Day 50 – What do Stein bring along in the kayak? – 20 April

When we planned this expedition, we planned for seven months with supplies of normal necessities along the route. A basic load would be food for seven days.

From our point of view, there is no reason to play unsupported when you are going along the populated coastline of Scandinavia. However, when we designed our kit, we planned for five weeks, with no support or fallbacks north of the Kola Peninsula. Due to the sensitivity of the area, we have decided to end our Russian adventure east of the restricted areas close to the city of Kem.

The picture shows what Stein carry in his kayak. Erling has basically the same. (See below for detailed description).

Spare clothing:

• Wool top and bottom, socks, wool hat
• Water proof jacket and trousers from Mountain Equipment
• Warm insulated jacket from ME
• Boots
• Storm cag from Kokatat to carry above the PFD and dry suit on cold and windy days (plenty of those..)
• Thick wool mittens and hat
• Three pairs of Kokatat Inferno mittens
• City clothing for the “rest and repair” day

Navigation:

• Naval charts, 1:250 000, later supported with road maps in the same scale. We have sent maps to Copenhagen, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Kirkenes, Tromsø and Ålesund, in order to reduce the load.
• Garmin 64s with maritime charts. An absolute necessity when we had to do narrow navigation.
• We also used a Sony smartphone with google earth, when we were closing in on our targets
• Garmin Inreach was used to let our Safety officer, and readers follow our track. With this one, we can also send txt messages from remote areas. We send the OK message every day. Further, it has a SOS button to use, if needed.

Hi tech:

• Maritime VHF, sponsored by Telenor kyst (coastal) radio with callsign (Seakayak 01 and 02)
• Smartphone for communication and checking weather. So far, we are using yr.no
• and Windy.com. Both are assessed as very reliable and useful
• Solar panel to charge the Hi tech
• Charge bank, 20 000 mA
• Old classic telephone
• Olympus Though 5 camera (Erling is also bringing GoPro cameras)

Low tech:

• With guidance from our maintenance officer Einar Eckholdt, we are able to fix kayaks, dry suits, tent, Gore-Tex and almost everything
• With guidance from our medical officer and expedition doctor, we are equipped to handle most of the injuries that can happen on a seven-month kayak expedition

Others:

• I am carrying 2l of fuel (Erling 4l)
• I have the casseroles and frying pan, Erling the two stoves
• I have the Hilleberg Saivo 3-men tent, thanks to Kaare Jarbeaux
• We have normally food for seven days
• Both of us have 10-15 liters of drinking water
• A waterproof backpack, which also can be used as a deck bag
• Extra Padle
• Bulge