Jonathan Riddell's Diary

I had the pleasure of having an excellent white water kayak trip to Northern Norway in the Summer of 2026. Here’s some notes for my own benefit and anyone who is interested.

We previously did a trip to the popular Sjoa area which worked great. So this year we booked to go further north in search of new water. We were 5 people all competent to paddle grade 4 with 5 water. All able to roll in most cases although we had I think three swims over the two weeks. 5 feels like an ideal number as you can easily make a group decision, you can travel in two cars, you can lose a person or two for a day or two and it still works. You can even pick up a person or two if that is useful and you can fit the luggage, boats and kit in the two cars.

We booked flights from Edinburgh to Trondheim with Norwegian air. Fortunately we made the booking before Trump started an unprovoked war with Iran and the cost was about £730 each person for a return. This included two large bags in the hold, two small bags in the cabin and 1 piece of sports kit. They do not have an option for kayaks and claim to limit sports kit to 23kg and 250cm which our white water kayaks were slightly over but this didn’t seem to be a major problem. The flight goes to Oslo were we changed to another plane for Trondheim. Of course we needed helpful family members to drive us to the airport with boats and bags. At airport check-in in Edinburgh the the lady did get confused about our surf boards being large and had to go and ask how to check them in but after a 15 minutes delay worked it out. We had one bag for paddles although some of us flew with splits inside the kayak. We also put bags under the tail of the kayak when being weighed which I thought would be something the check-in would spot but did not seem to be. One car used Long Stay parking at Edinburgh.

After a nervous wait by the Special Luggage door at Trondheim airport the boats made it out fine. We used gig economy app Getaround to hire two cars and arrange for them both to have roof racks (remember your own straps) and have one meet us at the airport. This first car was used to drive to pick up the second car. We arrived on the Saturday and supermarkets close on Sundays in Norway so we had to make a stop at Burger King and at a supermarket to buy food and cooking gas for the next couple of days. With no obvious rivers to paddle between Trondheim and the campsite we made the 5 hours drive to RiverNorth AS campsite. There Joe Rae-Dickens met us and chatted about the best rivers to paddle. It’s a simple campsite with some tables under a canopy and a toilet/shower block. There also seems to be a washing machine you can pay to use for clothes although we didn’t use it.

We arrived at the end of June and we were the only campers on the site besides a couple of campervans. That first week we paddled the local classics: Vefsna Festival Run, Susna, Gasveselve and Stavvasselva. We did the wonderfully long big water paddle of Vefsna Wilderness and Ragnarok down to the campsite. The Ukerelva and Krugata had more lost-in-the-mountains vibes.

Norway is like England to the extent that Norge Norvege starts less than half way up the country. After a week we went further north to the Arctic Circle Campsite. Here we paddled the Rana river which the guide described as 3-4 but turned out to be a long grade 4-5 run which pleasingly ended at the campsite. This campsite had the luxury of a warm cafe with hot chocolate and tumble dryer. I got a massage while my friends mapped the lower Rana. We then visited the Arctic Circle Centre which is a fun tourist trap where the sun don’t set. Buy a raindear pelt for a changing mat and a Sami knife for your cheese.

We drove back south to the Vefsna and RiverNorth and found that we had set the trend as more and more kayakers turned up each day. Low water elsewhere ment many of Europe’s paddlers had turned up where we were. We repeated some of the same runs but with some more company. On the way home we did the Gargbergelva which is a long walk in after a long drive but was well worth it. The final day was spent washing, hoovering and returning the cars.

For 5 people for two weeks travelling around, camping, fuel and food we spent £4000 or £815 each. We booked the cars for 2000Km but drove 3200Km which costs an extra 5 Kroner per Km (would be 4 Kroner if we had booked the extra in advance but you don’t know on advance ) so that was an extra £150 each. Roads in Norway often had tolls which are picked up by an onboard transponder and charged on return. Tolls were £8 a person.

With flights at £730 and sport travel insurance at £35 that’s £1740 a person.

Bring split paddles, we had to use them. Bring uprights for the roof rack but beware of the 17mm socket tool being taken off you at Edinburgh airport security. Everyone but me had ear plugs either because of issues with surfers ear or wanting to avoid issues so maybe I should get into them. Bring drysuit neck seals and glue, we had to use two. We were super lucky with the weather, some days of sun, some days of rain which kept up the rivers but never so much we ended up with excessively cold camping and under kit. And it was fun having more and more paddlers arrive during the second week as it became clear we had picked the best spot. I edited some of the whitewater.guide entries and added some photos and videos, anyone else who has changes do let me know.

See my Norway White Water Kayaking YouTube playlist for the videos.

I passed the British Canoeing advanced qualifications of Stand Up Paddleboard Coastal Leader and SUP Open Water Coach Award. Here’s some notes for my own interest and anyone else’s.

I did Coastal Leader training twice (once had a second day cancelled because the weather was too good). This gave me experience of a range of conditions including getting blown out to the atlantic once (we got stuck on a rock called Goat Island and had to paddle hell for leather two on a board into land to end up several miles from the cars). I did Open Water Coach training (two days). I used cheap B&B and AirBNB for these (I like car camping but not in winter and having a toilet to use is pretty invaluable). I did an RYA VHS SRC licence for the radios. I also did a marine navigation course (RYA Day Skipper syllabus). I bought a load of lights, high vis jackets, dry bags and other kit. You have to pay Paddle Scotland to register. With travel at a laughable 45p per mile and the final assessment total costs were about £2800. Erk.

Paddleboarding as a practice will have been done for centuries but as a sport developed out of the safety borders from surf competitions early this millenium. I first did it in 2014 at the SCA CVC and since then I’ve raced on the Nile with Dane Jackson and Bren Orton (I did not win), raced with Kayak Sessions magazine on the durance in France, brought it to Edinburgh at the Canal Festival, paddled around Marina Del Ray in Los Angeles and at Barceloneta in Barcelona. Now that qualifications exist from British Canoeing (who are still called British Canoeing Awarding Body despite their parent organisations all renaming to Paddle) organisations like the Scouts need people to get them, but for the moderate and advanced awards there’s very few providers (3 in Scotland now) and no scheduled courses get run so you need to talk to the providers and schedule them. Scheduling Leader and Coach training and assessment needs to be coordinated not just with you, the provider, kit and venue but exactly the wrong sort of weather with the necessary force 4 (20km/h+) winds. This can mean chasing the wind around the country on the day to find a venue or as-often-as-not cancelling.

Touring boards are usually 12ft 6inches long and narrower than the default options but they are needed for both these awards. You’ll also need to bring dry bags with food, spare clothes, first aid, shelter, pump and water. These awards are considered advanced awards but are in moderate water, this is because a paddleboard is twice the effort for half the result compared to a kayak. But paddleboards do give a full all-body workout and you get a better view.

You need at least three students on the leader assessment and they all need reasonable kit including lights and high vis bits because you need to paddle after dark. It turns out sunset isn’t dark, that is civil twilight, then there’s nautical twilight and astronomical twilight and night. I used paper OS maps and compass on the water but also my phone subscription to OS Maps, Imray Tides and Imray Navigator to get the data on the tidal flows and shoreline, so a waterproof phone is important, as is washing out the phone when it gets salt water on it.

Coastal Leader I led some 3 people from North Queensferry to Dalgety Bay but we ended up with force 4-5 winds which is above remit, everyone got exhaustion and evacuated before the end, which was fine. I also did a night paddle under the Forth bridges (which surely could be a money maker somehow).

The Open Water Coach Award can be done on inland and sea environments, although it doesn’t say that anywhere. I did some paddling around South Queensferry in Force 4 winds. For the main assessment we went inland to Loch Ore Meadows in Fife, I had two students and got one to pass on his wisdom to the newer one looking at balance and forward paddling. It turns out people also need to know how to turn and so I added that in before the end. I did some peer coaching between them. Some IDEAS direct instruction. Some go-and-experiment type questioning and a small journey.

There’s a lot of paperwork to read with the Coach Award, find an office printer to print it off and get reading, almost all the answers to what you need to do are in there even if they’re in Appendix table 3 at the end of the 4th document.

You do need to register in good time and do the check-in (which is just the same as registering and Paddle Scotland still hasn’t accepted mine so maybe it was all for naught). You also need to schedule a couple of evenings for the eLearning which has lots of good stuff in it but it’s easy to lose interest so try to stay focused and take notes and look up the topics afterwards. You need to write a wee essay and log book which takes me back to school and maybe that’s no bad thing.

Thanks to Matt Haydock (branding in transition) and Jess Philip (Dipper Paddleboard) and Donald MacPherson (Explore Highland) for training and assessment.

Thanks to Longcraig Scout centre for kit and facilities and SE Scouts for funding and motivation.

I did the Open Water Coach Training for Stand up Paddleboard. Here’s my notes for my own use and anyone else who wants them.

The terminology is a bit messy (which is the same for all paddling really). Partly this is because the environmental remits are necessarily a bit different for paddleboards which can be harder to control in windy or moving open or river water. For Leader it’s Inland Open Water (moderate lochs), Tidal (moderate award in slightly above sheltered water conditions) and Coastal (advanced award in moderate water) and White Water (grade 2(3)). For Coach it’s called Open Water (which means moderate Inland Open Water) there’s also Race Coach and White Water Coach.

I went out with Adam Burns who calls himself Adventure Coaching Scotland and also works for Paddle Scotland. He seems a happy chap and one of the few who can award SUP coach and leader qualifications in Scotland (maybe the only one as the Paddle Scotland website isn’t working when I ask it).

For equipment I wore a drysuit, I also wore a helmet but this doesn’t seem necessary on Open Water. I forgot to take a dry bag which is important. An ankle belt leash is also needed although I used my leader buoyancy aid quick release. As a leader I might also want to take a pump as well as usual leadership stuff.

We did a warm up paddle, as well as letting us warm up it let’s the coach see if we can handle the board on the water and it gets us to a nice sheltered place to chat about the day’s activities.

We discussed coaching frameworks TTPPWW (technical, tactical, physical, phycological, environmental, equipment). BBB (observation points: board, boat, blade).

Technical stuff – does pump work, right clothing,
Tactical – trim and stance
Physical – can do core rotation?
Phychological – Do they seem calm and controlled?
Environment – weather and water conditions, access options
Equipment – board from Lidl or super expensive board? Length and volume of board. Size and No of of fins. Paddle blade size.

Forward paddling – feather blade to push water under the board rather than j-stroke which won’t work because of the fin on the back. Short strokes

Foot positions – side by side, off set, centre line offset, one or both pointing to paddle side

I am much worse paddling on my left than my right so one task i can do is work out why

My paddle blade is large, most people use a smaller one for higher cadance strokes.

If observation of a paddler gives you nothing useful to discuss then change the conditions, e.g speed it up.

Standing position on a board can be foward for a straighter line, backwards for easier turn. Fancy jump or step back turns are possible. You can walk up and down the centre line with practice. Most people will instinctively stand with feet wide for balance but keeping them sholder width wide is usually better as it causes less rock.

To paddle across wind take a wider stance and paddle on downwind side.

Lesson plan frameworks are IDEAS (Introduction, demonstration, explanation, activity, summary) for new stuff and WASP (Watch, Analyse, Set Goals or Suggest, Practice) for improvements.

Ruqola 2.1.0 is available for packaging.

Ruqola is a chat app for Rocket.chat. This release can build with Qt 5 and Frameworks 5. It can also build with Qt 6 and the soon to be released Frameworks 6.

URL: https://download.kde.org/stable/ruqola/
SHA256: 65295cc39f24f046305bc73df4bcc6e561bd8b8b125537290ce5b5b62488fffd

Signed by E0A3EB202F8E57528E13E72FD7574483BB57B18D Jonathan Esk-Riddell jr@jriddell.org
https://jriddell.org/esk-riddell.gpg

I did my Surf Kayak Leader assessment with Paul Bramble in south west Wales and pleasingly I passed. I booked on not quite knowing what to expect, there wasn’t much pre course information and it was mostly because because the date was convenient. Turns out Wales is beautiful and has great surf beaches, the geography allows for some more access to the Atlantic waves and it feels like there’s more of a community down there than in Scotland where surf can be so sporadic.

I had not done any formal training as none seemed to be available, this discipline is such a niche you just have to take your changes when you get them. But in the past I’ve done uncertified safety days with folks in Scotland as well as SLSGB training and of course whitewater leading is very similar you just have to be aware of the differences.

For revision it’s worth reading the SLSGB Beach Environment Training Aid available online.

I had one other person being assessed and together we reviewed the nearby beaches and picked the best one where the forecast was good, the weather was fine, the tides known, the parking available.

We had three students who were all sea kayakers but had done occasional surf and interested in more which is just the sort of person needed for this. I lead with introductions, experience, abilities, motivation, moving kit around, safety protocols. There’s not much safety protocols available in surf kayaking, generally if there’s a problem then folks need to get into the beach which can be hand signal, waving paddle in the air or single whistle. Otherwise if a paddler thinks they might crash into another person then they should capsize. We checked all boats had buoyancy bags in them and I did a warm up.

Fellow candidate Fran accompanied the students onto the water at first while I watched from the beach. I had suggested staying in the white waves at first but the students didn’t seem to want that and were happy going behind the waves straight away which was fine but I guess clearer discipline there would be better.

I took photos (the most important role) and watched for any swimmers but everyone seemed able to roll fine as needed.

I did run a brief mini-coaching session talking about take off on the waves, it’s supposed to be a lead day without coaching but all days will include some chat about what we’re doing and how to improve.

I did a rescue from the beach of an unconscious paddler from behind the waves which is very hard work. I chose to jump in my kayak for this which is risky as you might not do a smooth launch but I did and it allowed me to bring him back some of the way dragging with my sling and carabiner before I jumped out my boat to drag him back in and up the beach.

I did a deep water rescue of a swimmer, this is very tricky with surf kayaks which tend to be low volume. I managed it with having the swimmer step over my boat into his then two of us hold the front of his boat down to stop water entering his boat from the back.

At one point a confusing scenario happened where a student had a dislocated shoulder and we brought them in, it wasn’t expected and we didn’t manage it very well but it was sprung on us without any warning, although I suppose that’s real life.

I failed to bring my first aid kit or phone onto the beach which was a mistake. I also had lost my watch which was poor leadership although I worked out my camera could tell the time and nobody else seemed to have a watch.

A lovely day’s paddling for sure.