The coastal course with the norwegian class took place from 23th til 27th of May.

Program and aim:

Fish with Island night. Line fishing. Setting nets. Prepare for Island night. Resp: Ketil Østrem

Catch of the day. Clean nets prepare fish Resp: Kjetil Fossheim

Biology Shallow water. Wading. Species identification. Resp: Svein Grundetjern.

Biology deeep water. Snorkling in wetsuits. Resp: Svein Grundetjern

Seakayaking: Basic kayak ability. Resp Len Atkinson

Rowboat. Use of rowboats (1. Session). Resp: Ketil

Large boats: Use of motorised boats (2. session). Resp: Kjetil Fossheim

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.

Randøya is an island east of Kristiansand. The island was used by the German- and the Norwegian military until the late 1990’s and there are still many buildings and bunkers on the island. The groups were mixed with the Norwegian students.

Activities:

•  Island-tour (evening lecture):

We went for a tour through some old military buildings inside the mountain on Randøya. The Norwegians built a bunker, which would have given them protection in case of an nuclear war. We walked into the mountain and got into the main command rooms. It was pretty impressive to take a look at all the equipment they used.

 

• Large boats:

The “large boat” was around 8m long and has a small engine. In Norway you are allowed to drive small engine boats without a license. We practise sea navigation and everyone had the opportunity to steer and to navigate the boat. Those who were not steering or navigating could practise knots or could fish on the open water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Rowing boats

In this activity we were got some information about the history of rowing boats and theirinfluence to the Norwegian culture. Afterwards we made a tour with the rowing boats. Everyone got a chance to row once. Rowing is all about technique, you wanna use as less energy by having the maximum of outcome. So it is all about row as economique as you can.

• Kayaking

We were supposed to go sailing, but unfortunately they had some problems with the sailing boats, that’s why we had to go kayaking.

As everyone was quite familiar with kayaking and the technique we took a tour to Gronningen lighthouse and got a chance to walk all around the lighthouse. Two families used to live there with 11 children, which I found was quite impressing as the island and the facilities were pretty small. We practised navigating and leading and everyone had to take the lead once.

On the second day, which was the last one we took a trip back to Kongshavn to load the trailer. The sea was really calm and the sun was shining which made the trip pretty nice.

• Biology Shallow water

We could walk in the shallow water in suits that were supposed to be waterproof. So we were walking around the bay to look for sea weeds, shells, mussels, fish, crabs and other animals. We gathered everything in boxes to determine the different weeds and shells and so on. In the end we cooked some of the snales and shrimps, we found. It was interesting to hear and see what kind of stuff is eatable or not.

• Deep water biology

We got snorkling equipment (two wetsuits) and gathered weeds, shells, mussels, fish, crabs and other animals and determine it afterwards. The water was really clear, so you could see quite good. Even though we got the thick wetsuits, I was glad when we got out of the water again as it was still cold.

• Overnighting on island

Maybe the most challenging activity. We had to spent a night on an island equipped just by the content of a day pack. Without an isolation mat or sleeping bag. Beside of spending the night on the island we set out a net to catch fish. Due to the weather we decided to spent the night on another island as we were supposed to. It was windy, so the waves were quite strong, so we row to the one that was easier accesable.  We had some argues about that decision as some wanted to take the risk and still go to island that was farer out as they found it more “real” and more demanding, closer to a real surviving situation, which I agreed with. But as the majority of the group wanted to go to the more “safe” island, we went there and made the decision to sleep at the very edge away from the cabins and trees. We had a pretty good fishing, caught 10 fishes (makrele, torsk), which we prepared over the fire. During the night it started to rain and got really stormy. I was freezing and got sick the next day, which was pretty ennoying for the rest of the week.

Learning outcome:

During that trip I gained a lot more knowledge from almost every activity we had. I was able to enhance my knowledge about: rowing, fishing (how to catch a fish and how to slaughter and prepare it), biology of southern norwegian coast (what is living and growing along the shore and in the water), sea navigation (nautic rules, sea maps, “veiledning” on the sea) and motor boats.

The survival trip demanded everyone to step out of the comfort zone, which was not a big problem for me. Making decisions in a big group (10 people), especially if members of the group don’t really know each other was a bit difficult as we also had the overnight right after one day. We definetly should have built a waterproof shelter before going to sleep. As we thought the weather is going to be nice, we just layed down on a tarp and woke up by the rain and storm, which we could have avoided. It was a really nice experience to make dinner from the resources the nature is providing. I was kind of proud of our catch and how we prepared it on the fire. Even though it was a survival, everyone got enough food, which gave us energy to solve the cold in the night.

Personal outcome:

I really appreciated this trip as I gained so much knowledge. The fact, that I got sick after the second night, the survival, really ennoyed me as I felt a bit weak and was tired for all the actuvites. I wasn’t really looking forward to the kayaking as we just went kayaking the week before and I never went sailing before, so I was sad about the cancelling. But the kayaking turned out to be really nice as the trips were gentle and easy going and the weather was really generous to us. Also being together with the norwegians was a great oppurtinity to learn even more about norwegian culture and lifestyle. It could have been nice if we were mixed up more on the other trips before.

 

 

 

Just saying how well I was prepared for my basic sailing instruction: