A challenging day
It seemed to be a perfect day today - I got up early, the weather seemed good. My first goal was to reach Haugesund. Then a bit further towards Stavanger. The wind got still stroger as I paddled on. The coast between Bømlo and Haugesund is marked on my map as a "difficult wave area". I supposed that meant that the bottom of the sea was very uneven, and that it may get troublesome for small vessels, as it is constantly exposed to the huge ocean swell of the North Sea....And I was right.
Normally such conditions is a smaller challenge, when you go out in a group with empty kayaks, and play a bit in the waves. For me it was a little different, alone in my heavily loaded kayak. And a small bit would have been all right, but todays challenge lasted for 30 km. The wind grew from moderate breeze to strong breeze, and the ocean swell, that was perhaps 1,5 meters, doubled their size, as they washed over the shallow rock bottom here and there. sometimes I would fin myself very unstable, balancin on the crest of a steep wave like that.
I was quite exhausted when I reached Haugesund. I had arranged to meet Gunnar Eldjarn, who works in Haugesund, building the worlds largest viking ship. It was easy to find Gunnar and the ship, and I had a great lunch together with Gunnar and his boat builder colleges.
The ship was amazing - 115 feet long, made out of solid oak. Breathtaking!
Tomorrow I will paddle to Stavanger, and perhaps a bit farther down the coast, and meet Alexander. By the way, it's been exactly 2 months since we began this journey, and I have paddled more than 2500 km. by now!
Normally such conditions is a smaller challenge, when you go out in a group with empty kayaks, and play a bit in the waves. For me it was a little different, alone in my heavily loaded kayak. And a small bit would have been all right, but todays challenge lasted for 30 km. The wind grew from moderate breeze to strong breeze, and the ocean swell, that was perhaps 1,5 meters, doubled their size, as they washed over the shallow rock bottom here and there. sometimes I would fin myself very unstable, balancin on the crest of a steep wave like that.
I was quite exhausted when I reached Haugesund. I had arranged to meet Gunnar Eldjarn, who works in Haugesund, building the worlds largest viking ship. It was easy to find Gunnar and the ship, and I had a great lunch together with Gunnar and his boat builder colleges.
The ship was amazing - 115 feet long, made out of solid oak. Breathtaking!
Tomorrow I will paddle to Stavanger, and perhaps a bit farther down the coast, and meet Alexander. By the way, it's been exactly 2 months since we began this journey, and I have paddled more than 2500 km. by now!
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