The Russian – Scandinavian Kayak expedition 2018

Fredag 2.mars, 2018 starter “The Russian-Scandinavian Kayak Expedtion 2018”. En spennende ferd, som medlemmene i Oslo Kajakklubb kommer til å følge med stor glede og interesse! Underveis vil Stein og Erling holde oss informert med blogg-innlegg.

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March 1st, 2018 

The Goal
We are two good friends from Oslo Kayak Club: Erling Vaagnes (born 1959) and Stein-Fr Kynø (born 1957)) who have, for quite a while, wanted to do an extensive Kayak trip covering five countries in seven months with a distance over more than 7000 kilometers, in exposed areas with hash weather conditions. During our tour, which begins tomorrow morning, we in particular are looking forward to meeting the local population along the route.

We have prioritized our goal as follows:

1 Return safe
2 Return as friends
3 Enjoy the adventure as it unfolds
4 Paddle the full distance as planned

The Idea
Take advantage of the Russian lakes and the Belomor Channel to circumnavigate the Scandinavian Peninsula by kayak, starting and ending in Oslo, Norway.  On our way we plan to follow the old historic Viking route from Sweden to Russia. Later we plan to kayak the Old Pomor Trade Route between Northwest Russia (White Sea) and Northern Norway.

The Plan
March 2nd, 2018  we start our journey from Oslo Kayak Club going southwards around Sweden and on to Stockholm. We will then cross the Baltic Sea and head to Helsinki. From there we will paddle the Bay of Finland to St. Petersburg. From St. Petersburg we will paddle the Russian interior waterways up the Neva River, across lake Ladoga, up the river Svir across Lake Onega and then through the Belomor Canal and then back into salt water in the White Sea.

After paddling to Kandalaksha via the Soloviki Islands, we plan to do to the non-restricted areas of the Kola Peninsula. The final run will be from Kirkenes to Oslo along the whole Norwegian coast ending up at Oslo Kayak Club around October 1st, 2018. All together a trip of ca 7500 km, a feat that so far has not been done before.

Our background

Erling is a geologist and oil explorer. For the last four years he has been responsible for Statoil’s exploration activities in Russia. Erling has been an outdoor enthusiast his whole life, and has kayaked extensively along the Norwegian, Swedish and Welsh coasts.

Stein is running his own kayak company: “Med Stein på Tur”. Stein is also an outdoor enthusiast and in addition to kayaking along the Norwegian coast and Wales, he took his two minor sons kayaking across Alaska, USA (730 km) in 2004. Stein retired from the military in the end of 2013.

Best regards

Stein-Fr Kynø

Tekst og foto: Stein-Fr Kynø

Det er mulig å følge hele prosjektet på følgende nettsted: therussian-scandinaviankayakexpedition.com.