I have now done my second "Harry Year", that is when you have been kayaking every month for a whole year (calendar year). I don't know where that expression comes from but it's something they call call that when you have achieved this. Probably a guy named Harry did it for the first time.
Actually I have been kayaking 33 months straight, all months on the Lake Vänern!
I have also been out kayaking every week since first of March (missed one week 😒when I was a teacher).
I was out today on a beautiful December day on the Lake Vänern. Windy, warm for December (+8°C) and a bit of sea.
Watch the video from today and also my second video from my trip in Alaska.
Then we are leaving Nassau bay and the beautiful Chenega glacier. A very nice trip through the ice field out of the bay. A was paddling Darren's "Shadow" and had a great time going between the ice bergs as the "sweep boat" at the end of the pack.
Out of Nassau bay we see a big porcupine on a beach feeding. He never takes any notice of us.
The next camp we come to is "Dual Head", a nice place at the mouth of "Whale Bay". Not the same spectacular view we had the last two days but nice anyway. And a lot less mosquitoes!
I also got to try Josh's kayak and did a few rolls. It's a bit to big for me. In the evening we "re-rationed", took out all the food we got in closed bags for the second week. Unbelievable that wa had done half the course already.
This is one of my best days in Alaska! What a beautiful spot we have in Nassau Bay with Chenega and Tigertail glaciers across the bay. At uneven intervalls the waves from the calving glaciers hits our beach and carries icebergs with them.
It's a dry place near the glacier and a lot of flies but besides that it's absolutely the most beautiful camp spot on the whole trip. No bear track but fresh tracks from a wolverine and Darren actually saw one very early morning.
As we had a lay-over day it was a bit lazy this morning. But me and Josh were ready to go out exploring closer to the glacier. So, we went ahead of the others on this clear and warm day. At about 1 nautical mile from the glacier (about 1,8 km or 1,1 miles) we stopped at just watched and took photos. Three harbor seals where close by and when we tried to take photos of those we heard a big calving from the glacier. We saw that a big wave was on the way and two minuets later the waves hit us. Number one was big, number two was big (5-6 feet or 2 meters) and then the third one came! At least 10 feet (3-4 meters)! Watch the video below to see it, for once I had the GoPro running when this happened. The third wave was breaking just after it passed us, and we are not sure if we could have handled that. We were also very lucky that the rest of the kayaks were not there, it's doubtful if they could have managed that big wave.
The the rest of the guys arrived and me and Josh had calmed down a bit and our adrenalin levels were down to more normal levels. A lot of photos. And I did a roll with the beautiful glacier behind me. (There will be a video of this later. I am still working on all the film material.)
After that we slowly headed back to our beach. Some of us took a detour into a river and was playing in the current for a bit. Fun!
Baking class in the afternoon by Josh. I made a focaccia bread. (On the recipe it says thyme and basil, I usually use rosemary.) This is a bread I do rather often at home, both in the oven in our house or out when camping. It turned out rather well.
Upp early to make breakfast and take down the camp. First moving day. Me and my tent mates did a quick job of getting ready. I paddeled one of the singels, a Chilco from Seaward Kayaks. A rudder kayak that was OK but not more. I did not like the way the pedals was attached with straps, I had to pull them very tight and then press hard with my legs to have the right leverage for a good paddle stroke. But it was nice for edging so I never had to use the rudder.
We had a slow paddling with two stops down to Point Nowell. A nice peninsula in the north part of Knights Passage. I had a headache coming ashore du to lack of coffee but a quick brew took care of that.
A beautiful spot with the Chugach mountains in the North and Knights Island in the east.
Day 4 Wednesday July 13
A very warm morning so we got up at 06:30. We had the information that one of the participants was feeling very bad and that a coast guard helicopter was on the way to take her to a hospital. Very sad, but as I helped the girl to the helicopter I noticed that this was the only option for her. (She had to stay in the hospital for a week was was after that ok).
After that we packed our kayaks and proceeded to Dangerous Passage and a small bay on the west side of Chenega Island. A very beautiful small bay without any fishing boats that ad been constant companions the last three days. Now it was at last feeling like real wilderness! This day I paddled a double kayak with Kim, that was rather nice as I had more chances to take photos and had someone close to talk to. Someone who couldn't escape!
Me, Toby, Amy and Kim took a walk across the bay and upp into the muskegg. A lot of bear tracks and also a lot of salmonberries.
Day 5 Thursday July 14
I was upp early and picked some salmon berries for the pancakes that Toby made for breakfast. Very nice.
Paddled with Kim also this day but in the front this time. Kim did a good job steering the kayak. We crossed Dangerous Passage again and on the way a Sea otter cub was swimming around the kayaks very close. We made our way away so it could join it's mother.
Then we paddled in to Icy Bay but they stayed to far from shore for my taste. I like to paddle close to shore to see all the nice cliffs and the wild nature. A break at the mouth of Nassau Bay and then through an ice field into the bay and to our campsite across from Chenega glacier. Maybe the most beautiful place I've been to in Alaska!
In the evening we had a small fire and did some s'mores, an (in my mind, disgustingly sweet) american favorite.
After almost four weeks in Alaska I'm home again. It took me 15 hours to go out kayaking in my own kayak, it had been lonely with me away :)
We were some friends that took the chance to do some surf training at Svalnäs while the winds and the weather were good. 12-13 m/s (24-26 knots) and a nice surf. A friend made a video from the occasion, my own GoPro didn't work, look at the link of the video. The battery was out and I didn't have any more charged after my trip.
The next day Paula, one of my daughters, was with me on a nice day paddle. We were just going out a few hours near my home north of Sunnanå.
I'm working on the photos and the videos from my trip to Alaska. About 2000 photos and seven hours of GoPro film will take time to go through. Here is one that is finished:
