Peter’s Paddling Blog

Tour de Gudenaa this year was a different beast as Morten and I decided to race in the K2 class. Not that we had any K2 race experience and in fact we had less than 10 previous K2 training sessions together.

The club’s marathon Vajda Ultrasonic K2 was reserved for a stronger team so we picked a sprint edition Ultrasonic meaning a slightly heavier boat without pump. We did consider using a K2 trainer but decided against it – the Ultrasonic is way cooler!

Before the start in Skanderborg(Photo Jørgen Brøgger)

Our start Saturday morning went bad as we found ourselves in the middle of the pack with the resulting chaotic wave systems. We struggled in vain to get any kind of rhythm going. Then after about 2 or 3 km we found flat water and started overtaking K2s. Don’t get me wrong – the strongest K2s were way out of our league and we never saw them again.

When we reached the 10km long lake Mossø we had a moderate wind in our back which build up quite a sea. We sorely missed the pump not to mention a better balance. A couple of times I feared we would go down as wave would pop my sprayskirt but we were lucky.

After having managed the lake the boat was heavily waterlogged but with no suitable place to get ashore we had to keep going. Finally we reach a small jetty and managed to get rid of the +40L of water.

During these hectic minutes we were overtaken by a couple of K2s. We got back into the kayak and in 10 minutes had caught up with the group. For the next 5 km we were a nice group taken turns pulling and drafting.

Sunday morning (Photo Esben Kjeldsen)

Now get this – one K2 was paddled by two middle aged men while the other was a mixed K2 with a couple of older paddlers at about the age as my parents. The man was using a flat wooden paddle while the lady didn’t look all too strong. I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for them and along with the other all-male K2 we did most of the pulling.

Now after the portage and break at Ry we were still a group but I expected the mixed K2 to fall back anytime. However to my amazement the mixed K2 kept drafting us while the other K2 had to let go!
Morten and I kept doing most of the pulling and I felt bad whenever we were drafting the old couple.
And then… 300m from the finishing line they took the lead and pulled away from us! We couldn’t catch them.

Getting back home I looked up their names. Turns out we were up against Fried de Raedt and his wife from Belgium. Fried participated in the Olympics in 1964, 1968 and 1976.

The race Sunday went pretty fine. We got a good start and found a group for the first 10km. With no lakes and waves our lack of K2 balance wasn’t much of a problem.

In the end we placed 6th in the K2 senior class way behind the first 4 kayaks. Still we got the TdG 2008 Marathon shirt for completing the race and that dear reader is what really counts!

Next up: In two weeks I’m responsible for the Danish Canoe Federation’s surf kayaking symposium.

Update: You’ll find a nice collection of photos from race here.

Thursday afternoon I left Grenå harbor for a new attempt to reach Sweden some +100km to the east. No I didn’t plan to paddle the entire stretch in one go but wanted to reach the island Anholt so wonderful located halfway between our two countries in the sea curiously named Kattegat.

I opted for a late start as the forecast announced the west by northwest wind was decreasing from a force 6 to a 5 during the afternoon and evening. I hoped to reach Anholt before sunset though the knowledge of the Anholt lighthouse was a reassuring thought.

The 50km trip was a lumpy experience in chaotic waves spiced up with regular rain showers. The Inuk performed flawless in it’s usual no-bullshit-keep-going fashion. I had lowered the seat before the trip to increase the stability and was rewarded once in a while by being able to take one hand of the paddle and grab a snack.

I landed in the surf after some 6 hours of concentrated paddling feeling quite good. Quickly build up the tent at the exposed beach to get away from the driving rain.

Checking the forecast friday morning I decided for a change of plans. The crossing to Sweden is west/northwest while the force 5 wind was coming from north/northwest. It would be quite a struggle and I set my eyes on the tiny island Hesselø 56km to the south and 25km north of Zealand. For a number of years I’ve been wanting to go to Hesselø and here was the perfect opportunity.

Leaving at noon the paddle to Hesselø was superb. Sunny weather, wind in my back, the mp3-player loaded with careful selected songs and little traffic to worry about. The wave pattern was much to messy for any decent surfing though and the speed was accordingly low. After some 5-6 hours I spotted the island and later on landed at a sheltered beach. Definitely one of my best paddles this year.

Hesselø is privately owned and visitors are not welcome. I halfway expected to be forced to stay at the beach(according to danish law, you’re permitted to make a stay for a day at any beach). However I never saw anyone nor did I make a big fuss of my arrival and build up my tent in a corner. I might very well have been alone on the island.

Saturday morning I set course for Zealand and paddled to get in position for the crossing back to Jutland. Easy day.

The wind Sunday was perfect with a light breeze from south east once again blowing in the right direction. With the wind changing it’s direction the current changed direction too and helped pushing me to the north. With only a moderate effort I was regular pulling 10km/h.

After about one hour paddle I passed the Sjællands Rev lighthouse. Apart from that it was really an eventless day. A stroll in the park Kattegat alright.

View Larger Map

This concluded my 2008 Kattegat adventure. Next year I’ll make another attempt for Sweden. Let’s see – I might reach Norway instead.

I’ve uploaded some more photos to my sea kayak club’s gallery.

I’ve uploaded three of the GPS tracks to motionbased: Jutland to Anholt, Anholt to Hesselø and Zealand to Jutland. These might come in handy for paddlers considering the same crossings.

Next Up: Tour de Gudenå in two weeks.

[Dull politician with tiny muscles mode on]

Last weekend the Danish Canoe&Kayak Federation held its annual general meeting.

