My blog about kayaking with an extra focus on Valleys Nordkapp and Anas Acuta kayaks.
Some outdoors life in Sweden and the places around the world I travel to. Reviews on outdoors gear with mostly kayaking stuff..
At the bottom of my blog you can find all my Youtube videos on my playlist "AllSeasonsKayaking"

Monday 30 May 2016

Lurö solo kayaking

After only two weeks I'm back att Lurö. It's weekend and I just had to go out kayaking. For once all my friends were otherwise busy so I took the trip alone. The weather forecast was not that great but I wanted to kayak out to Lurö again anyway, it is always possible to go on the lee side of the archipelago even on windy days.

I started at Ekenäs again and with a slightly different route from last time took myself down to Lurö. Mostly sunny and not too much wind this first day. At Stenstaka the restaurant was open so I took the chance to have a beer there. This is the first time I got a beer while out kayaking since 2014 in Croatia.

As it was getting more windy in the evening I had to find a new spot for camping, but with a hammock you just need two trees so that is fairly easy. I found a nice little beach on the north side of the island and set up the hammock with an extra tarp over it as it was supposed to rain in the night.
A bit cold I took a walk to warm up, grilled some hot dogs and made a pot of tea. Warm again I went to bed and after a movie on the iPad fell asleep. Sometime in the night the wind increased and it was raining. Never mind I was dry and comfy so I just turned over and went back to sleep.

Next morning it was still raining so I took it slow to get started. After an hour the rain stopped and I packed my gear and in a strong head wind made it back to Ekenäs.
On the whole trip I did not see any other kayaks or any yachts, just two small passenger boats going to Lurö. It was a nice and very quiet trip.

A video is on the way but the editing takes time as I'm not home a lot now, mostly out kayaking.

Getting ready at Ekenäs

A short break. Nice weather.

Inbound to Stenstaka, Lurö. I wonder if the restaurant is open?
Yes! It's open and I enjoy a beer.

"My" nice little beach

Dinner

My Hennessy hammock and Hilleberg tarp as extra rain cover.


Monday 23 May 2016

Hindens rev

Hindens rev is a long and narrow peninsula and is a terminal moraine created at the last ice age. This five kilometer long peninsula is mostly sand and rounded boulders, small and larger.

We had plans to go to Svalnäs beach for surf practice but as the weather forecasts didn't match reality and we had to change our plans. Then we did some roll practice and a trip out to the tip of Hindens rev. It all started with me putting out a post on Facebook and a local kayaking group. I asked if anyone would like to join me and at the end we were eleven kayakers who turned up.
I was there first and did some rolls in the cold water. I feel that I have to practice a lot the coming weeks to be as good as I was this winter. It works well on one side but sometimes I miss the roll on the other side. Well, I guess I just have to work at it. I think I need to go back to the basic and train with balance brace.
Then when my friends arrived I got out of the dry-suit and with just a T-shirt under the PFD I joined them on a leisure trip out to the reef. Three quarters of the way out we stopped for lunch. I had a wook pan with me and made a Thai wook (with some of my own chili flakes) and some of the guys had a muurikka where they also made a wook with moose meat.
After lunch we continued out to the tip of Hindens reef where we got some light seas in the northerly wind. And time for coffee!

On the way back it sounded like a river flowing on the other side of the narrow peninsula. But it was only the wind on that side making the noise while on our side, the lee side, it was completely calm. Back at Svalnäs beach some of us did some more roll practice and a rescue of Frida (on the video).

Thanks to all my friends joining me on this nice Sunday.




Frida practicing low brace



Christina and Frida. No surf training today!

Jens in his nice SKUK Greenlander

Swedish game "One away!" En ska bort! Vem passar inte i gänget?

Kayaks at the tip of Hindens rev

Muurikka cooking

Thai wook

Magnus and Jens rounding the Hindens rev



Sunday 8 May 2016

Three beautiful days

Me and my friend Christer had three marvelous days crossing the Lake Vänern from Värmrandsnäs to Kollandsö and back. That is the shortest way to cross the lake and its about 23 km (14 miles). But we made a lot of detours and stayed two nights on an island north of Lurö island.
Lurö archipelago is a big fresh water archipelago in the middle of the Lake Vänern  with about 250 islands.

We started at Ekenäs on Friday and paddled in the warm sun down around Lurö and finally made camp at Svinön. It was 18,5 km in our T-shirts. And just one and half week ago it was snowing!

After a marvelous night with a stunning sunset and even more beautiful sun-up we continued down to Spiken, the southernmost point on our trip. On the way we met two friends, Michael and Camilla, at Mellskär reef for a coffee break together. They were on the opposite way towards Lurö.

At Spiken we had an ice cream and a coffee before heading back to Lurö. An increasing headwind made the crossing over mostly open water rather long and we were a bit tired when we arrived at Svinön again. On my GPS the track showed 30,4 km for the day (about 19 mi). A bit later Michael and Camilla showed up and we but up our tents (I had my hammock) and had another nice night.

Next morning after breakfast me and Christer continued north while the other two headed back south. This day it was just as calm as on Friday and even warmer. about 20°C, and clear skies. T-shirt weather again! We both had some sun burns by now even when being very careful.
We took a lunch break at the island Vithall, an small island inhabited until 1959. How they could survive on that small island is a mystery.

At five in the afternoon we are back at Eken. The whole trip was 62.3 km long (39 mi) and average speed was 6.1 km/h (just over 3 mi/h). Many times our speed was 7-8 km/h. A very good trip in a nice summer weather.

Update: Now I have finished the video from the trip.



Our track
Leaving Ekenäs

Christer

At 3 am. We are closing in on midsummer and the nights are short.

Christer again

Me.  (Photo by Christer Bodling)

Passing Stångudden light house. I pass here every week with ships.

Runnen light house

A wreck (called Matvreaket). That is a long story.

What a day!


The restaurant on Lurö at Stenstaka.
The small house at Vithall.
Flowers outside the house at Vithall

Camilla & Michael

Navigating!

Me

Thursday 5 May 2016

Finally May

At last we are into May and warmer weather. The last few days we had had temperatures at about 15-16°C in the afternoon. Lovely! The nights has been a bit cold still but at least not freezing temperatures.
Also the water temperatur in the Lake Vänern has now risen somewhat. Two weeks ago we had 4.6°C and yesterday we had as much as 13°C at a point. But mostly it was around 10°C. Rather pleasant after a long winter.

On the 1st of May I took a short afternoon trip in Vänersborg. I had been working the night and slept some during the day and needed to do some exercise. Paddling at a high speed I did a two-hour tour outside Vänersborg. Felt nice.

At the 4th of May I went to Snickartorpet that belongs to Friluftsfrämjandet in Lidköping. I started by myself and an hour later two friends met up and we made some dinner. Or rather Magnus made some dinner. Thanks mate!
After we had eaten we went back to Snickartorpet and greeted a lot of other kayakers that were going out on the first "Onsdagspaddling" (Wednesday paddling) for the season. For a lot of those folks it was the first trip of the season. We had a fantastic evening with an amazing sunset and perfect wind. Calm at first but with a nice SW-ly breeze at the end.
I did my first roll this year bareheaded and without long johns under my drysuit. My friend Martin also made a perfectly nice roll.

Entrance to the marina in Vänersborg

Dalbo bridge at Vänersborg. The pilot station is just inside the bridge.

Vänersborgsviken (Bay of Vänerborg) 

Vänersborgsviken

Magnus is making dinner while Nils is watching.

Magnus is lecturing about geocaching

It was nice to try to make some photos against the light

More siluettes


An old classic kayak, a baidarka from 1996.