Surf!

Again at Svalnäs beach and this day it was more wind and higher seas. It was bloody perfect!

Photos of me by Magnus Hägg

Andreas Bergen & me

Photos of me by Andreas Berger

Svalnäs

Svalnäs is a shallow and very beautiful sandy beach on Lake Vänern. On windy summer days days I'm there with some friends for kayak surfing. We share the beach with some guys doing kite surfing.

This week I have been there two times so far as the weather has been perfect for surfing. On Monday we had the last part of a kayaking course and this time it was how to handle the kayaks in a bit bigger seas. I think all learned a lot and had a lot of fun as well. On Wednesday the seas were higher and we were some friends playing in the seas. Some younger guys were trying some surfing in an open canoe.

The video is from the second day.

Monday

My friend Magnus and co-course leader.

Joakim

My friend Andreas in his Black Pearl

Wednesday

Magnus

Kristina

Surfing with open canoe

My Anas Acuta on the beach (not an X!)

New kayak

I have now bought a new kayak. It's a Valley Gemini SP that I will use mostly for surfing and rock hopping as it's a durable plastic kayak. I got the kayak from Kajakguiderna where I also bought the Nordkapp and Anas Acuta.

Length=4,52 m (14'10")
Width= 0,56 m (22")
Weight= 26,5 kg (58,5 lbs)

After testing it a few weeks back I decided to by this model. As it's not possible to get one in black I took a red one, that will fit nicely with the rest of my gear.

I was out today with my friends Christer and Johnny and we started at the beginning of Göta älv (Göta River) where there is a current and no ice. It has been a very beautiful day with about -6° Centigrade at the start and about 0° when we came back. Partly a lot of ice and som nice places to cruise around in the ice fields. And breaking ice in some places.

The review of the kayak so far:

Easy to maneuver but not as easy as my Anas Acuta, but better than the Nordkapp. You could lean a lot with this one without tipping over. Slower than the Anas Acuta and a lot slower than the Nordkapp, it's a much shorter kayak. Great cockpit and seat as on all Valleys kayaks.
We didn't have much sea on this trip but the small waves that I found was enough to have some short surf. That I would not have on my other two kayaks from Valley. This will be a superb kayak for surfing.
I did one roll in the cold water, was working ok. Very good knee braces that makes a back sweep roll easy but the Anas Acuta is of course a much better kayak for rolling. You just have to be more thorough when making the roll in a Gemini.

It's going to be a great kayak and I can't wait to take it out in rough weather!

My new Gemini with my Anas Acuta behind it.

On the way into the water for the first time

Freezing on deck

We found a nice reef for a "fika" break.

Johnny and Christer

Nice kayak

The sun was very nice this late February day.

Testing my new tuiliq, day 2

After a beautiful day yesterday I was out again this Sunday with my daughter, Paula. She got a new PFD (flytväst), paddle pants and paddle boots. She wanted to test those things together with her other gear and see if its working for winter kayaking. So, this was actually her first kayak trip in the winter.

Myself I tested my new tuiliq from Reed Chillcheater again. I changed what I was wearing under a little bit from yesterday, and today it was perfect!

Here is what I used (and I was not cold or too warm at any time today):

Top

Reed Chillcheater tuiliq
Devold Expedition merino wool base layer.
Pinewood Outdoors Collection fleece jacket

Bottom

Devold Expedition merino wool base layer. 

Immersion Research Zephyr pants 

Hands

Snapdragon Hyper hands poogies

Feet

Coolmax socks and Bola "raggsocka"

Palm Nova boots

Extra when on shore

Fjällräven Luukha cape

Edvardson vadmals mittens (felt)

Paula using my Anas Acuta

Me in my Nordkapp

Daughter and father ready for cold water kayaking

Paula is trying to break some ice

New scratches

Saturday at December 10. A foggy but calm day on the Lake Vänern. The water level on the lake is rather low so there are a lot of new shoals and grunds coming up above the water and new places to run aground. A lot of new scratches on the underside and I have to do some repairs of the gelcoat this spring. Well, the kayaks are supposed to be used.
I did some training with my paddling technique around the small shoals and rocks.

My YouTube channel is getting popular. About 50,000 views now and one clip is over 13,000! That is the one from the calving glacier and ensuing tsunami.

The Tsunami video

New video "New Scratches"

Entering Sunnanå yacht harbor

Ghost like!

Looks almost like a water color painting. No filter!

Is this bad driving or poor navigation?

Fika! (Swedish coffee break)

Black & red

Product placement! Gearlab, Valley and GoPro.