Today no SUP but a canal tour (www.stromma.dk) in a sunny Copenhagen. And one cava in Nyhavn afterwards. Just perfect!
Tag: English
SUP in a sunny Copenhagen
It was a second day of a spring vacation in Copenhagen and the plan was to go to Amager Strand and do some SUP. Morning was beautiful and after a nice breakfast in a nice local cafeteria in Frederiksberg we headed first to the city where we spent some time waiting the SUP rental to be open.
After a while we took a metro to Femoren which is the nearest metro station to the Kajakhotellet. The place where you can rent kayaks and SUP boards. It is Friday midday so there is not that many people on the beach area, but there were a few people enjoying the warm and sunny day though. I can bet on that there will be a lot of people in the evening and the weekend to come.
I rented a SUP board for an hour. I got a narrow inflatable one, it was very nice. In the beginning there was almost not at all wind (2 m/s) but it increased while I was paddling (5 m/s) so that in the end I got a very good exercise when paddling against the wind. The canal is so narrow that there was not waves still, so the place is good for new beginners to sup as well.
After a good paddling we bought refreshments on the kiosk by the sea and then we decided to continue to the shopping center Field’s in Orestad. It is so fun to travel in metro in Copenhagen.
By the way it was easy to take the SUP outfit in the luggage, a short wet suit and neoprene shoes do not take that much space in a trolley. Tested and approved.
A change in a water level does make a difference
See the difference in a landscape and river circumstances when there is more than 1 meter change in a water level in the same location of the river (Kiskonjoki in Perniö). The first picture is taken in October and the second in December after having heavy rains for couple of weeks. In October there were rocks and a very clear water level difference but now it was just a wide curve in the river with a nice flow.
Christmas SUP- Joulu SUP
English summary: This year on the 24th of December I did definitely NOT a traditional Christmas SUP. Normally that time of the year there is snow and freezing in whole Finland but not this year. The weather in Southern Finland was warm, temperature + 3,5 C , no snow and a forecast was saying that in Salo there will be even sunny at noon. So time to SUP. The location was a river in Perniö (Kiskonjoki-Perniönjoki). It was so nice to be on board again after two months without the joy of SUP. The sun was shining nicely even it is not high in the sky, but light and shadows gave a very special view with not any green but mostly yellow and grey (see the pictures below).
Tänä jouluna ei ole Perniössä lunta. Sitä toivoin kovasti, ja mielelläni menisin laskettelemaankin, joten tervetuloa vaan lumi! Mutta kun kerran oltiin plussan puolella niin tilaisuus piti hyödyntää ja tehdä ei-niin-ollenkaan-perinteinen joulu-SUP. Aattoaamuna oli Perniössä lämpötila +3.5, tuuli vain vähän ja oli luvattu puolen päivän tienoille jopa auringonpaistetta, niin lauta katolle ja sopivaa SUP-paikkaa etsimään. Perniönjoki oli tavoitteena. Ensin mietimme aloituspaikaksi Perniön keskustaa, mutta matka sieltä saakka tuttuun nousupaikkaan tuntui liian pitkälle, kun oli joulupuuhiakin vielä päivälle tiedossa, joten suuntasimmekin Kiskonjoen haaraan eli kokka kohti Latokartanon koskea. Veden ollessa nyt korkealla sateiden jälkeen Hästöntien silta, heti kosken jälkeen, oli oivallinen laskupaikka.
Virta olikin kova. Lauta lähti vauhdikkaasti liikkeelle ja virta pyrki kääntämään laudan etenemään peräevä edellä. Joten meloa piti rivakasti pitääkseen laudan suunnan oikeana. Stoppi tuli kuitenkin pian. Heti miten lähdön jälkeen oli pato. Puunrunkoja ja oksia oli kertynyt uoman leveydeltä joen poikki, ja siihen jäin kiinni peräevästä. Alkoi kova kamppailu, virta painoi eteenpäin, mutta irti piti päästä ensin. Vedin ja riuhdoin puita ja oksia irti minkä käteeni sain,ja pyrin siirtämään lautaa niin, että evä osuisi kohtaan, jossa olisi enemmän vettä runkojen päällä. Se oli haastavaa, koska virta painoi eteenpäin ja evää tiukasti kiinni runkoon. Melaa apuna käyttäen ja käsillä oksista vetäen lopulta onnistuin siirtymään sivusuunnassa, ja pääsin yli ja eteenpäin. Parempi niin, uintiretki tässä kelissä ja virrassa ei olisi ollut ykkösvaihtoehto.
Matka eteni taas vauhdikkaasti. Seuraavaksi saikin väistellä puunrunkoja ja -oksia, jotka kaartuivat joen päälle. Paksusta rungosta, jos olisi otsaansa tällin saanut niin ei olisi naurattanut. Melo/ohjaa, väistä, kumarru, polvilleen…aika vauhdikasta menoa. Taas aivan uudenlainen SUP-kokemus.
Jonkin ajan kuluttua tämä haara yhtyi Perniön keskustasta tulevaan haaraan ja sen jälkeen tulikin rauhallisempaa menoa. Virta laantui ja joki leveni. Vettä oli nyt sateiden jälkeen reippaasti, jopa jossain määrin pelloille saakka. Aurinko paistoi ihanasti ja nyt, kun meno oli rauhallisempaa pystyi kaivamaan kamerankin esiin ja ottamaan kuvia. Valo tuli kauniisti matalalta ja loi kauniita valo/varjonäkymiä suppaajan eteen, niitä oli kiva kuvata.
