Peter’s Paddling Blog

Time for a long due update. The last month I got back into some old school sea kayaking again in the sea of Kattegat.

On the first trip my training mate Morten and I borrowed a sea kayak K2(Tahe Marine Reval Duo) from a local club. Using a trolley we got the kayak and gear on the ferry to Varberg. Arriving in Sweden at 5 in the morning, we launched at a nearby beach in cold, misty and calm conditions.

This was quite a different sea kayak trip. Our entire setup concerning clothing, gear and speed was not very sea kayak’ish but more like the first day of the Tour de Gudenaa race. That is full speed ahead and only short breaks. Pauses had to be short anyway as we would start getting cold otherwise wearing but thin training outfits.

We got to Anholt fast though we were cold and hungry at arrival. My K1 sprayskirt leaked like a sieve resulting in 25 l of water in the boat – calm conditions notwithstanding.

The next day the wind had increased and we decided to use the ferry back to Denmark. For once I had to quit a trip because of lack of gear.

In hindsight this was clearly a rather ill-prepared trip. We had never used the kayak before or even paddled a sea-K2. I was too tall for the kayak so the mounted backband dug into my lower back resulting in some nasty wounds. We only had one proper sea kayak sprayskirt, no pump, wore clothings fit for racing at a sheltered lake and not for the ocean, the food was a mess stored in random places and so on.

Still we had good fun and will definitely have another go at one point.

Arriving at the lighthouse of Anholt

The second trip was done further north in partly quite windy conditions along with a very good friend of mine. This was an entirely different setup with proper tested gear, lots of experience and better preparations.

Launching from Frederikshavn, we paddled to the island Læsø on the first day. While this was my first kayak trip to Læsø it will certainly not be my last. Great beaches and only few houses on the northern coast.

The next day we did the 40 km crossing to Sweden in a force 6 following wind and sunny weather. Big waves but too chaotic for good surfing. We first reached the small rock Hallands Svarteskär some kilometers of the mainland. It was quite the sight watching the big waves smashing the rocks in the sunshine.

The reward of the crossing was the wonderful archipelago south of Gothenburg. The next day we made our way to the north and to the ferry berth where we caught our transportation back to Frederikshavn.

Halfway between Læsø and Sweden.

Two very different but super nice trips in the sea of Kattegat. It was great going with strong and positive thinking paddlers and it was good to be reminded that I still love sea kayaking and that my usual K1 paddling builds a nice foundation for other kayak disciplines.

Once again in context of the Danish Canoe Federation I was part of the team organizing the danish surf symposium during the last weekend of September. With 70 paddlers we beat last year’s record for a danish kayak surf event. Check the video for some surf action and interviews[in danish].

As for 2010 I hope we’ll get some part of the EPP surf education running. Likewise I’d like to see danish paddlers taking on waveski paddling and ofcause run an even bigger surf symposium.

Friday I was out surfing at the west coast of Jutland. The prologue took place at a fully exposed beach with a nasty shore-break and ended by me flying and landing head first in the gravel. While I’m sure the beachwalkers found the incident amusing, I was happy for my helmet.

The surfing continued at the Fish Factory where we had one super surf session. For once I found I was really able to control the my surf kayak, changing direction at will and getting some super long parallel runs.

Last summer I got hold of a second-hand Lendal Kinetik Wing paddle and I’ve been using it ever since for surfing. As you might know the Kinetik is of a hybrid flat/wing design. It is supposed to be usable for the wing stroke and steering strokes. Before I give my verdict I have to shorten the paddle. One thing for sure – it lacks the bite and grip of my normal wing.

Speaking wing paddles, I recently switched my Bracsa IV with a Lettmann Warp. First I planned to only use the Warp for sea kayaking but after 3 minutes in my Supersonic I was sold. I’ll write an entry on the paddle after this year’s Tour de Gudenå (4 weeks now)

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About a month ago in context of the canoe federation I organized another Belt Sea trip. This was the 10th year in row I’ve been making this trip for experienced sea paddlers.

During the years along with various groups of paddlers we’ve covered most interesting crossings in the Belt Sea in all kinds of weather conditions.

The group this year was good – in fact it was the best “large” (7) group of sea paddlers I’ve ever paddled with. No problems whatsoever and all able to maintain an good speed. To state the obvious – being a trip leader for such a group is the the worlds easiest job.

Markell from German joined with his Sibir Interceptor. The Interceptor looked rather sweet in following wind and waves with apparently no tendency to broaching. Markell was really able to move the thing.

Towards Æbelø[Apple Island]. Photo Thomas Kittner

View Belt Sea 2000-2009 in a larger map

More photos here and a proper trip report by Bjørn Amundsen in danish here.

This concludes a nice string of Belt Sea trips. I’m working on a final article in danish on lessons learned and the like.

For the last year I’ve been involved in a project under the Danish Canoe Federation on promoting and furthering marathon racing(or would that be canoe marathon in the new ICF lingo?).

What can we do to make it more attractive to participate in races around the country? The obvious answer to that question is another question: What is stopping more paddlers from participating as it is? How about: because it’s such a pain and bother to transport our vessels?

Seriously, there are many different angles to this problem. If you dig long enough the complexity of the problem most likely will make your head explode.

Now instead of solving the problem, we decided to aim somewhat lower and simply make it slightly more fun to race. As a test for 2009 we’re trying to implement a system similar to BCUs divisions.

Two weeks ago I gave a presentation of the project at the federation’s annual general meeting and last sunday at a local 10km race we ran a small trial.

Status and various documents in danish listed in a posting at the federation’s forum.