Between the 22nd and 24th our first sea kayaking trip organised by Len took place.

On the first day we met at the rowing club in Kristiansand is located at the Otra river. After everybody receiving all the gear needed, we started with a short introduction on the paddling technique and the material.

 

How to hold the paddle

The paddle blade is slightly asymmetrical, meaning that the upper edge of the blade is longer than the lower edge. Also the blade is slightly curved the concave side is called power face and the convex side is called back face. In most cases the paddles are feathered for left- or right-handed paddlers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grip width should be about the length of the distance of your elbows. While paddling the paddle had to be slightly turned. The right hand is usually the control hand and keeps a strong grip whereas the left hand grasps the shaft loosely so that it allows turning.

 

How to paddle forward

The forward motion of the kayak in mainly produced through a rotation of the torso. The power of the strokes comes out of the legs and torso. The arms and shoulders should mainly transfer the power. At the start of the stroke you coil your torso and the blade enters the water where your feet are close to the kayak. Begin the stroke by uncouling the body. Press the foot on the stroke-side against the foot pedal. End the stroke when the lower hand is about level with your belly.

 

After we learned these basics ashore we entered the kayaks from a dock assisting each other in keeping the kayaks stabile. We then practise our paddling and tried to gain a feeling for vehicle.  We also tried to keep our balance in different positions. Leaning towards one side of the boat rather by turning one hip lead to a stabile position on the edge of the kayak. In case we lost balance we learned to hit the water surface with the convex face of the paddle to regain our balance.

 

Len gave us several task to master in order to master techniques by learning them by ourselves. For example we had to paddle to certain shores or build a raft out of our kayaks on the river. This Learning by doing resulted in an understanding of techniques and learning new ones. We quickly understood how to turn the kayak and go backwards and forwards. To go sideward Len explained us two different techniques, the Draw-Stroke (also called T-draw) and the sculling draw-stroke.

 

 

 

Furthermore we learned that edging the kayak to one side would result in a slight turn to the opposite site, which is a helpful technique for steering the kayak. We spent the rest of the day paddling up and down the river and practising our technique.

Before we finished our first day of kayaking we all did a capsize drill, to lose the fear of capsizing and learn how to get out of the kayak.

 

Exiting a capsized kayak

Lean towards one side of the kayak to make it capsize. After it capsized stay calm and bang on the bottom of the kayak to alert other kayakers. Hold on to your paddle and when you are ready to exit pull the handle of the spray-skirt. Then push yourself out of the kayak, but try to keep your head close to the surface in order not to hit something.

 

 

 

 

On the next day we met at the Paradies Bukta and started paddling through an archipelago. Our group consisted of ten people including our lecturer Len. We were equipped with everything needed for one night on an island and sea navigation.
The destination we wanted to reach was dependent on the weather and wind conditions during the day. We had a strong breeze coming from east on our first day, which helped us to reach our preferred destination. Len picked individuals out of the group to lead the group to a certain destination on the map. Not only navigation but also skills in leading the group were required for the task. Sea navigation differed quite a bit from navigation on land. The missing contour lines and the low perspective from the kayak made orienteering quite difficult. However none of has had big problems adapting to the new situation. At about two o’clock we reached the island Kapelloya were we set up our camp for the night. After that we used the rest of the day to discover the surrounding islands. In the evening we prepared our food together and sat together to have dinner. After that we played several games together and discovered the island during the sunset.

 

The next day started belayed. We had agreed upon leaving at nine o’clock bu needed another half an hour da depart. The weather was sunny and hot and the wind had changed and came from the northwest. Our destination was Paradies Bukta but since we had a lot of time we would do a long detour to practise our navigation, leading and kayak skills. We continued with taking turns in leading the group. During one break we had several small problems, which lead to learning outcomes for the group. We agreed on taking just a short break to stretch the legs. However the break turned into about an h half an hour break with people waiting in their kayaks. We should have agreed on an exact time. This mistake led to one person taking of on its own and discovering the islands alone without telling anybody. This would be a crucial mistake in case of an emergency. Also during the break one group member did not pull his kayak ashore and the kayak and paddle started floating away. Of none of the others would have been there to recover the equipment this might have turned in to much bigger problem. Those mistakes were mainly cause because of the relaxed atmosphere and easy conditions during that day, but it shows that one should always stay concentrated and focus on important guidelines.

We continued our trip until we reached our destination. Before we left we had some time to practise a capsize rescue.

 

 

 

 

 

Capsize Rescue

One of the group members capsizes. The closest one to the person quickly paddles there. After the capsized person gets out he grabs the front of his flipped kayak and pulls it toward the person of he rescuing person and hold on to his kayak. The rest of the group paddles towards them and build a raft. While the capsized person climbs on to the raft the others pull his kayak on the kayak and empty the water out of it. Then they flip it again and put it back in the water. The one closest to the empty kayak stabilizes it as the capsized person climbs back in.

 

 

References

(2017): „KayakPaddling.net | Animated kayaking technique instructions“. Kayakpaddling.net. 27. 05. 2017 on http://www.kayakpaddling.net/.