Vaatetus oli tähänkin säähän osuva, kun oli lisänä lokakuuhun verrattuna juuri hankitut 3mm neopreenikäsineet. Ne olivat ihan välttämättömät, ilman niitä sormet olisivat tasan jäätyneet patotaistelussa kastumisessa ja sen jälkeen. Myssy ehkä olisi voinut olla pikkuisen lämpimämpi.
Oli ihana taas olla laudalla, olihan viime kerrasta melkein kaksi kuukautta. SUP-vuoteni on ollut oikein onnistunut, kohta vuosi vaihtuu, toivottavasti seuraava on ainakin yhtä hyvä.
Video: Autumn SUP on The River Halikko 10.10.2015
A very first SUP video by me: during the paddling on The River Halikko (a post in Finnish) a video camera was installed on the SUP board heading forwards . The total material shot was 70 minutes and after editing the clip lasts 6 minutes. You might think that this is the most boring video you have ever seen, or you can enjoy the mindfulness or slow living experience in Finnish landscape with autumn calors, and also see some ice breaking moments.
Back in Finland (Rescue training)
After a holiday week in France (Nice) being back in Finland again. The temperature here is about 10 degrees less than in Southern France but +24 is not bad at all. Actually never been cold when SUPing, neither today. The Matildanjärvi lake was calm, waves were so nice. Going round the Isoholma island was a good evening exercise and the water in the lake was warm enough so I decided to some rescue training which I have wanted to do already for some time.
So get off the board and trying to get back on in deep water. From the side it was doable but a bit tricky. From an end it was easy, so good to remember that if needed in real situation. It was fun indeed to play in the water. After SUP it was so nice to go to sauna and just relax.
SUP in Antibes (France)
The last beach visited in this holiday in Nice was Antibes. Antibes is located in South-West from Nice, a half way to Cannes. The trip there took about a half an hour by train, the train was not crowded and there was air conditioning so the trip was very ok. From the train window we saw a very, very long beach area before the actual Antibes. But have to say in a way that seemed to be a bit boring, nothing but small sandy area between the road/rail road and sea, no palm trees, or any trees or other plans, no cafes, no any sea activities, just sand and sea.
But in Antibes there is a nice village and sandy beach with lot of sea activities available (kite boards, wind surfing, different kind of boats and SUP boards to rent). To get to Antibes beach area take a bus number 14 from the train station, you cannot miss the beach.
The day was the hottest this week (+35), the board I got was a a smaller version of my own BIC board (10’4”). It was hot so I wore swimming suit. There was a small area covered with a breakwater so it is a good place for beginners and for practising different skills even the beach is located by a busy port and boats and jet skies are passing by.
Instead of SUP (Visiting museums in Nice)
Sometimes it is good to nourish the soul with cultural experiences instead of visiting beaches or paddling so we went to see five of municipal museums in Nice.
Natural History Museum is the oldest museum in the city. The collection is told to be very large but the part to be seen in the premises is quite limited. You can get a good Asterix feeling when looking into the eyes of a wild boar.
In the beautiful hill of Cimiez there are two museums: Archeological Museum and Matisse Museum.
Archeological Museum. It is always an enjoyment for a former latin language student to see Roman ruines and statutes :).
Matisse Museum. Full of nice and famous lady figures. Photography was not allowed inside the museum, so no pictures from there. You have to go and see them in live.
Modern and Contemporary Art Museum. Excellent environment for exhibitions. Both temporary and permanent collections. Also fun.
Palais Lascaris. Baroque building with magnificent paintings in the ceiling. Lot’s of awsome old musical instruments (e.g. pianos, harps and pipes).
All the visited museums were worth of visiting. (You can buy a 7-day-ticket to enter all 13 municipal museums for 20€). A not French speaker would get even more out of the fabulous collections if there were English information texts available. But anyway, art and artifacts speak all languages.
Perfect SUP-moment in Villefranche-sur-Mer
Today’s beach was in Villefranche-sur-Mer located seven minutes from Nice central (Nice-Ville) by train. It is Saturday so lot’s of people are heading to the beaches to get refressing sea wind and to cool themselves in the sea. The train was full of both locals and turists. The beach in Villefrance-sur-Mer (or part of it) is sandy which is not so common in this part of France so it is quite nice for the small children too.
The train stops very, very near to the beach, but the SUP rental service (www.seasurfandwind.com) is in the other end of the beach, so we needed to take a walk first. Weather is hot but there is a slight wind coming from the sea, and in a shadows of trees in the sidewalk it is very comfortable to walk. In the end of the road there is a van with different SUP boards. You can select a board based on the experience level: beginner, performer and racer. I saw that there was exactly the same board I have at home, so that one was an easy choice.
The beach is located in peaceful bay so the waves were reasonable and I had no difficulties to stand up and paddle. I paddled quite a long way to the sea where were actually lots of yachts anchored and people went to swim from those. I took photos of nice views form the sea, but mostly enjoying the sea and the SUP moment.
The beaches I have visited in France during this summer holiday I liked most this one, Villefrance-sur-Mer. The travelling time from Nice is very ok, the beach itself is comfortable, the bay is calm but nicely windy for SUP, offering in the SUP rental is good and prices in cafeterias are reasonable.
After having paddled for an hour I jumped to the sea and swam a small round. After that it was nice and cool to walk back to the train and go back to Nice-Ville.
Visiting Eze (the village)
Visiting the medieval village Eze was in today’s program. The village is very beautiful located in the top of a high mountain and to get there you have to drive on a serpentive road on scary cliffs. Luckily we got a bus with a experienced driver. In the end, after climbing up by foot to the highest point on the mountain, we enjoyed a magnificent view including the beach we visited yesterday (SUP in Eze).
