16 kayaks

At June 11 and 12 I had my yearly trip from Yttre Bodane wildlife preserve to Tösse archipelago and back. Previous years we had been maximum six or seven participants but this year we were 16 kayaks doing this trip! All of them were my kayaking friends but some of them had not met each other before. My daughter Paula, who was with me the first "Dalslandspaddling" 2008, was also with us and she borrowed my Anas Acuta. I was in my Nordkapp for the first time this year. Very nice and it felt good to be in a kayak a bit faster than my Anas Acuta.

Some of us were at the parking lot already Friday evening and the rest showed up at Saturday morning. We had to take our kayaks down to the lake on trolleys but soon enough we were all in the water. It was sunny but windy and not very warm but good weather for kayaking. We started to go outside the islands at Yttre Bodane and soon had our first coffee break! After that we continued on the inside of Rotön and then up to Vingens hamn where we had lunch. The sun was still there but it was a bit cold in the wind. After lunch we went into the old quarry at Trollön and I think 16 kayaks in there is a new record. (There are very little information on the Internet about Rotön, Vingens hamn and Trollön)

Late afternoon we arrived at the camp at Storön in Tösse archipelago. It is a great place for camping and I had already been there with fire wood a few weeks before. Some were taking a swim in the cold water, to cold for me, and we made our dinner. The mosquitoes and No-See-Ums are terrible this year so we had the campfire going until it was time for bed.  Some pitched their tents on the wooden jetty and the rest in the garden of the house or in the woods. Me and Björn were sleeping in our hammocks.
(A lot of people are asking me about my hammock. It's a Hennessy Hammock and my model is a Explorer Deluxe Aym Zip. I bought my from Momojord but now you can find them in several stores in Sweden. Also check out Youtube about this cool hammock.)

Next morning I woke up at 06:30 to a lot of bird song. As I was the first one up I started the fire to keep the mosquitoes away and to make hot water for tea and coffee. This day turned out to be even more nice then the previous day with less wind and no clouds. The sun was warming us so we could paddle in T-shirts (or in her paddle jacket, Paula). Magnus and our youngest member left us at Tösse so it was 14 of us going back to Yttre Bodane.

As the wind and sea was a bit less this day we kept mostly on the outside of the islands on our way back. It was only at Yttre Bodane we took a more inshore route. A lot warmer in the water there and Fredrik took the chance to have a swim.

Finally at 18:00 (6 PM) we were back att our starting place. I think this trip was a success again and I am already looking forward to next year's "Dalslandspaddling". That will be the 10th anniversary for this trip and I believe we will be even more people next year.

Thanks for a nice trip Fredrik, Paula, Björn, Hasse, Torbjörn, Andreas, Christer, Lennart, Anders, Kajsa, Mats, Dag, Jonas, Magnus and Karl.

Sometime the next two weeks I hope to have a video from the trip here. You just have to wait for it :)

Our track. 47,1 km and  5,5 km/h avarge

The whole bunch!

On of many breaks

Inside Trollön. New record with 16 kayaks?

On the way

Torbjörn in Rotö strait

Lazy people camping :)

Required photo

Me

Paula

Grass snake (snok)

First test

I been out two days on the Lake Vänern testing my new kayak. I have paddled an Anas Acuta before, briefly, and knew how well she handled, but not loaded and in wind.
I left Sunnanå early afternoon and surfed with the wind up to an island where I set up my hammock and left some of my gear there. Then it was out testing in between all the small islands and reefs, magic!
The Nordkapp is a very nice kayak in every way but for maneuvering in narrow waters the Ana Acuta is outstanding. She behaves well in seas as well but there the Nordkapp is a touch better, I think.
After a brief visit at some friends I went back to "my" island and made a small campfire. Had some tea and sandwiches and read a book. Very tired I fell asleep in the increasing wind.

Next morning it was a lot windier and sometimes a struggle to get ahead. But the kayak behaved well, I had to use some more skeg then on my Nordkapp but she is turning a lot faster when edging the kayak.

