Valley Nordkapp Experience: 16 kayaks

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 :)