A new year

Then its 2017 and the kayaking year has started. My first trip was on January 3 as I was working the first two days of the year. This was a short trip at Sunnanå, close to home. Watch the video from that trip.
Then a few days later I joined Friluftsfrämjandet on a trip with 10 other kayakers. This was at Lysekil on the Swedish west coast and it was cold, windy and very nice! I did my first two rolls of the year and we had a hot sauna waiting for us after the trip! Very, very nice as we were a bit cold by then.

Photos from January 3

Not too cold, but freezing

No ice?

Sunnanå yacht harbor

40 shades of gray (and some red) Very sexy 😜

Me breaking ice (from my GoPro)

More grey scale and some red. (Thank you Photoshop)

Photos from January 8

Winter. -8°C when leaving home. Here about -2°C

Freezing on deck as the rest are preparing

One of the leaders, Anette.

Lining up for a photoshoot 

Congestion (efter this a made two rolls)

Advent Sunday and Alaska video

What a beautiful day!
This is the last Sunday of November and it's also the First of Advent (Advent Sunday) this year. I was again out with Friluftsfrämjandet in Lysekil for a day trip with our kayaks. I think we were about 25 or 26 persons that took the trip around Flatön south of Lysekil on the Swedish west coast.
As it was a windy day and some were not that used to kayak in heavy sea we stayed inshore all the time. Good call as both the air and watertemp are rather low this time of the year.

I did have my GoPro with me but I didn't like the what I filmed this time. Too much salt on the lens. I did do a roll at the end in the frigid water and had my friend Anders filming with the GoPro. But he turned it around the wrong way :)
So instead I here post a long video from my trip in Alaska this summer..

Anyway it was a magical weather this beautiful day.

Getting ready

My Anas Acuta in the sun

My GoPro looks like a floodlight :)

The sun was shining like this the whole day. (Short days this time of the year)

My GearLab paddle

My friends from Mellerud, Kajsa and Anders

End of October

Another very nice autumn day. We have had a lot of those this year.
This Sunday I was out with 25 other kayakers from Friluftsfrämjandet (an outdoors organization) and we paddled about 15 km outside Lysekil. This is a town on the Swedish West coast (North Sea) and there is a nice archipelago outside the small town.
The weather forecast is now warning for snow and colder weather so it's best to enjoy every day possible.
I did a few rolls at the end of the trip. Working very good but I didn't test any "storm roll" as I have to practice more indoors first to have a solid roll. But the laid-back and butterfly rolls are almost perfect.

I am testing a new video editor, the AVS Video editor. It's better than GoPro studio but I will try Adobe Premiere Elements on the next video. I will also have a new computer next week, that will save me a lot of irritation. The one I have now is too old and slow.

At the start

A lot of kayaks!

Fredrik and Marcus, two of the leaders.

What a day!

Fredrik against the sun.

At our lunch break.

Summer is over

The unusual warm Indian summer is now over. A strong north-easterly wind is bringing cold air down over Sweden. Not much rain but very cold and strong winds.

The day before this cold weather arrived was the first Sunday in October and I was out with Friluftsfrämjandet in Lidköping on a day-trip. We were 14-15 kayaks and had a very nice time.

As it is now October I have been kayaking 30 months straight. And every month on Lake Vänern!

Then I was out a windy day testing a home built kayak. This is a Black Pearl that Fredrik at Kajakguiderna has built and the design is by Björn Thomasson whom I met at Stocken kayak meet. I have plans to maybe build one myself. It is a very narrow and low-stability kayak, ocean cockpit and a lot of fun. Perhaps the weather wasn't the best for testing such a kayak? Or maybe it was?  Anyway I had one and a half hour of fun and was really tired afterwards. Now I have to test rolling this kayak also. More about that in the next post.

Confusion at the start 

Sara, one of our leaders in her beautiful Thae Greenland

Magnus

On our way

Black Pearl build by Fredrik at Kajakguiderna

Tough test!

September

This September has been very, very nice and warmer than usual. There has been a lot of kayaking, of course, and I have not been home or been to tired to update my blog. Sorry!
Also there is no video this time. I have filmed a bit but then again it takes a lot of time to edit and I just hadn't had the time.

The photos are from a afternoon trip from Nordkroken to the tip of Halleberg on a very nice day. I was actually sitting nude on a rock drinking coffee as it was too hot in my wetsuit. Before going ashore I did about 20 rolls and it's slowly feeling as it was early this spring. Very easy! Good.

The next trip was with two friends, Martin and his wife Margareta, in Kinneviken. That was to an event where Friluftsfrämjandet was giving people the chance to test canoeing and kayaking. I was there to help and show some rolls. (Show off!)

Then I was out two days on Lake Vättern with a friend, Frida. Again marvelous weather. And I took a swim in infamously cold Vättern, in september! Actually rather nice.

Again a trip with Friluftsfrämjandet and this time at Yttre Bodane, my home waters. Nice day with a bit of wind and sea. Not much, just so it was a little bit fun. While the others went back home I stayed the night on a small island by myself. A campfire, a beautiful moon and a good sleep in my hammock. Life couldn't be better.

The last trip was the end of the season with Friluftsfrämjandet in Lidköping. An evening trip where the last hour was in the dark. All we had was some glow-sticks to see each other. Several times we heard beavers slap their tails close to us, but otherwise completely silent. Perfect finish of the season.

At Lake Vänern. Halleberg to the right

A feather in the water

Autumn colors at Kinneviken

Margareta

Most photos from the trip on Vättern were fuzzy. So I made Frida even more fuzzy!

Stora Röknen is a military area. We are not allowed to go ashore on this island. (We didn't)

Out of the rock at Yttre Bodane.

Someone is taking a photo of three moose.

A moose cow with two calves

Out of the rock 2!

Just as I was going asleep in my hammock when the moon appeared 

Campfire

Morning at Yttre Bodane

Calm Sunday

Listening to Magnus Hägg

He teaches us how to take a nice photo

Probably I make all the mistakes taking this photo

Following a red glowlight

Me.                               Photo taken by Magnus Hägg.