The team

In life one turn of events leads to another which in turn leads to a third one.

Looking back it is often quite easy to make sense of it all. But when moving forward, as life tends to move, one lacks the privilege of this ideal form of vision.

All of this to say that life’s trajectory rarely moves in a straight line. Which of course is the thing that makes living so exciting.

Therefore before we can present our team to you we need to introduce you to a person who strictly speaking isn’t a member of our team.

That person is Roope.

Many years ago Roope had an excessive amount of kayaks. He had accumulated these while working as a paddling guide, but was now eager to rid himself of a few of them.

This is where Kaisa and Christoffer entered the picture.

Having attended a one day crash course of handling a kayak they were eager to put to use what they had learned. So as per Roope’s suggestion they borrowed a few of kayaks from him. To keep for the summer. At least that was what Roope presented as the plan.

By the end of the summer that what was expected happened: Kaisa and Christoffer didn’t want to return the vessels. So they bought all four boats.

This short introduction now takes us to the youngest member of our team, Jonne.

Jonne

Some years ago Jonne’s dog Laku died unexpectedly.

Which lead Jonne to go on a bike trip to process the sorrow. While on this journey, Jonne kept an online diary. In it the inevitable ups and downs of the journey were depicted with warmth and humour, and above all honestly.

Christoffer read this online diary, and was impressed by how courageous this young person was. So he wrote to Jonne and invited them to join a kayaking expedition later that summer. And as that journey worked out nicely Jonne joined Christoffer and Kaisa on another one. And another. Which leads us to the one from Brändö to Utö.

Now to understand Jonne, you need to know one thing: Jonne is anything but rash in their decisions. Every turn has to be calculated meticulously and thought about with great care. You could say that Jonne is the embodiment of the saying ”fools rush in where angels fear to thread”.

That is not to say Jonne lacks an adventurous spirit. We’ve seen them navigate in rough seas without flinching or complaining. No conditions seem to deter them, but that said Jonne is equally content staying on the shore and taking it easy without growing cranky or restless.

Jonne is also one to keep the team’s spirits up, a feature that is not to be made light of, especially during long voyages like the one we’re talking about.

The only real downside to Jonne is their love for minced garlic, which is added liberally to any food that is served.

But as we do not share a tent with Jonne, this is a fault we have come to accept.

Miikka

From Jonne we jump to Miikka. Which is only befitting, as Miikka entered our life through Jonne.

We were planning a longer kayaking journey along a river in White Karelia, and Jonne asked if it would be okay for their friend Miikka to join us.

Now putting together a team is no easy task, and in all honesty we’ve have had some less than ideal candidates tag along due to Christoffer’s perhaps overly inclusive spirit. But we decided to trust Jonne’s assessment.

It turned out that Miikka was the perfect fit.

Miikka is level-headed without being boring, practical without being snotty about it, and has a seemingly endless knowledge of ornithology that he willingly shares with the rest of us.

During our voyage Miikka also supplied the entire team with electrical power from the two huge Makita batteries he lugged along. (I think he would have been able to jumpstart a car with those batteries, should the situation have demanded that.)

Being able to fix things is also a characteristic of Miika, and one that came in quite handy. (Two of our kayaks ended up leaking.) While we were on our way to set out he also took a car door apart and put it back together as the electric window wouldn’t work. (Something the rest of our group viewed with a blend of awe and a desire to burn the witch at the stake.)

As an avid sauna enthusiast bordering on what some might call fanatical, Miikka will happily spend up to three hours bathing should the chance arise. Which is in polar opposition to Kaisa, who claims to even have a hard time breathing in a hot room.

Kaisa

Kaisa worries a lot.

She worries about the winds being too strong. She worries about the waves being too high. And she worries that the water below her is too deep. But perhaps most of all Kaisa worries that she will be taken by a giant squid. (Just to name a few of the scenarios in which Kaisa claims she is likely to perish.)

Incidentally, Kaisa herself does not agree with any of the above. If anything, she feels that what she does at most is serve as a balance to the delusional optimism of Christoffer.

However, Kaisa has more to offer on our voyages than her somewhat hesitant nature would imply. For starters, she serves as the much needed voice of reason. And while the others are more or less making it up as they go, Kaisa demands that there is at least a semblance of a plan.

Now this might seem a less than enviable position to be in, and it probably is. But there is a good chance that without Kaisa’s cautious nature there would be no team. Only three corpses floating around in the Gulf of Finland.

Despite her analytical nature, Kaisa is for some reason unable to navigate out at sea. In her own words ”All the islands look exactly the same! All of them! The same! There’s no way to tell them apart!” And that is why it is someone else who reads the chart.

Which brings us to the last member of our team, Christoffer.

Christoffer

We started from the youngest, and have now worked our way up to the oldest member of our team. But despite his age, Christoffer has little of the wisdom one would expect to go along with having been around for the longest.

However what he lacks in wisdom he more than makes up for in child-like enthusiasm.

Christoffer is also easily bored. Routines scare him, and his spontaneous nature has him studying maps whenever there is some down time in his life. For him maps carry with them the promise of adventure and fun.

All of this to say that Christoffer will do anything to avoid feeling stuck in a rut. Including talking people around him into various undertakings, at times of questionable sanity.

One could call him the architect of our journeys.

This designation should be read as ”the person who comes up with the plan, but not so much the person willing to do the heavy lifting that inevitably goes along with it”. Much like real life architects.

(Fun fact: Both Christoffer’s grandfather and great grandfather were architects.)

The reason why Christoffer has been able to come as far as he has is therefore very much linked to the fact that for one reason or another he has always been able to attract and surround himself with persons far more qualified than himself.

A skill not to be made light of!