Spring kayaking

When the plans for the weekend changed, I asked T from the local kayaking club about an overnighter. She had already made plans with someone else, but I was welcome to join them. I thus found myself driving to Kasnäs with my kayak on the roof immediately after work on Friday. The sea weather forecast mentioned a wind speed of up to 12 m/s, which means that the inner archipelago east of Kasnäs would be the destination of choice. The water temperature is still only around 5°C, so safety still takes priority over fun.

Greenland Paddle, Six Months Later

In November 2014 I bought a Greenland paddle. I had been curious for quite a while, and inspired in particular by the Swedish kayak designer Björn Thomasson, see www.thomassondesign.com (lots of info in Swedish and some in English). During a visit to the local shop Melontapiste, I noticed that Lahnakoski had a rather cheap Greenland paddle in my length (228 cm), so I bought it and started to use it.

The State of the Spring

The spring is an excellent time of the year and after this year's very short winter it is especially welcome. Even though the winter had ended by the end of February, the spring is no earlier than normal. Last weekend's overnighter showed that the taiga forest didn't have any spring flowers yet, but a lot can happen in a week, even though it hasn't actually been particularly warm.

Spring Overnighter

The 11 year old was away for a night, so I used the opportunity to go on a short backpacking overnighter with the 10-year old. We decided to follow one of the trails in the Kurjenrahka National Park.

Another short kayaking overnighter

The weather forecast looked ok for a short kayaking overnighter this weekend as well. The night temperature was about the same one as one week before, but a stronger wind would mean less risk for getting too much ice. Or so I thought. Regarding the wind, the weather forecast was not optimal, but it looked like there would be a suitable window between Saturday afternoon and Sunday noon. I got T from the local paddling club to join me this time.

A short kayaking overnighter

The short winter is just a memory now and in many ways it starts to feel like spring. We've had a week of sunny weather with day temperatures up to 10C and night temperatures below freezing. The sun and the light are very welcome, but the real spring is in all likelihood still a month away. I've checked out the forest trails for mtb riding, but I've decided to wait a little longer for everything to dry up. However, the forecasted weekend weather was so great that I had to do something and that something turned out to be kayaking. Due to some timetable constraints I decided to leave after work on Friday and be back before lunch on Saturday.

The beginning of a season

Another short winter is over. Though it was not the same miserable failure as last year's, it was still two months too short. One month of real winter with the possibility to ski in the nature is simply not enough, especially when you remember winters such as the one 2012-2013, which allowed skiing in the nature from the end of November almost to the middle of April. I did make the most of the winter, though, with overnighters an all four winter weekends and six nights out.