Rough Water Kayaking in Norway

It’s that time of year where I don’t get out paddling very much. Devil Track Lake, which I live on, just froze over completely and while the big lake is open, I just ain’t all that motivated to go paddling on it. I’m in that mode where I’ll get out once a month on Lake Superior to try and continue my record of paddling once a month, every month, on the big lake, but I’ll grit my teeth when I do it.

Here’s an image from this month’s paddle:

I do need to get out paddling in the next couple of days though, because I bought a Nikon AW1, which is the new interchangeable lens camera system from Nikon. It uses the Nikon 1 series of mirrorless cameras as it’s basic building blocks and then makes it waterproof, durable and freezeproof. I’ve tested it on land over the last few days, and am planning on trying it out on the water, but with temps below freezing and strong winds predicted and snow, I’m less motivated to get out, especially since almost all my winter paddling ends up being solo. This time of the year, it just doesn’t sound fun to go paddling in sub-freezing temps and winds gusting to 20.

Just because I’m not having any sea kayaking fun, it doesn’t mean that I’m not dreaming about it. If you’re in the same boat, you should check out Roald Holm’s videos on Vimeo. These two guys are paddling rough water in rock gardens in Norway and having a blast. It just makes me want to find a place to do this and take a class about rock gardening.

It looks like Roald shot the videos with two GoPro cameras. One on his helmet and one on the bow of his kayak just forward of his compass (and offset to the side). The video setup of two GoPro cameras works perfect and makes me want to keep my GoPro and get a helmet mount for a second one — because so far I haven’t done much with mine, other than to shoot some video in the surf and some while practicing eddy turns in my sea kayak after a flood at Tettegouche State Park. I’m not really sure what to do with all the video I shot, because most of it is rather boring. I think what makes this work is that the helmet cam action is always shot close to the second kayaker, so the second kayaker looks in your face. That means the the shooter was right in the action as well. Great paddlers and great filmmaking going on in this video. I sure hope that these two make a film of a longer expedition, because I’d love to see these techniques put to practice in something longer.

Their black Romanys are sweet! I want one. And, because I’ve been shopping for a logo for my kayak guiding company, I can’t help but have logo envy about the Neptune stickers on their kayaks. These guys look like they’re living the dream!

Here’s one of his videos:

http://vimeo.com/78866240

And one more:

http://vimeo.com/79452991

I hope you enjoy these inspiring videos as much as I did.