It does look nice

Me in my new PFD

Nice day

Hammock

Bliss!

I also had my new PFD (flytväst in Swedish) for the first time. It's an Palm Kaikoura with a lot of pockets and nice features. I really like how it fits me, my old PFD was a bit to big for me now.

On Sunday I did a new pilotage on the worlds biggest wooden sailing vessel, Ostindiefararen "Götheborg". It was in to Åmål which is almost my homeport. A lot of people watching as always and quite a lot of friends there. Now it's only one more into Vänersborg with that fantastic ship.

Arrival

Captain Hedlund

Belaying the sails

Radio interview (Swedish) 

Swedish Shipping Administration article (Swedish)
Article in NWT (Swedish)

Jobb

På Laxsjön

Ibland kan jobb vara väldigt trevliga. Som det här jobbet med en norsk skolklass och paddling i fem dagar i Dalslands kanal.
Vi startade från Kanalvillan i Dals Långed på måndagen och paddlade via Billingsfors och Bengtsfors igenom slussar till Lelång. Sedan var det lyft vid Kråkviken till Västra Silen, nytt lyft vid Skifors till Svärdlång. Därefter ett sista lyft ner till Laxsjön igen.
Det var tredje gången som jag var ute på samma tur med den norska skolan och vi hade väldig tur med vädret när sommaren äntligen ville visa sig.


Möte med Dalslandia

Slussar



På Svärdlång

Härlig strand för min hammock

Gubbhajk



Tack för de fina mössorna Peter

Då var det dags för en liten tur med några gubbar ut i naturen. Det var både vana och ovana friluftsfolk samt några däremellan, bara mogna gubbar.

After some pause in the blogging I'm now back. I have done several short kayaking trips the last two weeks but not much to write about. If you want to read this in some other language than Swedish, please use the "Translate" gadget up in the right corner.



Gubbarna på plats

Vi startade ifrån Mellerud med bil och åkte till Kanalvillan i Dals-Långed med bil. Sedan efter en lätt lunch var det packning och ombordstigning i en storkanot, plats för 16 personer så vi tio fick gott om plats även för vår packning. Aldrig har nog någon av kanoterna på Kanalvillan varit så välbemannade som den här gången, två lotsar och en maskinchef! Inte mycket till maskin att greja med för en pensionerad chief, i och för sig.
Gubbgänget bestod av mig, Kent, Chris, Patrik, Björn, Mikael, Peter, Henrik, Björn och Kristoffer. Vi representerade förutom Mellerud, Grinstad, Åmål, Trollhättan, Lidköping och Munka-Ljungby (Skåne).

Patrik, Mikael, Björn, Björn och Peter vid elden.

Akta fingrarna Henrik!

Efter en dryg timma nådde vi "Värdens ände" (Sistimus) på Baldersnäs där det blev fika, tjöt, eldning mer tjöt, kaffe, hamburgare på muurika och mycket skratt.
En fantastisk kväll blev det med en vacker solnedgång. Två av gubbarna var tyvärr tvungna att lämna oss framåt natten (planerat).


På morgonen var det dimmigt men strax efter sju och när gröten stod på elden började solen komma fram och skingra dimmolnen. En lika vacker morgon som kvällen varit.

Vi kom iväg igen strax efter tio (trodde jag men tidtagaren visade sig vara lite förvirrad, så klockan var bara nio). En ganska rask paddling tillbaka till Kanalvillan, urpackning och hemfärd. Ett mycket trevligt dygn i goda kamraters samvaro. Kan bli svårt att övertrumfa den här hajken. Tack Gubbar för ett väldigt trevligt sällskap.


Peter och Chris

Kristoffer

Kväll

God natt!

Morgonkaffe



Dimman lättar

Sistimus i morgonljus

Gröt

Kent jobbar!!??



Vi som kom tillbaka