This week is our final trip together! I can’t believe it has come around so quick! The aim of this week was to practise our sea kayaking skills and we would get to go sailing for one day as we didn’t get chance yet.

Day 1:

Today we went kayaking on the river Ottra in Kristiansand,this gave us chance to practise more skills and to get used to been in the kayaks again. It was quite a nice chilled day and we took our time going up the river while making stops to practise some turns and going in and around obstacles/islands. The weather was so nice today and i got really sun burnt! Once we had had lunch we decided to head back down river taking our time where we would practise capsize drills and rescues. These were important before going out to sea tomorrow as it would be dangerous if everyone didn’t know exactly what to do. The rescue which was demonstrated was the ‘t rescue’ one person capsizes and staying in the kayak they bang on the bottom 3 times to get the attention of those around, the nearest person then paddles towards their boat so that they can grab onto the front and flip their selves back over. This was a good way of getting out of the water quick and without the kayak filling with water. It took me a few attempts to capsize and stay in the kayak with Luke’s help. The water was freezing! and as soon as i did the drill i was straight out of the water to change into warm clothes.

Day 2:

This morning i was quite sick, i think it was due to too much sun and being cold after capsizing yesterday. Today i made sure to stay warm and would do my best to stay out of the water. Tonight we would camp on an Island so we had to fit as much overnight stuff into our kayaks as possible.. harder than it sounds! We arrived Helleviga, not far from Kristiansand where we could kayak on the sea. Maps were gien out and we took turns to lead the group to a specific point. The weather was really good again today so it meant we could stay warm. We began a tour taking our time stopping regularly and on a small island for lunch. Most of the morning the sea was pretty calm as we were in-between islands most of the time but after lunch we headed out to more open sea where it was a bit more rough. The wind picked up a lot in the afternoon and there were some big waves, we were kayaking against the wind swell which made it really difficult for everyone to paddle. It was a lot of hard work for 20 – 30 minutes and i was quite behind everyone else.

We reached our Island where we would camp tonight at around 3.30 and the sun was still out so we had a walk around the Island and collected fire wood for tonight. We then set up our camping areas, tonight i shared with Flurin, Katje, Anne and Jannis and we used two tarps too make a shelter. The shelter was pretty good and we knew that it would rain the whole night so we covered up as much open space as possible. We were able to have a nice chilled evening on the Island with abit of fishing, before having dinner and sitting around the fire. On the evening i didn’t sleep so well, I was still not feeling so good and i had no sleeping mat so i was quite uncomfortable.

Day 3:

This morning we woke up and packed away camp at 9 so that we could leave the Island for 9.30. It had rained the whole night and it was going to be dull and rainy the whole day too, but it wasn’t too cold. We set off paddling out of the island and again took turns leading following the map. As the weather wasn’t so good we headed in the direction of home but went around a few islands on the way. For the best part of the morning it was quite calm but again, when we reached the more open water it became really difficult to paddle in the conditions. The waves were starting to get really big and the wind was strong, i was quite scared at this point because the group was split far away from each other and i didn’t feel confident at all. Jovhen tried to stay closer to me as he knew i wasn’t so confident, this was lucky as i capsized minutes later when a huge wave knocked me over! I was really annoyed that i went into the water because it was so cold, but everyone tried to get over to me as quick as they could. I was out of the water within a few minutes and everyone worked really well to get me out and back into my kayak. Once i was in, Len told everyone to go to the island to our right rather than carrying on so that i could get out of my wet clothes. As soon as i started turning to the right i was knocked over again! I was so annoyed now and just wanted to get out of the kayak. Everyone was really good again at helping even though it was difficult to control the kayaks in the waves. Once i was back in again we managed to get out of the open water and paddle back to the island, luckily it was where we were heading anyway so it wasn’t long before i could get out and change into dry clothes. The others told me to wait in the car and get warm and they would pack away my kayak for me which was so nice. I was lucky to have such a good team with me today!

Day 4:

After a good nights sleep i felt a bit better this morning. Today was our sailing day and we arrived at the sailing boats around 10am where Len told us about the boats, how they work and showed us how to put the sails up etc. I had never sailed before so i was excited to try something new. We weren’t able to get onto the water until 11.30 and we started in a quiet area where we could practise. It was quite easy to pick up and the only things that needed to be done were loosening/tightening the sail and steering. At the beginning there were 3 of us on the boat so one person didn’t have to done anything. I was with Petr and Jochen and we got into it well enough so that we could go out to more open areas where there was more wind. At some point we had to use the paddles to gain speed as it was difficult to use the little wind to move. Once we were further out it became a bit easier to move and turn and the boat picked up speed really quick!

We swapped roles so that everyone had chance to try steering and moving the sail etc. The wind stayed good and we had a few hours to play around on the boats. One group capsized in their boat and it seemed really hard work to get it back over because they were so heavy. Today was a really good day and it was nice that we had chance to get a taster of sailing which is something most of us had never done before.

Learning Outcomes:

This week has taught me a lot.. mostly that the sea is cold! but it has been a really good way to spend our last trip together, although kayaking has not been my favourite experience it was nice to see all the beautiful islands. I now feel more confident on the sea as i know how to do a rescue and since i capsized i hope i won’t be so scared about it next time as everyone was really good at getting me out. I think my paddling skills have improved a lot this week, although i didn’t feel so confident on the open sea i managed o get to each point at the same time as the rest of the group and i now felt more confident with my turns etc. It was really nice to try sailing for the first time and i now feel that if i was given the chance again i would know how to set up and sail my own boat on the sea.