05-18-2016

Sea kayaking

For this trip our outdoor education group split up in to two groups and one day first group were going to kayak in the see, by Advertise” href=”#50945000″> next day second. I was in the first group.

The aim of this day trip was practice and become by Advertise” href=”#74291931″> more competent in sea kayak skills and sea navigation.

Equipment and clothing for this trip should be suitable for sea kayaking, so wear with me waterproofed jacket, trousers, thermal by Advertise” href=”#90900023″> top, woolen socks and underwear. Of course extra set of clothing because sea was still cold and in case of capsize. Also if it is really sunny day than I would brought with me my sunglasses and cap, but it wasn’t so I didn’t needed. Like always, I brought first aid kit too. All these things I put in to plastic bags, because of water protection.

As for food, I took with me lunch (meat balls), and some sweats and snacks because of energy that I needed for long day trip in the sea (from 9 o’clock in the morning until 16.00). Also I brought warm tea and water.

So as planned we meet near the paradise beach (Paradisbukta) in the parking lot, where we load of kayak’s and split them. Then our professor Len gave us maps of the area, explained signs and symbols in it (power lines, shallow water, deep water, ship sailing ways/roads, fishing farms, green, red, white/yellow lights/ colors which shows where is dangerous, safe but you should turn to the green light and where is safe to sail or do kayaking, poles in the water and more…).  Then Also our lecture told about that day’s plan – Starting paddle at Paradise bay, than paddle west towards Heroya and Ny Hellesund Islands and in the end return to Paradise bay. Later after preparation with by Advertise” href=”#52069332″> kayaks and equipment we needed (paddles, water proofed socks which covering inside of kayak, life saving jackets, map) we went in to the water with kayaks. At firs before leaving the bay we done some warm up exercises, then Len give us task- time to time one member of our group have to lead/ orientate the group for some distance in the sea. This day wasn’t very wavy, but still for me It was my first experience with kayaking in the sea, so when we left bay and I felt waves, at first I felt a little bit unstable and uncomfortable, but latter I adapted to that and everything was ok. Len for purpose were telling us paddle through canals and corridors between islands, because they were blocking wind and waves and it was easier for us. While we were going, Len time to time were talking about something related with this trip or explaining things, was sharing with his own experience for example about avoiding close distance from rocky coasts, about seaweed, clams, poles in the water and much more….. View was really nice too, in the sea surrounded by Islands, houses by the shore. After half of this trip we had lunch in one of the Island, which had nice beach. There after lunch some of us hiked on some of the rocks, played a little bit. After this stop, it was my time to lead the group. I noticed even before my turn to do that you have to be really aware in the sea when orienteering, because it is really easy to lost the sense where you are because waves and wind turning your kayak around , but luckily there was around many big and small islands, bay’s, poles, so I could orientate by them. Later we get in to the open sea, where islands no more were blocking waves, so we had to paddle more harder, because waves compared with beginning were much bigger and stronger. At this point, where I tried avoid parallel paddling with waves ( because of bigger chance of capsizing), wind and waves slightly started to turn me in bad direction, so I had to work even harder to get back to the rest of the group. It was really fun, and Len also told us in this situation we have to paddle all the time, ( even no need to use full power jus paddle), because than you control your kayak and if you suddenly decide to stop, than waves and wind take control of your kayak and there is big chance to capsize. At the near end of the trip, one of our group members (Joey) decided to capsize for purpose and Len agreed, ( no one was forced to do that) because it was like a practice for us doing the save on these kind of situations in the wavy sea. When Joey capsized we had get to him as fast as we could, then tell him grab our kayak, take his kayak on our own, take off the water, other members had to go and as fast as they could  make raft of their kayaks together with first members, and make the place where Joey could lay down, get out of cold water, and from there get back to his kayak. When we were doing this suddenly one more of us capsized (not for purpose), so we had to work twice harder and faster. We made some mistakes by doing this. Firstly we were slow, not cooperated at first, no one took charge and were doing what they wanted. Capsized people did some mistakes too, they let their kayaks free, so it was hard to catch it later, because sea were taking care of empty kayak. After capsizing practice we had to paddle near capsized people because they might were cold and stiff, so possibly they could capsize again. After short time we get back at our starting point, where we put kayaks back on to trail, together discussed about our trip, advantages and disadvantages, and after this we all went back home.

All in all in this trip I managed achieve my goals- improve kayaking and orienteering skills, also we improved in saving capsized people. More over it was my first time kayaking in the sea, so I had a lot of fun.