Nærøyfjorden: A Sea kayaking Introduction Course Norway style!

Nærøyfjorden World Heritage Park is the southern fjord of the two areas that make up the West Norwegian Fjords. This Starkly dramatic landscape is exceptional in scale and grandeur in a country of spectacular fjords. (UNESCO, 2016)  Situated in south-western Norway, this fjords is among the world’s longest and deepest, and vary in breadth from just 250 m to 2.5 km wide. Fjord, a word of Norwegian origin, refers to a long, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs formed by submergence of a glaciated valley. This fjord is considered to be the classic and example of this phenomenon, worthy of World Heritage accreditation, and the responsibility of national and international authorities to ensure that the areas unique value is preserved. (Naroyfjorden World Heritage Park, 2016) 

The aim for excursion was for the class to "learn how to perform safe sea kayak adventures, learn basic technical skills and to explore the Nærøyfjorden world heritage park." - what a undertaking! We were a group of 15 and some of the class had never sat in a kayak before. I have been very impressed how the Norwegian system of outdoor instruction continues to provide an exceptional environment for learning. The teachers and guides have such confidence in our ability to develop new skills so we take on multi day adventures right from the start.

The plan was to take the Tourist ferry from Kaupanger at 9am on Tuesday the 30th of August to Dyrdal. Then stay in the tiny former school hall from which we would take on exporitory day trips Tuesday and Wednesday and on Friday we were to paddle to Gudvangen, at the very head of the fjord were we would hopefully catch the last ferry on the summer timetable back to Kaupanger. The syllabus the class would follow was an comprehensive introduction course to sea kayaking, focused on becoming self reliant. After the trip the students could receive a certificate recognised through out Norway that can be used to hire equipment for personal use. I was curious to see how the system in Norway differs to the British Canoe Union's system for coaching Beginners.

After an impressive organisational effort on the Tuesday morning, 15 kayaks and equipment for 3 days spilling out onto the deck in front of the tourists.

Becoming the norm for Norweigan weather recently....

Dyrdal is a interesting place, a collection of several traditional houses and a pier. When we arrived it was a whole day before we met anyone else, the one full time inhabitant told us that he had been schooled in the tiny building with 4 other students 30 years ago. Dispite it's lack of inhabitants and less than regular visitation, Dyrdal is remarkably well kept. I couldn't help but comment aloud about the obvious financial investment in keeping this special remote dwelling functioning. An incredibly complex engineering effort must have been put in place to bring electricity to the houses. Power cables climb the rock walls to the west of the village as far as we could see into the distance. I think that this speaks a great deal of the Norwegian government, to go so far as to ensure that the Norwegian people can live anywhere no matter how remote and still the state will provide services for them.

our fjord view from Dyrdal. 

Eivind Aadland was our guide and coach for the trip. His main research interests are in physical fitness and health, risk assessment and risk management in outdoor activities. He Is one of Norway's most experienced coaches, specialising in teaching sea kayak and outdoor leadership. His paper, "Sea kayaking incidents in Norway 2000–2014: an issue of bad weather or poor judgement? 2016" is a very complying read and I will have to do a blog entry on his findings soon.


The course sylobus for the three days were as follows,

Develope a basic knowledge of appropriate equipment for sea kayaking journeys.
Lift, carry and enter the kayak
Efficient paddling forward
Paddling backwards and stopping
Low brace
Steering, turning and edging
Sideways movement of the kayak
Rescue techniques (self-rescue and assisted rescue)
Planning and execution of trips.
General safety and basic seamanship
Basic principles of the right to roam in Norway

Eivind started his coaching off the water, He talked about the different types of sea kayaks and the compromises in designed specification.

He instructed the group about "wet" exits, putting to rest any anxieties and conducted a interesting excessive getting the group to close their eyes, find the sprey deck release handle, pull and exit the kayak 3 times.

Once on the water the group had approximately 20 minutes in the sheltered docking area to get familiar with paddeling their kayaks, Eivind didn't impart much coaching at this point, instead getting the group to experiment for themselves. The group eventually came together in a raft and progressive forward paddeling coaching tips were imparted.

Eivind leading the group into the Fjord 

The technical focus for the first day was almost entirely centred around paddling. We explored the fjord on ether sides, going for a km or so before Eivind would gathered the group together to develop or understanding of efficient padeling. He wuld give the group self checks such as maintaining straight arms to make us engage our core mussels, pushing with our top hand as much as pulling water behind the copit on the forward stroke and bellow deck paddling using the footrests inside the kayak to improve power transfer.

Crossing the Fjord.

In the afternoon the group gathered close to shore in a particularly sheltered spot. Eivind  introduced the low brace, describing its application for recovering stability. The session was impressively both very progressive and incisive as he challenged us to reduce our stability in our kayaks so as we would have to use the low brace to prevent capsize. He showed us how to move our centre of gravity from the cockpit, onto the back deck and eventually standing up. This excessive lead natural into assisted rescues.

