A year ago I went iceskating in the Archipelago. This year is the Winter late and the sea is still open. That’s perfect. More time for kayaking.

Today I went for a short trip chasing the ferries in the Archipelago. Nobody else on the water these days.

The Braca wing paddle for sea kayaking works out really fine.

Some of the kayak photos I’ve taken from this year. There are more to come from different kayak destinations.

Maria in Lofoten

A bride in a kayak!

Nice speed when kayaking

Gordon Brown is giving instructions

Arrow kayaks in Vesterålen

Gabbi is taking a swim with the Qanik

Janne Bengtsson is paddling fast

Jens Webster outside Varbergs fortress in a surfski from Fenn

Jonas is paddling Clapotis

Patrick in Lofoten

Maria is paddling in Gothenburg Archipelago

City paddling in Göteborg

Patric in a Griffin

Last evening my friends Jonas, Patric and I had a great kayak trip to Valö. We left Göteborg about 7 pm and arrived at Valö just after sunset. Some hours with nice conversations about life, non-important things and kayaks was really nice. An early morning start at 6 am, downwind and I was in time for a meeting at 9 am at the office. This was a perfect start of a weekday!

We have had a long weekend in Sweden with excellent paddling weather. My friend Maria and I went our for three days of paddling in Göteborg Archipelago. The scenery in Göteborg archipelago is really nice and the access is also really good. I’d like to see the Älvsborg fortress again, and Maria had never been there before. It is located in the entrance of Göteborg harbour. So the distance is short but we have to cross the inlet to the harbour to reach the fortress. The traffic to and from Göteborg is sometimes very heavy but today it was just some ferries to and from Denmark that we had to keep attention to.

Maria outside the fortress

The guns at the fortress used to guard the city of Göteborg. But did it quite poorly…

Denmark has been succesful in capturing the fortress and the Swedish taxes raised to pay the ransom for the fortress i 1570. Since then we have kept the taxes at a high rate.

From Älvsborgs fästning we continued paddling to Galterö where we spent the first night. I have been to Galterö before before. The weather was nice but it got cold during the night.

Tent spot at Galterö. The second day offered really nice weather.

Kayaking among the skerries outside the island of Vargö.

From Galterö we paddled south toward Rävholmen. We had a nice soft tailwind and it did not take long until we reached Rävholmen.

We spend the second night at Rävhomen.

My Allak from Hilleberg at the tent spot at the island of Rävholmen

My new Qanik is really nice.

I was very pleased with my Qanik from the beginning and I start to appreciate it even more. I have re-mounted the back support. It gives me great support but it takes some time to adjust it before paddling because I sit on the back support each time I sit in the kayak. But it is worth it. I tried without the support but I was not strong enough to keep myself in a good paddling position. The acceleration of the Qanik is impressive. I catch waves that I have not managed to catch before. This was also the first time I have been out for more than one night with the Qanik. It works really well.

A swan appeared quite close to us

A good friend, Fredrik, appeared quite close to us.

After spending an hour at a café  together with some sea kayaking friends at the island of Styrsö we headed for Hinsholmen after a really nice seakayaking trip.

My friend Carin’s facebook status earlier today was “I am heading for Gothenburg”. So I asked her if she wanted to join for a short paddling trip in Göteborg Archipelago during the evening. It was a really short trip with a beautiful sunset and a nice meal together with friends on one of the closest islands.

Patric, Carin and Fredrik in the sunshine late this evening. Great evening on the cliffs in Göteborg Archipelago.

The Qanik is in the water!!

The spring has arrived and it’s a very nice period in Sweden at the moment. My friends and I traveled to Fjällbacka archipelago for a few days of paddling over Easter. Fjällbacka located on the west coast, halfway (150 km) between Gothenburg, Sweden and Oslo, Norway. The archipelago is absolutely fantastic here. An absolute favorite kayaking destination in Sweden.

Fredrik is heading west from the starting point, close to the small picturesque city of Fjällbacka.

It was very calm days and hardly any motor or sailing boats. This part of the season is great!

Malin has built a Black Pearl during the winter but she chose her second kayak today.

And so did Jonas.

There are many pretty fishing villages in the archipelago.

Väderöarna (Weather islands) just visible in the mist

The water was calm and looked like a mirror

Some of the islands are pretty high. The View from Norra Dyngön is impressive.

Erik and Pia dropped by for a nice evening at St Måkholmen. They have an excellent kayak site, kajak.nu.

There is a fun story about the labyrinths at Måkholmen. A few years ago revealed the secret of the labyrinth. Scientists believed that the labyrinth was from the eleventh century. But it was some youngsters who had build them during the fifties.

Slackers at Stora Måkholmen!

We were not the only paddlers in Fjällbacka archipelago this weekend. This was a group of leaders from the outdoor organisation Norrviken (really nice pictures) from Stockholm.

The famous Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (staring in Casablanca) used to live in Fjällbacka archipelago. She lived on a small island called Dannholmen. There is a statue of a pigeon that is clearly visible when approaching Dannholmen.

I have spent too many days indoors this year but last week my friend Patric suggested that we just should do a short trip to Rivö in Goteborg Archipelago. It’s about one hour kayaking trip from the harbor to Rivö. Rivö has a population of 35 sheep, 4 horses and some Ravens.

We had really nice weather and a really good time.

We spotted two caribous today! Built in Marstrand.

The view from Rivö is excellent. A nice spot for dinner!

Geveskär  in the inlet to Goteborg.

The wild raspberries at Rivö was delicious! The Public Access in Sweden is great.

I have been kayaking the last couple of days and mostly day trips in Goteborg. Not very long or advanced paddling but still very nice and relaxing.

Gabriella is taking her first strokes ever!

Lunchbreak at Eskilsholmen in the Goteborg Archipelago.

Tomas is his Rumour in Goteborg Archipelago

The first kayak trip of the year went to the island of Valö. It is located in the south part of Göteborg Archipelago. Kayaking in Sweden has been a struggle this year. The winter has been really long and most parts of the coastline has been covered with ice. So it is a late premiere. It was a really windy paddling to Valö. Even if the distance is just 12 km I thought it was really hard. The trip back to Göteborg was really nice. A light breeze in the back and a nice fog that made the trip more adventurous.

Patric is having a rest, protected from the wind. When we left Göteborg is was sunny but it was just about to change…

Eric and Pia is having a rest on our way back to Göteborg

The best part of Valö is that we as members of the Göteborg Canoing Association have access to the lighthouse and the cabins. Some of the Cabins have a stove which makes the staying more comfortable. We had rain mixed with snow during sunday afternoon. Then it felt good that we had left the tents back home.

A video clip from the trip. Erik and Pia was already at Valö when we arrived.

Now I’m off for some cross country skiing in the mountains further north of Sweden.

I came home last night after a 7 day kayak trip to Stockholm archipelago together with two good friends, Patric and Carl Johan. Stockholm Archipelago is a great destination for seakayaking. We have had a really good trip with good weather conditions (tailwind and mostly sunny), a huge archipelago to discover, great paddling, lots of sea eagles and just great fun. This was my first trip to Stockholm archipelago and I must admit that it was a great experience. We went through the archipelago from the south to the north. We could easily spend another week discovering more fantastic spots. I’m organising a destination report and will publish it in the next coming days. Meanwhile here is a few pictures.

Carl Johan outside the island of Öja and the light house “Landsort”

The view from Stora Björn “Ursa Major”

Carl Johan getting close to the rocks

Patric outside the island of Svartlöga

Sunset from the tent at Stora Alskär

There are already some more pics and text at my other site in swedish, petersvensson.com