Leaving Ulsteinvik

Jeff and I are off very soon.  Before we hit the water I just had to say thank you again to Inge and Greta.  Last night, after and excellent presentation at the YMCA, we shared an evening meal with them and they shared stories, played a song that their daughter created at school in her MP3 music class, she has a lovely voice.  Then this morning on her way to work, Greta gave me the gift of a little angel watching over a child which touched me in  a profound way.  I’ll be carrying that angel and the memory of Ulsteinvik for the many years to come.

Mark

April 1 — But it’s no joke!

The journey Jeff and I are undertaking has again proven to be adventure,
but an adventure in meeting people and developing relationships. The
scenery has been spectacular, don’t get me wrong, in fact yesterday we
paddled past Hornelen mountain reputed to be the largest sea cliff in
Europe, over 860 meters straight up from the sea.

The snow capped mountains all around us are amazing and the weather
continues to challenge us with strong winds, rain, snow, sleet, sun, big
swell–all in the same day!

But this is all the background context for the journey in my mind, the
meeting of amazing people. Two days ago, we were in Askvol for a
presentation to the kayak club there. We were greeted on the beach as we
arrived in the dark, but the club members flashing a light to guide us in.
They promptly helped get our gear stored and then took us to a hotel to
put us up for the night, but not before arranging to come back for us for
late-night pizza and beer. Odin and his family were especially kind as he
shuffled around town. Roger, the chairman of the club took us into his
home after Jeff need a nice presentation for the club where he had
prepared an amazing dinner of venison from a deer he got in the mountains
and a dish of mushrooms harvested from the local forest, topped with his
wife’s home-grown herbs.

The next day was a mad dash down wind to an island near Bremanager.
Though we left at 1130 and hit our camp site by 7 or so, we had managed
about 30 nautical miles. Having a following sea from force 6/7 winds is a
joy for making time.

But here we were approaching Stadt and the swells were supposed to be near
6 meters high, to rough and dangerous, so we sat out the day, walking into
the town of Kalvag about 3 miles away for a cup of coffee. Striking up a
conversation with the cafe owner, we discovered a joint love of the sea.
He then offered us a free night in his hotel. Being warm, dry, and best
of all being able to have our boats loaded for a quick get-a-way was to
much to resist, so we took him up on the offer.

So yesterday, leaving Kalvag about 9:30 we made our way towards Stadt.
Deciding that we were going to hop-scotch over the penisula, we landed in
Selje, about 32 nautical mile journey, where we were picked up by yet
another wonderfully generous man, Inge. Inge loaded our gear with us,
then drove us to his home in Ulsteinvik, where at nearly 1 in the morning
his exceedingly gracious wife, Greta, opened their home to us. Tonight,
Jeff gives a presentation to their club and early tomorrow we’ll try to be
on the water again pressing north, always north. Jeff and I truly want to
get to the Artic Circle before he heads home and I continue north to
Kirkenes.

The decision to hopscotch over the pennisula was a hard one to make, but
in the circumstances the best to meet our goals and to be safe, but more
on that later.

We now need to cover 300 plus nautical miles to get to the folks who will
care for Jeff’s boat and see him off. To have time to handle all these
arrangements, we need to get there in the next 15 days, so to cover our
bases in case of weather delay, we’re going to try to do ten 30 mile days.
I’m feeling stronger everyday, but this will be a challenge. Wish us luck
and good weather.

Cheers from Norway.
Mark

Great mileage today?

Apparently my OK message didn’t get through when we arrived near Bergen at a little village called Glysaer.  This is where we did the training class yesterday and had such a wonderful time.  If you look at the satellite track tonight, we actually only paddle about an hour away from where we landed Friday night!  Of course there’s a story there.

After a night at Einar’s, went got a lift back to the boats, which we had left at Glysaer, south and west of Bergen.  Irene was simpy wonderful carting us back and letting us stop for some supplies before we hit the water.   By the time we got to the put-in, loaded the boats, the owner of the complex and cafe came down to interview and photograph us.  He was going to put an article in the paper in Bergen.   This put us at about noon, and since we hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, he offered us coffee and a meal–who could turn that down.