Demonstrating assisted rescue.

The method of rescue the group was instructed in is the standard method I am failure with from the Brittish coaching system. Fist instructing the person in the water to hold on to the bow of your kayak before taking the bow of the capsized boat and emptying the cockpit of water. Eivind seems to be found of the cowboy style reentry arouching the long sea kayaks from the side, instead of the heelhook, using the outside foot, that I am use to using for reentering the boat.

Nærøyfjorden is undeniably a spectacular and unusual landscape. The misty weather made the fjord especially atmosphere and several of the group commented on the movie-like grandeur of the huge mountains leading straight into deep fjord. Much like the setting for Jurassic Park or a Tolken Novel.

The Wednesday morning brought an break in the clouds. We took advantage of the improved viability and explored northwards stopping to shower beneath the jaw dropping waterfalls plummeting from the snow patches high above us into the Fjord.

The theme for learning changed to Navigation and trip planning, the group measured timings over set distances to predict how long each leg of the journey would take. The linner nature of the fjord was helpful for teaching navigation as re-positioning one self was relatively straight forward, taking a bearing to features on the opposite sideof the fjord to proved an indication of our exact position on the map.

Landing for lunch was actually one of the most tricky aspects of the day. It became a god talking point for the group to get people to think about how they are to some degree committed once on the water and therefore rely on one another for sorting out any potential issues.

In the afternoon we looked at turing or kayaks using sweep strokes and edging our boat towards are wet paddle paddle side.

Staying close to the coastline meant that the group had to start edging and carving there kayaks to turn on the move. Eivind used a good analogy that helped me conceptualise the required opposite edging used in turning a sea kayak on the move compared with the river kayak I am use to. He described the shape of a ski, being wider at the ends and narrower in the middle, therefore requiring you to lean towards the inside edge to initiate a carving turn, A sea kayak is exactly the opposite, wider in the middle and shorter at the ends requiring you to lean away from you active blade.

The torrential rain started yet again and apon returning to the bay at Dyrdal, I did a short session about moving you kayak sideways starting from a stationary position using draws and sculling draws. Then it was time to get wet yet again and the group practiced another assisted rescue before attempting a self rescue. although not all of the group were successful, this as defiantly a beneficial excessive at it is important to know your on abilities to self rescue before embarking on solo kayak journeys. Iv been reading some of Eivind's published research, "Sea kayaking incidents in Norway 2000–2014: an issue of bad weather or poor judgement?" I though this was interesting background for understanding the logic of Eivinds coaching: In the paper he looks at kayaker's situational awareness and estabilishes the main contributing factor to accidents as being a lack of rescue skill relitive to the environmental conditions. In this way Eivind's main purpose of the task was not to simply get us to learn the rescue skills but to being to understand our own limitations.

being rescued.

self rescue demo.

Getting in to wet wetsuit for the second day in a row, perhaps explained the slightly less enthusiastic morning kit faff on Thursday. We packed all our equipment into our kayaks and began the 12km paddle to Gudvangen. This was an interesting challenge for the group as we had a considerable head wind for beginners (10 meters per second in Norwegian measurements) and a time constant, having to be at the harbour before midday to catch the last ferry.

Packing up Thursday Morning.

Planning for our journey was an obvious necessity and it was good to see the group ingaged in assessing their own ability against the distance to be covered with out encouragement from Eivind.

discussing options.

The paddle felt somewhat laborious for the group, the wind made socialising tricky and people became aware of their tired muscles. A good challenge however, and probably the first time the group have had to actively encourage and physically help group members.

Gudvangen is another strange place; a tourist gift shop and posh harbour in the middle of nowhere. This is clearly on of the main transport links for the scenic camper route. the German, Italian and American holiday makes watched closely as we crammed 15 loaded sea kayaks between there camper vans.

Reflection on the excision as a means on teaching,

Nærøyfjorden is with doubt an exceptional journey for teaching ambitious beginners about sea kayaking adventures. The sheltered nature of the fjord provides almost a flat water environment that is relatively safe and it was great to see a salt water environment that beginners can learn to control there craft in without being immediately required to have to take into account sea state and weather conditions. By doing a course in this way, students get to experience there new skills being being put into practice allowing them to explore a incredible landscape whilst at the same time acquiring technical understanding. Perhaps a negative of doing a intensive multi day adventure whilst learning new skills would be the inherent challenges that come with being wet and cold and having to spend so much time out of doors. Because of this there is a significant level of resilience required from the group participants.

Refrences

Eivind Aadland a , Gunnar Noerb and Odd Lennart Vikenea "Sea kayaking incidents in Norway 2000–2014: an issue of bad weather or poor judgement?" Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning.