kayakr.net » Trip

Kayaking trip to Vinga

kayakr — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:10:41 +0000

Johan, Patric and I paddled to Vinga last weekend. It was pretty calm weather and I haven’t been to Vinga in January before. The island Vinga is located furthest west in the Gothenburg archipelago. It’s is exposed it is a fairly long day trip, nearly 32 km back and forth. Vinga has one of oldest and also is one the most famous light houses in Sweden. Anders paddled with us the first part of the kayak trip but turned back at Böttö. I was really tired back home.

Johan in his Clapotis Sea Kayak and Patric in his Surfski from Zedtech. Just before we got the headwind at Böttö.

Lunch break by the light house. The light house stairs protect us from the wind.

16 km each way from the harbour to Vinga. I was so tired and fell asleep in the cinema later in the evening.

Where is the best paddling 2012?

kayakr — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:47:33 +0000

I have started to plan my paddling year but I need some input on where to go! Do you have any suggestions?

Maybe Norway again?

Maybe Finland?

Sweden?

or perhaps Denmark?

Decisions, decisions… I’m also interested in going completely somewhere else. Europe? UK? North America? South Africa? Have you been to any locations you can recommend? Please let me know!

Afternoon paddling

kayakr — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:18:32 +0000

My friends Patric and Markus joined me today for a short kayak trip in the archipelago. I’m trying to learn how to use my new wingpaddle. It is a used wingpaddle but still a wingpaddle. I’m not sure if I will keep it but why not try something new for a while. At the moment I cant really tell any difference on the speed. I’m more confused when I cant do some common strokes. I will let you know more about my progress or if I will let the paddle be available on Ebay.

Markus joined us for the trip. He is paddling a kayak from Point65.

Patric is paddling a Zedtech Griffin. I joined him last november when he bought the Griffin. He is getting more comfortable in the Griffin now!

John Linder, who finished second in the 24 hour paddle race in Malmo, has also bought a Zedtech Griffin. We met Johan on our way back to the harbor.

Kayaking trip to Älvsborg fortress

kayakr — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:01:12 +0000

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.

Kayaking trip to Galterö

kayakr — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:44:13 +0000

Yesterday it was windy and pretty cold during our kayak trip to Galterö in the archipelago of Göteborg, Sweden. Today it is really warm and hardly no wind. Sunscreen on!

Shortest kayak trip

kayakr — Sat, 14 May 2011 10:01:02 +0000

I went out for a short day trip with my qanik. First island outside the harbour. Just about 15 min of paddling each way. Lovely weather!

Kayaking in Fjällbacka Archipelago

kayakr — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:51:07 +0000

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.

Kayaking at the High Coast – part II

kayakr — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:11:28 +0000

Last week my friends and I paddled from the city of Härnösand to the city Örnsköldsvik. We passed the coastline called the High Coast (Höga Kusten in Swedish). It is a really nice paddling trip. The High Coast offers an amazing variety of natural surroundings. Since 2000 the High Coast has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage. What makes The High Coast Unique is its post – glacial rebound. It is still rizing at a rate of eight mm per year. The area has one National Park and heaps of Nature Reserves.

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

Kayaking the High Coast – the movie

kayakr — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:20:59 +0000

We have had an excellent week kayaking at the High Coast in Sweden. It was better than I expected! During the week I have filmed and taken some photos with my iPhone 4. It resulted in the movie “Kayaking at the High Coast”. I did all the editing on the iPhone 4 on the way back home to Göteborg. Enjoy the movie in HD.

Kayaking at the High Coast

The High Coast

kayakr — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:30:38 +0000

Seakayaking at the High Coast in Sweden. We started our kayaking trip two days ago in Härnösand, Sweden. It is beatiful and we have a nice tailwind! I will follow up this post when I get back home.

Location:Sverige