My blog about kayaking with an extra focus on Valleys Nordkapp and Anas Acuta kayaks.
Some outdoors life in Sweden and the places around the world I travel to. Reviews on outdoors gear with mostly kayaking stuff..
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Showing posts with label Yttre Bodane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yttre Bodane. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 March 2017

3 years

I have now been kayaking every month since April 2014. That is every month for three years! And I think that I have been on the Lake Vänern every month as well.

This day me and my friend Christer had snow, rain, wind with us, wind against, calm and sun. Spring weather! We started at the Yttre Bodane nature reserve and at the jetty a bit from the parking lot. Some ice at first but then open water and with a good pace we went mostly outside the islands upp to Vingens hamn and around Gåsön. 
As it then started to rain (mixed with some snow) we went ashore and into the trees to have our lunch. After a bit it stopped raining and the sun was back.

At the trip back we had some head winds and with my Gemini I had to paddle hard to keep up with Christer.
We saw the first ospreys for the season, probably getting their nest ready. 

All in all a very nice day and good training for a long trip we will have in Norway this summer. (More about that in a later blog post).

Some statistics from the day:

Distance = 22,1 km
Time = 5:17 
Travel time = 3:33
Average speed (whole day) = 4.1 km/h
Average speed (paddling) = 6.1 km/h
Max. speed = 8 km/h




Christer is getting ready to go out in the ice.
I put the GoPro on Christers kayak. Here we got some small surf.

Not yet summer!
Christer at our "fika" break

On our way back


Christer in his Arrow play

It's not possible to paddle into the quarry at Trollön  with this low water level.


My Gemini

Nice!

Thursday, 22 September 2016

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.

Sunday, 12 June 2016

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)



Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Six friends on a cold lake Vänern

November 24 was a beautiful monday and we were six friends that were out kayaking this cold day. We started at the parking lot at Yttre Bodane in Dalsland and took a five hours trip on the Lake Vänern. Besides me it was Fredrik, Christer, Björn, Hasse and Göran.
The thermometer showed -6°C and it was a nice frost. Fredrik was already in place as he had stayed the night in his tent at the parking lot.
We took our kayaks out to the wooden jetty and put them in the water. All dressed up warm in our drysuits, gloves and hats. But the sun didn't manage to warm us any but paddling against the wind was a bit hard so it got us all pretty warm.
Soon it was coffee time but we didn't sit very long on the cold stones. We had a nice pace among the many islands and tried some passages that were covered in ice, but it was to thick to brake in places. 2-3 centimeters thick, maybe.
On the north end of Rotön we stopped for lunch but the sun was on the way down all to soon so we kept that stop a bit short as well. A very nice paddling towards the sunset on the way back and the wind was decreasing to almost calm weather.

I have had many posts from Yttre Bodane, my favorite place, and this was one of the more memorable trips. A really great day with good friends.

I will later update the post with a video, one that is a bit longer than the ones I usually make Updated now!. And even on this cold day I did my roll. To see it, watch the video!
Morning at the parking lot at Yttre Bodane. Christer is walking past Fredrik's tent

One of many foot-bridges at Yttre Bodane

The small jetty, special built for kayaks and canoes.

Björn, Christer & Fredrik

Hasse

Coffee break. An important part of the trip

Some passages were not possible to pass due to ice. This one was OK.

Low water level as shown on this beautiful rock. See the icicles?
Hasse (in the back) and Göran (in front)

Rotösund

Sun is going down and we are heading back home.