Preperations for the summer adventure

Despite my too few blog entries, I have been preparing well for the long paddle trip this summer. My greatest concern of them all is my 54 year old body failing to serve me on this adventure. I'm in fairly good shape, but like most other people my age, things are not as easy as they were when you were younger. And you don't recover so fast from over straining yourself anymore. Consequences are worse and more long-lasting when you're 54. With that I believe that the most important preparation will be to just paddle a lot before the trip, and gradually build up the habit of long days in the kayak. I started out in 2026 settling for an average of 20 km. a week.  It's not a lot when you think of the trip where we expect to paddle an average of 40 km. a day. But it's a good start. And since it is winter and pretty cold, I decided it was a good and not too ambitious way to begin.

Unfortunately, my nearest waters are frozen. So instead I have been paddling my next-nearest waters. However, the temperature has been gradually dropping and on last Wednesday, during a 21 km. trip, I found it unsafe to paddle anymore, and decided this was my last trip in these conditions for now. The reason is that more and more ice has been building up along the shores. The ice is pretty thin, so you can't be sure it will carry your weight. And it keeps a larger and larger distance between you and land. In my paddling, land is safety. And on Wednesday, ice covered the shores for a distance of 500 meters and more. In other words - you have to stay in the open. Which is fine now and then. But then the other thing, the wind that is constantly changing may blow large ice floes in our way, so that you may need to travel even farther from land, of may find your route blocked completely.    

I am of course dressed in a dry suit. I wear buoyancy aid. I can easily reenter or roll my kayak if I capsize - even in cold temperatures. I bring a small supply of food, and always make sure to have some spare energy for emergencies. I bring a cell phone and a satellite distress signal as well. In cold temperatures ice builds up on your clothing, your kayak and all your gear. Bringing the kayak indoors for melting has been common this winter.

 

In Norway we have a winter break in the end of February so Jannie and I went to Zealand (not New Zealand, but the island in the kingdom of Denmark) to our family summerhouse. I was looking forward to some easy paddling days in mild temperatures without the ice. Unfortunately there has been quite some winter days in Denmark too, this year. First thing I saw looking over the sea was ice as far as the eye could see.

During the day the sea ice was blown north and cracked up so we launched from the ice edge. We ended up having a couple of days of nice paddling in various conditions. From totally calm up to 8 - 10 m/s. Here comes some nice photos from Denmark.