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.
At exactly midnight on Midsummer's Eve I set out with my kayak from Fjällbacka, a small Swedish coastal town. I paddled for 45 minutes until I saw the fire on a beach on "Porsholmen", an small island in the archipelago outside Fjällbacka. There 18 other kayakers were having their Midsummer celebration.
Next morning four of us started earlier then the rest to go out to "Lyngö", an island with a lot of reefs and nice passages passable only with kayak. We had a fantastic day with some wind, swell and a lot of sun. Perfect! Unfortunately I didn't catch the best parts with my camera or the GoPro. In one deep ravine I got stuck with the kayak, too narrow to turn and at an other moment a reflecting wave turned me over but I manged to roll up again.
At lunch we met up with the others at "Långeskär" and after we split up in different groups again. Was with some other friends in the afternoon as we took a trip more outside before heading back to "Porsholmen".
Then we spent a nice evening with food and drink on this beautiful place before going to sleep. Some had then already left us but we were about ten of us who stayed the last night at Porsholmen.
A very nice weekend with old and new friends. Thanks to Caroline, Micke and Marina for arranging this.
On Wednesday evening I was with Friluftsfrämjandet (an outdoors organisation a bit like The Scouts) in Vänersborg to practice rolling with my kayak. It was a lot of fun! Of course I brought my own kayak, the Anas Acuta which is such a joy to roll with.
I did my normal roll, a butterfly roll and re-entry. The last is where I get in to the kayak under water and roll upp. I also tried to do a hand roll but didn't succeed.
As I was working on the Ships Simulator in Göteborg this week I had to go upp to Vänersborg after work and then in the night back to Göteborg and have a few hours sleep in the hotel before working again. It was worth it!
For the first time I did the video in GoPro Studio program alone. Normally I start there but then finish the movie in Microsoft Movie Maker. GoPro Studio is a good program but I have som issues with it now as it keeps crashing for me. I think it's my computer rather then the program.
I have been busy with work and other training besides kayaking lately. But I have been out a few times anyway.
First it was close to home with a trip from Sunnanå to Köpmannebro and back with a friend. A very nice day with calm weather most of the day. We saw a few sea eagles, a raven and some seabirds. That is always nice.
Then on the 11th I was out with two friends on a more windy, but sunny, day from Donslund (Rackeby) north of Lidköping. We went straight outside the islands to surf some nice sea for a bit before going inside to have a lee for some lunch and not to have to paddle against to much wind on the way back.
Look at the video at the end of the post from that day.
And I have a new camera! My old GoPro was not working very well and I sent it in to the shop (Dustin) for repairs or replacement. Even if it was two years old they replaced my old Hero 3 with a Hero 4 Silver. That is an amazing camera! Better battery time than my old one and and a touch screen on the backside. Unfortunately the batteries for the old camera didn't fit so I had to buy some extra. I will now make some more videos when I'm out kayaking or hiking.
Nice sunny November day. Sunnanå in the background
Some friends invited me to join them in a a trip with open canoe down a river in Norway and Sweden. Also for a bit of kayaking on lake Siljan in Dalarna.
I put my Anas Acuta and an old VKV Kåre kayak that need some repairs on my car and drove for five hours to Mora in Dalarna. There we repacked and with two cars me, Olle, Fredrik and Linda went to Sälen where we got picket up by the canoeing company.
Then the next three day we paddled down the river back to Sälen. Fantastic weather with very few clouds but a bit cold a night. But that was OK as the mosquitoes were at a manageable amount.
Some white water at places, the longest 3 km and some smooth waters in between. Just an amazing wilderness with some fishing cottages at a few places. We also saw some very few fishermen doing some fly fishing.
Three days with nice company, good food, fantastic weather and fabulous nature. How can it be better?
Another great summer day here in West Sweden. Today me and two friends went to the same beach as I was on yesterday and did some more practicing with the rolling.
My friend Fredrik (I stole the photo from you Fredrik) is now doing great in his Seabird Design Scott and with some help and instructions Magnus managed to do his first roll ever in his Tahe Greenland. It's almost better to help someone else succeed than doing it yourself!
For myself the rolling is going really very good. I did about 20 rolls and never had to do a wet exit. I even managed to do a "Butterfly roll". A good day.
I will update this post in a few days when I have edited the video I took with my GoPro. (That is not cooperating with me at the moment).
After an early morning with
the last pilotage with the sailing ship Götheborg it was time to test my AnasAcuta in some surf.
Together with some friends
I went to Svalnäs beach for some surf training in a nice wind. Just about the
right height of surf for testing my new kayak. The water was not to cold and
the sun broke through eventually.
The Anas Acuta is not as
fast as the Nordkapp so I had to paddle a bit harder to catch and stay on the
surf. But it was nice for turning in the seas, a lot better than the Nordkapp.
So, for surfing the Anas Acuta is handling a bit different then the Nordkapp.
Better or worse? Depends on your taste I suppose, the Anas Acuta is better at handling
but slower and harder to catch the surf.
