Besides good paddling and opportunities to meet lots of fun kayakers there was arranged paddling trips and different courses. Courses was held by Björn Thomasson. We went to the light house at Måseskär and some circumnavigated the island of Härmanö. On Saturday night was the traditional dinner at the Tofta Gård. Bengt Rodin showed his photos and talked about the kayaking trips he has done in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.

The Kayak Association of Tjörn, arranged trips both days.

Björn Thomasson held courses in paddling technique and rolling technique.

The coolest skirt at the symposium this year!

It was crowded at Hermanö.

Some had  a looong lunch break

CJ and Marie raced against this old beautiful ship

Åsa, who joined us at the trip to the High Coast a couple of weeks ago, is getting ready for a shorter trip!

Måseskär lighthouse

Video clip from Stockenträffen

The Stockentraffen is free of charge but it is a camping fee. Registration for participation in some courses and/or trips might be needed. If you want to join join the the Saturday night dinner/BBQ you must make a reservation in advance.  Check out the information at Orust Kajak.

Here is a videoclip from last year that I found at Youtube. Best part is from 3.50 in the clip.

Lars from Horisont kayaks in Stockholm at Stockenträffen 2008.

The 3 – 5 of september it time for the Rävholmsträffen (in Swedish) in Göteborg Archipelago. It has no program. The weather decides the activities. Some years there has been paddlingtrips to the light houses of Vinga and Tistlarna and some has been surfing in the bay at Rävholmen. The atmosphere is relaxed and about 50 – 60 kayakers are ususally attending if the weather is good. Come as you are! No registrationen is needed. It is free of charge. Just bring your kayak stuff, tent, food and something to drink.

The bay at Rävholmen

Final kayak event this year  held by the magazine Paddling at Tjärö in Blekinge. The Tjäröfestivalen is held 10 – 12 of september and has a nice program and activities, both interesting talks from Swedish adventures and kayak designers and work shops. Unfortunately is the information only in Swedish. There is a registration fee of 795 SEK. In that price is all activities on land and sea, BBQ and Camping included. To bad I can’t join Tjäröfestivalen but I am Hiking in the North of Sweden!

I have been searching fo a new kayak for a while and even considered building one by myself. But hey, I have the thumbs in the middle of my hands. I can’t build anything that can float. I have to buy a kayak.

So which kayak is the best choice for me?

My demands is:

• Small Cockpit
• Easy to turn
• Fast
• Low Deck
• Fit my gear for a one week trip

I would love a low version of the Clapotis Seakayak. The Clapotis is very easy to turn and has a nice cruising speed but it is huge compared to the Silhoutte. The designer Johan Linder is quite tall and has big feet so his priority isn’t  a small cockpit and low deck. Besides that, he only produce a few Clapotis Seakayaks every second or third year.

A kayak friend of mine, Anders Olsson, has build a low version of the Clapotis Seakayak. It is beautiful but unfortunately not for sale… And as you remember I have dropped the idea of building one by myself.

I almost bought a Anas Acuta from Valley last year but I think the Anas Acuta is to expensive and I´m concerned it might be a bit slow. I’m not a fast paddler so I do not know why this should be a problem anyway but I´m still concerned and that affects me. I do like the maneuverability and I fit well in the kayak.

But a couple of months ago I found an article at the web site of Björn Thomasson that caught my attention. Björn is the designer of the Black Pearl. (The Black Pearl was rated 10 out of 10 when it was reviewed by Paddling.net).  The article mentioned that he has designed a kayak for Seabird Designs. The kayak is named Qanik. The Qanik is Bjorns version of the Illorsuit kayak. The reading was very interesting and the design appealed to me. Here is the summary about the information that I appreciate about the Qanik.

• It is build a few inches longer to increase the speed compared to Anas Acuta. I like!
• Lower stems. I like!
• Slightly lower deck. I like!
• It should be much easier to turn than the Silhouette. I like!
• Hopefully cheaper than the Anas Acuta. I like!

Qanik designed by Björn Thomasson. The original image is found at www.thomassondesign.com

The Qanik is soon in production and will be presented at the Kanu Messe in Nurnberg, Germany, in October 2010. It will be available at dealers 2011. According to Swedish dealers the prize will be about 14 000 SEK = 1 420 EUR.

I’m certainly going to have a closer look at the Qanik as soon as possible. There is a hand made version done by Erik Franzén, Here is a link to a picture of the Qanik during a rolling session with Dubside.

Do you have any other suggestions on kayak models that might be good for me?

The kayak trip along the High Coast maybe is not the easiest choice for beginners because some parts are really exposed and it can be hard to find easy landing in strong winds. We had great conditions almost everyday with a slight tail wind. One day we had a headwind (near gale). We then decided to have a bonus day at Högbonden.

We started downtown in the City of Härnösand. Our plan was to paddle about 20 km every day and do some longer stops at some islands along the trip. We paddled for seven days. The coastline is pretty rough due to the post glacial rebound. We had excellent support from Höga Kusten Kajak in Härnösand who helped us with transport back from Örnsköldvik to Härnösand.

We started in Härnösand in cloudy weather

We are used to camp straight on the cliffs but at the High Coast we sometimes camped in the forests.

Åsa, Fredrik and Patric.

The red Rapakivi granite has been a geolocial symbol for the area.

The lighthouse of Högbonden. The old lighthouse keeper’s house is now a youth hostel, Högbondens vandrarhem. We spent an extra night there due to headwind. A really nice and cool place.

We also had calm weather! Fredrik is paddling his Legend

Crossing between some islands.

I will post a full trip description. But it may take some days before it is finished. Here is two different video clips from the trip.

Here is the first videoclip edited in my Iphone

Here is the second videoclip edited at home

- Posted from my iPhone 4

Location:Sverige

Location:Sverige

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.

Gabriella is taking her first strokes ever!

Lunchbreak at Eskilsholmen in the Goteborg Archipelago.

Tomas is his Rumour in Goteborg Archipelago

By the way, Valley have a quite new design of their website. Pretty good actually.

The Clapotis Kayak is proberly one of the kayak brand that is not included in the list. It is very popular here in Goteborg.

I’m having a break behind a small light house, to avoid the headwind for a while, on my way to Valö.

Some of the kayaks at Valö.

A group of paddlers are heading out to the waves.

Some islets south of Valö was the playground this time.

Tomas is getting out through the break in his Rumour.

followed by Andreas in his Clapotis.

Johan and Tomas is having fun.

Tomas posing in front of the camera.

Johan is the designer and builder of Clapotis and Clapotis 2.0.

High brace

Anders bought a hull from Johan and designed the Clapotis lowrider. Great work! I want one!

On the leeward of Valö some practiced sculling and eskimo rolling.

Some was just having a good time.

Saturday night and the barbeque

It was really calm conditions on our way back to Goteborg

A video from Valöträffen