Hello again!

My time here in Norway is almost over and this is probably my last entry. But nevertheless I would like to leave a few words about the events of the last two weeks.

The first one was a coastal course on a beautiful little island called Randøya together with the Norwegians and the second one was a week of kajaking and sailing.

Randøya Coastal Course

First of all I would like to mention that this one was one of the best trips we had so far. I really like any kind of water activities and this week was only and exactly about everything you could do in coastal areas. Actually this week was organised similar to the Friluftsliv Camp we organised for the highschool students with the difference that we were allowed to do all the different activities. Everybody had to go through the following activities:

• Big boats

Here we got to know some information about sea maps, different kind of motorboats and finally made a trip on the motorboat. Everybody had the chance to steer and control the motorboat by himself and reach a specific point on the map. During some breaks the participants could fish a little on the open water.

• Rowing boats

In this activity we were told some history about rowing boats and why they were so important to the Norwegian culture. Afterwards we got a short instruction in rowing and made a tour with the rowing boats. Fishing allowed again, of course.

• Kajaking

The kajaking course got the double of time: one evening and one morning session. In the first one we were taught a lot of different techniques and kept most of the time in calmer waters a little away from the open sea. The second session we could use our first experience from the day before and started a little tour around the island including some sessions facing open waters.

•  Shallow water biology

This session was all about different kind of living in shallow waters. Therefore we got different equipent to be able to walk dry through the water observing and collection interesting stuff. Afterwards we showed each other what we found and tried to find out the names of plants and animals.

• Deep water biology

Similar to shallow water biology we were interested in the life of sea again. However this time it was about the life in deeper water. Therefore everybody got a swimsuit and snorkling equipment. Again we got the chance to observe the life under water and collect interesting things. Afterwards we discussed what we found.

• Overnighting on island

For sure one of the most challenging subjects was the overnight on an island. The idea was to overnight on an island equiped only by the content of a day sack. This means: no isolation mat, no sleeping bag. To sum all up: It was cold, very cold but a very nice experience. In addition we set out a fishing net in the evening and took it out the following morning again. We took out the caught of the day and cleaned the net for the next group.

 

Kajaking Week

Originally kajaking was not planned in the coastal course, sailing should be there instead. However the sailing boats were not ready to use why we changed plans. Therefore the kajaking week was changed, too. One daytrip of kayaking, one overnight trip of kayaking and finally a day of sailing.

• Kajaking

On the daytrip we were out on the fjord Otra and paddled a little upstream. That day should be used by everybody to improve his or her techniques again. The overnight trip was on the sea and we started from Helleviga. About 10km we paddled a nice tour while practicing orienteering with sea maps until we reached the island we wanted to sleep on. The weather conditions were pretty good on the first day, so it was a very enjoyable day. On the island we built our camp and used the free time for exploring the island and fishing. After dinner and a little campfire we went to bed. The next day we were unfortunately woken up by the rain. Everybody got ready and we headed homewards through a lot of wind and rain. This was much more challenging than the day before considering the bigger waves and the weather. In the end everybody arrived safe back and we even had to face a capsizing accident together. Luckily we worked well together and nothing worse happend.

• Sailing

Because we did not get the chance to sail on the coastal course the last day of kajaking was switched to sailing. We were tought a lot of theory about the ship and sailing and went out afterwards.

Personal:

For me those two weeks were full of experiences and new things we were allowed to learn. I got the chance to do more activities I have never tried before and enjoyed them a lot.