Mikko Suominen, is a very experienced and well travelled paddler from Finland.
For all of you fluent in Finnish you can read more about it in the book “Kajakki kapsäkissä LINK”, “With the kayak in suitcase”. Mikko has paddled along the west coast of Canada and Alaska four times previously
Erling first met Mikko in Helsinki in May 2018 en route to Russia with Stein Kynø, LINK. Ever since Mikko has spoken often about his dream to paddle here in the Inside Passge again.
Meanwhile we have paddled together in Norway, Sweden and Finland. So we know the team works well.
Mikko is also a geologist and an ornithologist (even if not formally qualified)
He did part of his studies at Erling’s “Alma mater”; the university of Oslo, a few years after Erling.
As far as Erling can tell from his acquaintances there – no one has any recollection of this young Finnish student.
Maybe because he spent most of the time skiing on Hardangervidda and paddling along the south coast of Norway.
In spite of this extensive extracurricular activity the studies went well, and Mikko is now looking after the literal foundations of Helsinki as the city reclaims land and grow out into the Bay of Finland.
Karianne Fønstelien Vintervoll lives in a paddling neighbourhood close to Blindern in Oslo, midway between Stein Kynø and Erling ca 50m from each and we had kids in the same class at school. So, maybe she didn’t have much option but to take up paddling.
Together with Stein and Erling and other paddling friends, she has paddled the entire Norwegian coast and large parts of the Swedish and Finnish coast as well.
When not paddling she is a busy chartered auditor at KPMG, this trip will be the first time she does not bring her job PC along
Erling Vågnes is a retired geologist/geophysicist/manager having worked 33 years in Equinor.
He has also paddled extensively, the longest trip being a 2018 attempt to circumnavigate Scandinavia from Oslo to Oslo via the Russian waterways LINK.
Erling is the trips “blog master” and will try to keep friends and family updated on this blog.