My husband and I are planning a sea kayaking trip in the Lofoten Islands off the coast of Norway. Anyone been there to offer us advice?
well
I have never yacked in Norway, but been TDY their several times… Conditions looked harsh, and it was VERY COLD!!! However the people were very nice, and I swear them must Kill all the ugly folks at birth or something…
Have fun!
– Last Updated: Nov-12-04 10:32 AM EST –
I lived in Norway for a while and had a friend whose family had been fishermen around the Lofoten for generations. Very good sailors and very tough. I was not into kayaking at the time. The conditions could be very harsh as stated above, I'm assuming you are going in high summer, there are ususally very stormy days with heavy rain and wind, mixed with very nice fair days and the sun is up a long time so you can make up for lost time sitting out weather, make sure you have a good outfitter and that you have worked on rescue skills in cold water. I have a list of some outfitters I will try to find if you don't have one lined up. There is also a guy who is from the Pacific Northwest who posts occaisionally who has a very cool web page of paddling in Norway, I'll try to find the link. Norway is one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
Norway
Contact Jon Walpole and his wife Kirti at kirti_walpole at yahoo dot com. They have already kayaked in these islands…
resources
I’d appreciate info on the outfitters and the guy from the pacific northwest. We’re in the very beginning stages of planning our trip. Thanks!
Here’s the link, look on his webpage
http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~walpole/kayaking.html
I’ll have to dig into my travel junk when I’m home this weekend to find the Norway outfitters, some of these links may be paa Norsk, but I assume they speak excellent english if you email them about info.
Crossing Latitudes
– Last Updated: Nov-13-04 10:53 PM EST –
If you decide that you want to do an organized trip, I met Lena from Crossing Latitudes last March at Paddlesport in New Jersey. They have a really nice 10 day trip to the Lofoten Islands. She was very nice and I talked to her for awhile. I'm sure she would be willing to offer up some advice if you have your heart set on doing your own trip. She'll probably be back at Paddlesport in March 2005. Here's the link to their website:
http://www.crossinglatitudes.com/pages/exp_lofo.htm
Have fun,
NJP17
Crossing Lattitudes
I received their brochure in the mail today. I talked with Lena at the Jersey show as well. Looks like an awesome place to explore. Crossing Lattitudes have three Lofoten trips to choose from: camping trips on July 17 to 27 and August 1 to 11 and a Multi-Adventure Inn trip on July 18 to 25. The multi includes trekking, deep sea rafting thru the Maelstrom, and sea kayaking.
Please give us a trip report (and lots of photos) when you get back. Hope you have a great time.
Laura