Two things would be of some interest for foreign readers.

1) The EPP system was well received when we presented it for the clubs at the sea kayaking presentation. Speaking of the EPP. The standard will not be released to the public before some technical/political stuff has been taken care of.

2) I had a short but very encouraging meeting on seakayak races with the chairman of the racing board. We agreed to continue the discussion in the beginning of May. We seem to share at least two beliefs. We want a Nordic standard and we want sea kayak races in conditions where it makes sense to be in a seakayak.

[Dull politician with tiny muscles mode off]

Enough on that already.

During the weekend , there was a small kayak exhibition by a couple of dealers. This gave me the chance to see the new Sipre Tsunami, which Erik Arnström already wrote about.

The stylish bow of the Tsunami in the front. The bow of the kayak in back is of the Vajda Ultrasonic belonging to our two marathon danish supergirls.

Øystein(left) and Ravn(right) fondling the Sipre Tsunami. Both belongs to the seakayak board.

I also got a good look at the Sipre Katabatic Master. The dealer said that the Katabatic has the stability of a Struer Tracer while the new Tsunami was in the league of Struer Cleaver(wtf?).

Now I’m not shopping for a new sea kayak but the Katabatic sounds nice. Could even be bought with hatches. No – not connected with the dealer – or any other dealer really.

Now my favorite racer AND home decorator Susanita gave such a nice description of my blog that I better finish with a praise of a female athlete.

Canadian Karen Furneaux

Karen’s message to all the boys and girls out there. Don’t forget your two sets of pushups every morning and every night.

[Politician mode on]
No kayaking today as I’m working on my presentation for the Canoe&Kayak Federation’s annual meeting this weekend.

Two years ago I gave them a presentation on What can your club do for seakayakers?. This time the topic is Seakayaking and the Outdoors though it really should be This is what the federation will do for the seakayaking community. Along with the rest of the seakayaking board, I’ll present our initiatives.

Tintin: Professor, I didn’t hit the water today – does this mean…


While I normally detest producing (and attending) Powerpoint presentations, I’m finding some satisfaction in combining a Tintin’isque theme with the presentation style of Dick Hardt. One nice property of volunteer work is that things doesn’t have to be so damn serious.
[Politician mode off]

Now I wouldn’t want to be a wuss and dedicate an entire posting to politics. While the rest of the world is raving about the newest Seakayaking wants to be hip flick, here’s another BCU racing promotion. Pump up the volume!

For a healthy daily dose of kayak videos, subscribe to this Youtube feed: feed://www.youtube.com/rss/tag/kayak.rss.

Now now – back to work…

[politician mode on]
A good part of the weekend was spend along with the rest of the Sea kayaking board under the Danish Canoe&Kayak Federation, planning our activities for the year. We’re pretty much covering everything from touring, symposiums, educations, surf and racing. We’re working toward a presentation of our initiatives at the annual meeting of the federation late March.

The European kayak federations behind the European Paddle Pass(EPP) project met up in Dublin this weekend and agreed on the current EPP specification. Hopefully the thing will soon go public and we can start implementing it.

While EPP has already generated a number of heated discussions across Europe, my personal view is that EPP is a good thing(tm), simply because kayakers love awards. While some collect awards for winning or completing races, others want awards for demonstrating their technical skills.
I pushed for a “star award” discussion some years ago when I was chairing the Danish Seakayak Association. During that discussion it occurred to me, that much of the opposition against “star awards” is based on the fear of losing out in the kayak respect game. Will I no longer be a top dog, if I don’t have those awards? My answer then and still remains:

A personal kayak skill award system isn’t a zero-sum game. You don’t lose karma when some other kayaker gets an award.

Then there’s the fear that introducing a formal paddle education is the first step towards legislation in the area. I refuse to go that way. If one day some organisation wants to push in that direction, we’ll give them opposition there and then.

Just for the record I don’t hold any star awards myself and don’t plan to collect any. At least I thought so until I saw the flatwater EPP levels, which might be fun to pursue.

[politician mode off]

Ready! [sprayskirt is always trouble when in a hurry]

Set! [Morten here is our tactics - I draft you for 10km]

Go! [Carbon and Chaos]

The traditional draw for small prizes after the race. Sympathetic and very very democratic.

My 10km race Sunday in Silkeborg went terrible. My worse race to date. I lacked stamina and then motivation. It’s the last f*cking time I’ll hit the water 2 minutes before start. Morten and I had less than 200m warmup before the bell rang. I pretty much started to feel ok after 5 km, then it was way too late. I curse the sitting position in the Shadow. The former owner lowered the seat and I’m slowly realizing how much this hinders my movement in the boat and the transfer of force. Next race will be in the Supersonic.

Update: Yesterday just as I’m dozing off, my brain was working overtime trying to figure out why I had so much trouble transferring force at the last race. Then in a flash I realized what was wrong. The many hours of indoor paddling this winter has made me totally dependent on foot straps. It has come to the point where the top of my feet are always sore after a session on the ergometer.

I clearly remember during the race how it struck me that my legs weren’t helping out. I couldn’t really point a finger on the cause and settled on blaming the seat. Now it’s crystal clear to me, that the real problem was that I couldn’t pull with my legs. The relative low seat of Shadow accentuates this, while my legs points much more downwards in the Supersonic(if this makes sense).

I’ve found a pullbar which I never got around to install in the Moskito – now it’s going into the Shadow as an experiment.

I have this feeling that from now on, pullbars/footstraps are compulsory equipment in all of my kayaks. Live and learn.