Some more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted a few aerial shots of some of the excellent sea kayaking destinations that I have flown over fairly recently.  They illustrate the advantages of keeping a camera at hand on any flights that you take.

Approaching Jersey from the west to land on the easterly runway.  The broad sweep of St Ouen's Bay is clearly visible.

When approaching from the east aircraft normally turn over the Ecrehous.  On this day it was clearly low water.

Banking just after take off from Copenhagen.  It is always surprising just how shallow some of the water is and what a large area it covers.

 Sand banks off the north coast of Holland.

 Fawley Oil terminal en route from Gatwick to Jersey.

Glaciers to the north of the Nussuaq Peninsula, west Greenland as we started our descent into Uummannaq.  A 70 minute helicopter flight north was followed by a 3 week trip south.

The west coast of Milos.  Fortunately it wasn't as windy when we had paddled this coast a few days earlier but the wind strength produced an "interesting" flight back to Athens.

Some more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted any aerial shots, so I as it sit grounded by fog, waiting for my flight home, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few pictures taken over the last few months.  Always keep a camera handy as you never know when the opportunity will arise to get some shots of classic kayaking areas from above.

 Alderney, a great but rarely visited, sea kayaking destination.  The breakwater at Braye is clearly visible.

Herm, towards high water.  Shell Beach is clearly visible.  Great paddling.

Final approach into Jersey with the delightful paddling area of the north west corner rising above the exposed rocks off L'Etacq.

The Needles, from almost directly above.

Entrance to Langstone Harbour, just to the west of Portsmouth.

 Galway Bay at sunset, as we chased the last rays of daylight across the Atlantic.

Svendborg in Denmark, where I had left from last year on a few days sailing.

1981 Danish Sea Kayaking

The first multi-week sea kayaking trip that I went on was in 1981, when Nicky and myself spent 4 weeks paddling around the southern Danish islands.  We crossed the 12 nautical miles from northern Germany to the Danish island of Lolland, avoiding the numerous ships which were transiting from the Baltic towards the Kiel Canal.

During the next 4 weeks we wandered around the southern Danish islands and one day we stopped at Nysted, camped and headed out for an evening paddle.  As we paddled along the inlet an elderly gentleman followed us along the shore, waving regularly.  When we landed he came over and introduced himself as Kurt Behnke and he became quite excited when he saw the name "Nordkapp".  I was paddling my first Nordkapp HM.

He invited us to his caravan where we met his wife Elli, and through a mixture of German, English, French and maps we pieced together a fascinating story.

In July 1936 Kurt had paddled around Nordkapp, having left from Hammerfest a few days earlier.   It was part of a much larger trip that he had undertaken, having left from his home town of Berlin. This  story was confirmed when we arrived home as we had been sent a copy of the original article from the German magazine "Kanu-Sport" printed in 1937.  I had the article translated and it was reproduced in the newsletter of the Advanced Sea Kayak Club, which was produced by John Ramwell.

Whilst we sat in the caravan on that Danish island in 1981 another story was revealed.  It appeared that Kurt and a partner paddled across from Germany to Denmark, several times, during the Second World War bringing letters from Danish prisoners.  If true, and I have no reason too doubt it, this is a remarkable story.

The final outcome of that evening was another article describing the journey around Nordkapp by Klaus Muller in 1970, which was written up in another "Kanu-Sport" article from January 1971.

This remarkable meeting and the stories which were revealed to us, that night in August 1981, were all the result of a chance encounter because that evening we decided to have a quick paddle, even though we had been on the water all day.  

Me on an evening paddle into the inlet at Nysted in August 1981.  We were camped near the entrance and this was just a pleasant few hours on the water.  We were unaware of how close we were to meeting a truly fascinating sea kayaker.

It was to be another five years, in August 1986, before I was fortunate enough to be able to paddle around Nordkapp, but in conditions which were far more pleasant than those described in the article written by Kurt in the 1930's.

A different few days on the sea

I have been lucky enough to spend the last couple of days on a 3 masted Baltic schooner.  The Fulton was built in 1915 and used on trade routes to Newfoundland and southern Europe.  It was one of the last ships of this size to be built without an engine.  Today it is used by the Fulton Trust as a sailing training ship for groups of young people and I was fortunate to be on board with a group of Danish students.

As we sailed along certain stretches of coastline I couldn't help but think about its sea kayaking potential, I last paddled in Denmark in 1981, perhaps its time to consider a return visit.

 This wasn't our ship but it was similar, it passed on the first afternoon.

 Meals were prepared by the students and taken on the deck.  The weather was surprisingly warm for October in Denmark.

 The last of the evening glow as we headed towards our anchorage off Jutland.

 Preparing to hoist the sails the following morning to take advantage of the westerly force 5 as we head north up the Little Belt.

 With the sails raised we reached 8 knots on several occasions.  Quite exciting on a 100 ton ship under sail.

 Looking north up the Little Belt.

 Although not much use at sailing I was at least useful when it came to navigation.

 The beautiful view along the deck of a ship under sail.

 Looking up the mast, note the student.