Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 29km | Time 10hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m

When I woke at 0300 the tent was flapping a bit. When I looked outside I saw the wind was a force 3 or maybe 4 from the north east. Unfortunately this was exactly the direction I wanted to go. Still I could make an early start and I should get a little help from the outgoing tide for 3 or 4 hours. With a bit of luck I hoped to make Vardo.

By the time I had breakfast, dismantled the camp and packed everything into the kayak it was already past 0500 when I set off. It was a bitterly cold morning at zero degrees with a force 4. I wrapped up well today with two leggings and four tops under the drysuit. I tried the neoprene gloves but the wind chill soon froze my fingers so I put the poggies on and pulled the balaclava down.

It was a slow paddle along the coast as I slowly clawed into the wind. My speed was just 3 km an hour. This first bay had an enormous amount of Eider ducks collected together in a raft. As I approached the whole raft took off. There must have been at least 200 of them.

Rounding Komages point and heading north to Komagvaer brought me a taste of what to expect for the rest of the day. The point itself was quite choppy with at least half metre waves most of which were breaking or about to break. It must have been the ebbing tide against the easterly wind.

It was an uninteresting shoreline with very shallow land sloping up from the coast. The waves made it more interesting but it was becoming a wet ride and it was still zero degrees. I stopped just after Komagvaer on one of the beaches each side of this hamlet. There was a fox foraging on the beach and a sea eagle. This was the first of about 10 sea eagles I saw today. Most were perched on an outcrop or pillar of rock observing the world go by and hoping for something to scavenge. Their distinctive stance makes them appear more vulture like in profile.

I continued slowly up the coast towards the point of Langbunes. Jon said he was camped here. After a while I saw his kayak and tent and went over. It was a boulder beach so I did not land, but we shouted a few words over the hiss of the surf. I said I was going on to Vardo. Apparently it was already 1000. I assumed Jon would take a sickie today.

Langbunes is a small peninsula and I had to round it. At its point the waves were now a good metre and quite a few were breaking. The water was sweeping up the desk and then spraying into my face and chilling it. The wind was now a force 4. To the very far east there was some rays streaming through unseen gaps in the cloud but everything I could see was overcast.

After Langbunes point I got some shelter in the bay where I did not have to fight that hard to make progress. However soon enough the bay ended in another point which I had to battle round. By now I reckoned the tide had turned and I had both the wind and the tide against me. The waves seemed to be getting bigger at each headland. The next bay was Kramvik bay.

I paddled into this bay and beached the kayak on the sand. I needed a break and to make a couple of phone calls about the rudder. As I beached I noticed there were sea eagles to my west and reindeer on the beach to my east. To complete this Arctic scene there were large drifts of snow down to the beach and some chunks of ice washed out of the river.

I made the calls, had lunch and set off to Kiberg where I would rest again before the final intended leg to Vardo. As I got to the peninsula of Kramvik I saw Jon come crashing through the waves. He was enjoying it and the baggage loaded on the decks did not seem to hamper him. We waved but we too far apart for talk. I tried to keep up but he was on a mission and blasted in to Indre Kiberg Bay and landed. I got there a few minutes later but indicated I would go to the next bay and the village of Kiberg.

I paddled out of the gusty, but flat, bay toward the large waves at the headland. They seemed bigger than anything yet. There was an island which I could sneak through the inside of through a channel. The other side of the channel was mayhem. The waves here were two to two and a half metres and every second one was breaking on top. I went crashing through getting water sweeping into my chest. After a couple of 100 metres I was through and could aim for Kiberg breakwater.

This two km was hard as the waves were still two metres, but only a few were breaking. It was probably a force 4 still. The kayak kept turning away from the wind and waves in a vaning (as opposed to cocking) action despite me having the skeg right up. The resulting paddle was a near continuous set of sweep strokes to keep broadside to the weather and head to Kiberg. It was almost impossible to turn into the whitecaps when I saw them coming. This kayak definitely needs a rudder.

I finally pulled in to the harbour sheltered by the breakwater. It was calm here. It seemed to be high water. I calculated that to set off now to round Kibergneset point would have meant quite a big sea about to hit an ebbing tide. The result would have been big, steep, breaking waves. I was not keen, especially as I had already been paddling for 10 hours. So I beached the kayak.

I went up to the only shop in the village of some 100 houses and found a cheap room. I sent Jon a message I would stay here and hope he would enjoy the run into the village through the two and half metre waves. A fisherman chatted with me in the shop and say it was best to wait until tomorrow on a flowing tide and lighter winds as forecast. That clinched it.

Jon arrived quite exhilarated by the last section and decided to take the room. We unpacked the kayaks into a wheel barrow and took everything some 400 metres to the simple lodging. It had a lounge with tables and kitchen and it also had showers.

In the evening I went for a walk through the village. There seemed to be an air of decay here also. There were some 20 houses on the road to dereliction and everything needed a coat of paint. On the wharf one of the sheds roofs had collapsed. It had the air of a village in decline.

It had been a good day despite the weather. I was getting a lot of confidence in the stability of the kayak especially with the final seas today. However I just had 29 km to show for a lot of effort. Having my hands in poggies all day and the state of the sea mean I didn’t take and photos until I reached Kiberg.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 8:11 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.