Then while Jeff and I are talking we met a fascinating gentleman named Jeff Lane, who was from California decades ago, crossed the atlantic in his sailboat with his family, and now lives here in Norway in a beautiful home with a view of the wild atlantic surf crashing into an amazing rocky coast.  Jeff is a retired boat surveyor and has been restoring his boat and since Jeff Allen has a history and interest in boat building, we took a tour of the work in progress.  By the time, this all finished, we were at 3 pm and facing a growing wind.  Our new friend Jeff, suggested we paddle about a mile away to the harbor near his house and we’d be able to throw our bags down on the floor and make a night of it.  Another chance for good company, interesting conversation, excellent food, we were all for it. 

Turns out to be a great decision as the food really was good and the weather was forcast to be bad over night (force 7, 28-33 knots, with driving rain and hail).  Tomorrow, we’ll put some miles on if we can.  We could go “outside” along the open coast, but we’ll have winds of force 6, 22-27 knots from the north and the challenging swell making for a hard wet paddle.  The beauty of Norway is the beautiful choices taking an inside route.  You can bet we’ll be heading up the inside.  Wish us luck.

Our next challenge is probably the most difficult bit of coast line called Stadt, where the force of the atlantic storms and the gulf stream all hit Norway head on.  Jeff Lane was telling us of waiting in one of his boats for two weeks for weather good enough to make rounding the Stadt possible.  We should hit that in a week or less.  Watch our progress and hope for light winds!

Mark

great time in Bergen

Jeff and I arrived early Saturday evening at a little point just south and west of Bergen.  After arriving, Einar from the sea kayaking club in Bergen, picked us up and opened his lovely home to us, where we took advantage of a chance to dry our gear, get showers and enjoy a beer or two while talking about the joys of sea kayaking on this amazing coast.

I’ll have to admit, I was a bit down in spirits after a couple of log days of paddling, but today (Sunday) the paddling was excellent.  Jeff did an incident management course for eight members of the club, many of whom are Norwegian sea kayaking instructors.  What a day, light boats, rough seas, amazing weather.  Remember the saying, “if you don’t like the weather wait a few minutes?”   Today that happened.  We started with gentle showers, then there was bright sun, then 30 knot winds with driving wind, then sun, then sleet and high winds, then sun, then snow…

Norway is a place for the dramatic!  What a splendid learning environment.  Lot’s of sheltered water to choose from, but also advanced conditions very close by.

Of course no day on the sea is complete without a splendid meal, a good beer, and fine conversation.  Many of the participants joined us for a wonderful dinner of “cliff fish” a special dish from the Loften area and Einar was the chef–fantastic.

We talked about sea kayaking, forward strokes, coaching, the coast, pedagoy, music and many other ecletic topics (did I mention we had beer? it often makes me a bit talkative.)

Once again, the true adventure in this expedition is in the encounters and connections with the special people who share a love of life and the sea and adventure.

Today recharged me.

Mel thought it would and has been a constant and steadfast support through all of this.  I literally couldn’t continue without her belief and encouragement.  I always believed that, but out here so many miles away with so many lonely miles to paddle, it’s interesting the true discoveries to be made.

Thanks to sponsors, friends and family

Many people and businesses have been instrumental helping me be able to participate in this adventure in Scandinavia.  Many I’ve posted on our website’s page.

Many more thanks for 2009 to my Father and his paddling cohorts from Cedar Rapids who passed the hat for some much needed cash to buy food with.  Thanks folks.

Darren Bush at Rutabaga was beyond generous in helping with the last bit of gear (boots, deck bag, and pogies) to set me up for a much greater degree of safety and comfort.

Mark Rogers from Superior Kayaks who made an absolutely flawless 2-piece carbon fiber greenland paddle, that I’ll be using frequently during this expedition.  The workmanship is even a step beyond an extraordinarily high standard.

Kokatat also brought me on board for a higher level of sponsorship and it’s going to make a huge difference as we push north.  Thanks to everyone there who’s been a part of this effort.

Stavanger, Norway

After a challenging trans-atlantic flight, short layover in Frankfurt, and a couple more challenging hours in the air with crying children (almost non-stop for 7 hours) I finally arrived in Stavanger.

