcome

First of all was it really nice to have a trip with all the norwegian Friluftsliv students because most of the norwegians are introvert, what makes it hard to get in contact with them inbetween a few hours e. g. on the Monday Trips. So I experienced really nice personalities especially at the island survive, where we had to do something together as nobody can go to their room or hang out with the other norwegians/internationals. It was of course also nice to be with all the Internationals on one trip as our last and the previous will be in devided groups. So it was really good for the group dynamic to be, cook, play, fish and talk together.
Apart from that I also learned a lot of the life on the coastline – what the lifestyle of most of the norwegians present because of the huge coastline of the country. Experiencing different activities, which you of course heard of, but were never able to practice was really interesting. I can imagine now, how hard the life of an old fisherman was with his daily rowing into the sea no matter about the high waves, setting the nets in the afternoon and putting them in in the early morning with hopefully a lot of fish in it. But thats not all: the most annoying work is then cleaning the nets of the algs which takes several hours especially when you are alone… But on the other hand, there are also nice modern activities as kayaking and driving the motorboat. In the end it was nice to see what the sea provides: different kind of plants and animals and of course plenty of fish if you go fishing 😉