36 Sea Kayak Expedition Top Tips you may not have heard before – learning takeaways from a sea kayaking adventure to Arctic Norway

Article by Dave Janes, a PYB instructor- written for Paddler Magazine

Following a month away in Northern Norway, guiding three successful 10-day sea kayak expeditions on the Lofoten Archipelago, I have spent time reflecting on the journey the participants went through. A year ago, we all embarked on a journey to go from paddlers to expedition paddlers. This involved many an evening spent online perusing maps and charts, discussing menus, lectures on Leave no Trace, devising our expedition philosophy, and most of all getting to know the people we would be sharing the highs and lows of expedition life with. During this time, we had three days together to consolidate our training and an opportunity to get out on a mini expedition overnight together to stress test our systems and processes. Most of all it gave us a chance to get used to living out of a 30cm diameter hatch in a sea kayak.

As a full-time expeditioner, coach and guide I have learnt the hard way and developed methods that mean I can be comfortable and able to thrive in the wilderness. Learning from mistakes, developing concepts and ideas into plans, and most off all organically growing my knowledge and skills.  It is well known in coaching that independently learnt skills developed with mentoring and real-world testing are incredibly powerful.

With this in mind, I want you the reader to hear from the participants themselves. The team were mostly first-time sea kayak expeditioners, inspired to develop their skills as expedition paddlers and seek new adventures.

Post expedition I asked everyone the following question “what have you learnt that would be useful for someone in your shoes to know before their first sea kayak expedition? Not something I have coached you but something experience has taught you”.  Here are the response in no particular order:

• Labelling my dry bags was helpful as I didn’t need to search for things and could pack up and organise things logically in terms of when I would use things.
• Boil extra water in the mornings to make a travel mug of tea/coffee for the day and also enough water for a flask of food e.g. soup/quick cook pasta.
• BA round my hand luggage rucksack to free up baggage space.
• Putting my water bladder on my deck so that was handy and a reminder to drink!  It was too heavy to go in my BA but it was good to have the extra water on the hot day.
• I guess being patient and expect the unexpected especially with the weather, be prepared to be flexible with the route.
• Have a dry bag for “extras” in the morning – when packing, if you realise you forgot something that should go in a dry bag that’s already closed, instead of opening it again and losing some time, it goes into the “extra” dry bag, which is the last one you close for the day.
• Making communal meals – it’s nice to spend time with others, and it saves on gas, organisation and cooking time
• Communal coffee in a big pot.
• Making extra space by having the tent in a good dry bag behind the foot pegs
• When we got the chance to by stuff, adding fresh fruit like berries to drinking water, kept the berries fresh, made the water taste nice and the berries were a great addition to breakfast (generally rehydrated porridge type meals)

• I went with rehydrated meals for both breakfast and lunch. I tried quite a few before the trip to make sure I would like them. I was surprised how good they were.
• Wish I’d had one of the sun cream sticks rather than bottles of liquid much better for on the water.
• Having a well organised group nurse who had all the medication we forgot/ran out of.  Thank you Louise.
• Being open to “expedition time”, we didn’t have day and night times or regular meal times. So there is a slight feeling of disorientation. Once I’d got my head around this everything is an opportunity!
• Paddle when the weather and tides are good. Eat when you’re hungry and sleep when you’re tired. Sort of takes you out of the 9 to 5 mindset. Invests you with flexibility.
• For fuel economy, only heat water to temp required for hot drink, doesn’t need to boil.
• Fill Nalgene with hot squash, insulate with sock, it’s a hot water bottle! Drink all of warm squash in the morning.
• Snack in BA, eat just it before landing at camp to give you some energy to set up.
• Using a tent peg as a hook to grab on to the stuff stuck at the end on the boat.
• Keep everything you are likely to need for a day’s paddling in the same accessible hatch, excluding snacks or hydration which should be in easy reach.

• Don’t get sand in Dave’s boat !
• Always pack a warm jacket (for stops), food & a stove (for lunch stops) and your tent, poles & pegs where they are easily accessible in your boat.
• M&S chai tea lattes were perfect, just add hot water . Delicious and easy.
• Don’t rely exclusively on dried food: although nutritious it becomes tasteless and boring very quickly. Supplement it with fresh veg.
• Hand warmers to put in sleeping bag, warm sleeping clothes and a warm waterproof storm cag.
• Simplify as much as possible.
• Remember to pack loads of BA snacks and replenish every day!
• Ladies take 2 bras for paddling, if you are lucky enough to paddle cagless they will get encrusted with salt
• A pair of waterproof socks are great at camp for keeping feet dry and do look cool with sandals.
• Rotating say 3 simple meals during a trip works well and reduces waste.

• Google translate is your friend when shopping in foreign supermarkets – just because it looks like a tin of tuna doesn’t mean that it is!
• Packing the boat so your kit is accessible when you need it is extremely important to avoid repeated packing and repacking during the day.
• The choice of next-to-skin clothing is really important when wearing dry suits and cags etc when the opportunity to wash kit is limited.  Natural fibres such as merino wool or bamboo work much better than manmade fibres.
• You will rarely camp on flat mown grass so your sleeping system will have to cope with rough and uneven ground.
• Being super organised with your food and kit means you don’t need to get up 3 hours before you are due to leave in the morning.
• Go with great people – everything else is just detail!

These are the weird and wacky top tips and handy hints that can only come from undertaking a real expedition and experiencing the highs, lows, challenges and celebrations from living out of a 30cm hatch in a sea kayak.

We had a bit of everything thrown at us. Days where it was too hot to paddle to a night spent holding tents down so they didn’t fly and everything in between. We didn’t just survive it, we thrived in our small expedition community, supported each other and learnt a hell of a lot about ourselves, each other, paddling and expedition life.

My philosophy for guiding, particularly international trips is simple. I am there to oversee safety and the long-term strategy of the expedition. I strive to prepare and train all the skills needed beyond paddling. Sharing expedition skills and experience I have honed over 16 years and thousands of nights camping in bizarre and wonderful places. In essence I like to coach expeditions rather than guide them. I have the best job in the world because I have the privilege to see all the toil and effort pay dividends when individuals become a team and an expedition becomes a holiday.

The expeditions were part of the new Plas y Brenin EMBARK initiative.

Expeditioners and Contributors: Deborah Reekie, Gemma Holloway,Alice Smith, Alice Lieutier, Louise Goodman, Lucy Bryant, Chris Smart, Katy Winterborn, Fraser Winterborn, Marion Baker, Pete Ogan, Phil Pascoe, Rachel Chamberlain, Alex Menniss, Christine Walker, Danie Bax, John Attree, Lucyjane Padgett, Kevin Walker, Hannah Rice, Patrick Cawley

Special mention should also go to fellow guides and coaches Lou Beetlestone, Annabel Finch and Oliver Sandeman