Erling Brox, has been our saint and savior, storing and repairing gear from last year, orchestrating appearances and teaching gigs to help finance the trip and is even going to be our daily weather source.  He made sure our GPS units were loaded up with current charts, made sure we had a way to communicate and has put us in contact with an entire netword of kayaking clubs along the entire coast.  We literally wouldn’t have  been nearly as safe or prepared if it wasn’t for all of his efforts.

Yet, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer our warmest thanks to Sonja, Erling’s wife.  She’s put up with all of this and then brought us into our homes and fed us unbelievably fantastic meals.  Tonight was a fish stew, with fresh caught salmon, shrimp and a whole host of veggies, herbs and spices.  Then we had a light snack of scrambled eggs, saugage, salad, and smoked makeral before calling it a night.

Mel and I are truly hoping they’ll take us up on a chance to visit Maine, so we can begin the process of repaying their kindness and hospitality.

Tomorrow, after being interviewed/filmed/photographed  for the local daily newspaper, Jeff and I will see if we can get everything in the boats again.  We hope to be on the water by noon, for a nice 4-5 hours of paddling to begin the long trip north.

Mark

Chicago

Dad and Joyce (my step-mom) rushed me from Madison to Chicago, where we spent a lovely evening and morning with John and Maryland Sanner.  John went to Anamosa High School with my father some 60 years ago.  He and his lovely wife Maryland opened their home to me so I could be refreshed for the long flight.  

This morning we walked through Chicago’s botanical garden, where John is the official videographer and Maryland, who has worked and volunteered there since the beginning took us on a wonderful tour.  I’d love to bring Mel back here in the spring some year.  

John and Maryland are accomplished world travelers and we saw amazing images from they’re recent trip to Costa Rica.  They are also birders, so I’m inspired to try to capture some more images from our expedition to share.

If you look at the satellite tracker page, you’ll see my “OK” marker from Deerfield, Ill.  Zoom in close for a look at John and Maryland’s lovely home of 45 years.

This trip continues to be defined by the wonderful encounters with people, rather than the grand adventure of it all.

Mark

Canoecopia 2009

I just finished an incredible weekend with wonderful people at Canoecopia 2009.  It was great to see friends and associates from across the industry and to talk with so many new and enthusiastic paddlers.

I did a slide show called, “MDI and Downeast Maine, a paddler’s paradise”  and those of you who’ve visited us on Mount Desert Island know  immediately the truth of that.

Maybe more importantly, the pool session called “Alone and in trouble” went very well.  Many folks spoke to me afterwards about how much they learned and that they were looking forward to getting out and giving it a try.  Which was the goal Mel and I had for putting this together–to inspire paddlers of all levels to work out and practice in lots of conditions, the self-rescue that works best for them and their body type and boat.  It was even filmed for the local daily newspaper’s website, the Wisconsin State Journal.

Of course we were also there to see Bryan and Lise-Anne speak about the new release of Easter Horizons – a great film.  Please check it out.

I can’t say enough about the staff who display amazing  support with a totally positive “get things done” kind of attitude.  Ken, who saved my life with technical computer issues, Sue, who took care of me at the pool, Nancy who watched over everything.  Thanks folks.   Of course none of it would have happened without Darren Bush, who was very generous to have Carpe Diem back out, who said very kind things to my parents, and who once again provided much needed assistance for the Scandinavia Expedition.  Thanks Darren.

Mark

Mark and Mel are now “Rice-Schoon”

We couldn’t wait any longer and ran away to the north woods of Maine to get married on February 12, 2009.

A beautiful get-a-way at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s camp, Medawisla. As it turns out, we were the only guests for the three days we stayed. An amazing time of snow shoeing, enjoying the peace and quite of no connection to the outside world, (no cell coverage!), and the joy of each other.

We even vowed to “honor each other even though he/she may be a stubborn-butthead”! There was lot’s of romantic stuff as well.

We continue to “live the adventure.

Adventure – Discovery – Tradition

Welcome to Carpe Diem Kayaking’s new blog. Check back here as we learn the art and craft of blogging. Look for special announcements, events, thoughts, and opions.

Be sure to share your ideas, insights, and questions about the exciting world of Sea Kayaking.

Mark and Mel Rice-Schoon