The Light Blue Paddling Project

 
The 1st of June 2008 started Maija and her Tahe Marine kayak their journey from Virolahti, a small village on the border of Finland and Russia. At the same time began Johanna her expedition with exact similar kayak from Svinesund Bridge which lies in the border between Norway and Sweden. The only difference between the kayaks were their color; Johanna had a shining yellow, Maija bright blue.

The idea to this expedition, to paddle around Finnish and Swedish coastline from each end, was born just six months earlier. The girls were studying at same Wilderness Guide course, in a small village in Swedish Lapland. The six months from the day they decided to go for this trip to the day their journey began was used to planning and contacting media and sponsors. Tahe Marine became one of the companys supporting and believing in these two young ladies.

The sun was shining and water was warm on the west coast of Sweden during Johannas first week out on the sea.  It was a soft start and helped her to get used to the kayak and all the things that were to become her daily routines for the coming three months. The weather changed though and the wind kept her on land for couple of days ? but as both of the girls learned during the summer, even though it feels the wind is never going to stop blowing and the waves never die, they always do.

It is a huge difference between having the wind against you and on your side. To avoid the wind and waves as much as possible, Maija was often paddling at night time. This way she saw numerous fantastic sunsets and sunrises. Especially as the time between the rise and set was only an hour or more in June and beginning of July.

Although we sat in our kayaks alone, it was still a two-man-paddling.

We followed each others trips and hold contact all the time. Until the last days the distance we had been paddling was nearly the same, but in the end Maija had luck with the weather and she covered long distances in a short time. Meanwhile Johanna was trying to get the last best out of the trip and didn't paddle as long. The hardest time for Johanna were the four last days ? from the day Maija finished her trip until she finished hers and this was because she was all of a sudden paddling alone!

Under three months we hated paddling, we loved paddling, we were tired of it and we wished we would never have stop. The kayak became our best friend and sitting in it felt like being at home.

What made it all best and worse was the weather ? all kind of weather.

From thick clouds with rain and cold which went through all the layers of clothes to warm summer days with sun and blue sky.

When a lonely paddler lands on the shore, people are usually interested where she is heading to with her kayak. We both met a lot of friendly and generous people who helped us and opened their hearts and homes to us. Couple of times the same people who took care of Johanna wanted also to help Maija ? and vice versa.

The real highlight of this magical summer was when we met after 49 days out on the sea. The golden boat met the blue bird. We took one day off and just talked through everything, compared the packing styles of each others, checked how the kayaks were holding and changed information about good places to stop. Next time we met was in Virolahti. Because Maija reached her goal Svinesund four days earlier, she was able to pick up Johanna from Virolahti. The distance we had covered was 3600 kilometers each and we had been out for three months. It was time for big celebration  - we did it!

From Poland:

From Russia: