Grounded

Escape from Mosquito Island

Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 1:01 PM

Packed up at noon. Heading south escorted by mosquitoes.
Calm, hot, cloudless.

In the morning the mosquitoes hadn't thinned out, so I packed up and decided I'd boil porridge a bit later. The swarm followed me, occasionally landing on the deck to rest, then attacking again. I stopped at a boat-sized island to rehydrate and kill mosquitoes. Later I found a nice rocky shore where I spent the hottest part of the day reorganising gear and cooking.

I've somehow got too much stuff, and I bought too much food too. Or everything comes in such large packages. I reorganised the food from its original packaging into zip-lock bags, and cut the onions to take up less space. Round and square shapes are awkward compared to zip-locks. I cooked tomato sauce in advance to use up the vegetables I have. I stored it in tupperware-style containers. I ate as much bread and processed cheese as I could — I probably shouldn't have brought those along at all.

Camp Pesärosmo

Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 11:15 PM

At 21:00 along the river to Alvajärvi and straight to a small island.
Camp up at 23:00.

Yesterday was a full day of paddling. I made it to Pihtipudas on Alvajärvi. I had reorganised things a bit and put all the gear in the back. This made the load a bit tippy when getting in, but otherwise fine — and paddling felt easier without stuff cluttering the view in front.

I left the kayak at the Pihtipudas beach and walked a couple of kilometres to the town centre. I had a grill meal and bought a few extra things. Came back to the shore, had a beer, and thought about camping. I decided to push on since there was supposed to be a lean-to nearby. I geared up with the mosquito net — mosquitoes have become a theme.

You can't see quite as well through a mosquito net. I was trying to find a route under the railway when I hit a rock. That in itself was normal — but this time I hadn't seen it at all. What was also not normal was that the stern of the boat started producing bubbles. I paddled to the nearest rock and assessed the situation. The keel hadn't torn off — good. The bottom was empty of air — bad. I also realised there wasn't a bridge here but a small culvert under the railway, so I couldn't get to the lean-to on the other side.

The boat moved badly but I pressed on along the river through Pihtipudas. Plenty of mosquitoes. Eventually I found the next lean-to shelter I had marked on the map. I lit a fire and made half a pot of porridge. The kota was a genuine mosquito HQ. The fire kept them a little at bay, but you couldn't stand next to it the whole time. I rigged the hammock on top of a bench so the mosquito net hung over the sleeping surface — the bench was the bed.

Pihtipudas Kota

Sat, Jun 17, 2023, 1:39 AM

First proper paddling day. All of Alvajärvi behind me.
Can't say how long it took. Stopped at the Pihtipudas beach,
walked to town, ate, did shopping and came back. Thought I'd
paddle a bit more, but pretty quickly hit what must have been
a very sharp rock and lost air from the bottom float chambers.
Still pressed on very sluggishly to the east side of Pihtipudas
and made the kota my home. Tomorrow I'll walk to 'the world's
best petrol station' and see if I can get a tent pitch, sauna,
and super glue.

I think I slept fitfully. There were so many mosquitoes that if any body part touched the net, it got bitten for sure. On the kota walls they sat five centimetres apart. In the air they seemed to float twenty centimetres apart. On the net over my head they were only a few centimetres apart.

In the morning I left the boat at the kota and walked to "Finland's best petrol station 2017" — Niemenharju. I pitched the tarp as a tent and went through my gear. I also tried to eat as much of the pre-made tomato sauce as possible so I wouldn't have to carry it. Then I retrieved the boat and inspected the damage.

There was at least a five-centimetre gash in the bottom right where I sit. Must have been a sharp rock. There were a few more similar cuts, but those hadn't gone all the way through. I should probably start being more careful. Lake rocks are rougher than sea rocks.

Water had also gotten in through the cut, so I hung the boat between two trees so the water would drain to the middle and out. Then I dried the bottom in the sun, sanded the area around the cut, and patched it with a piece of the same material the boat is made of. And plenty of super glue inside and out. I threaded a piece of a sweet bag inside the tube so the cut wouldn't bond to the opposite inner surface — just to the sweet bag piece. I left the boat to dry as a precaution. I'll maybe test the air pressure later today.

I went to the sauna, did laundry, and now I'm sitting over chips in the petrol station restaurant.

Niemenharju

Sat, Jun 17, 2023, 9:14 PM

Tent pitch, sauna and other small luxuries sorted.
The kayak hull had a cut over 5 cm long. Could have been worse.
Haven't tested whether the air holds yet, but I'm optimistic
about the glue job.