Vigu Sea Kayaking II

In the last week of August it was finally time for the Vigu Sea Kayaking II course. I had looked forward to it for quite a while and looking at the list of participants it seemed that we would get a good group with most people having kayaked quite a bit earlier. Eva-Lotta Backman, one of the foremost paddling instructors and coaches in Finland, would be our instructor. Check out her blog (in Swedish) here.

Archipelago Sea filming and paddling trip part 2

Continued from here.

Archipelago Sea filming and paddling trip part 1

On Monday 26th July it was time for the week-long paddling and filming trip in the Archipelago Sea for the Lennart Media film, starting from the Gyltö bridge and arriving at Kökar six days later. The intention was to start filming and paddling fairly early, but a strong wind kept us on land until the evening. We also changed the starting point to Rumar because of the wind.

Aquarius Sea Lion kayak review

Ok, here I am with a full-blown product review, even though I've said a number of times that I don't do any. There has however been some requests and questions about the Aquarius Sea Lion kayak, which is sold in a number of Northern European countries and not much information is found on the internet about it. At the time writing I have around 700 km of paddling with the Sea Lion during fall, winter, spring and summer in different conditions, in winds up to 10 m/s and waves up to 1.5 m as well as a number of overnighters and one week-long trip. I now think I have a pretty well founded view of it to offer.

Kvarken kayaking trip part 2

Continued from here.

Kvarken kayaking trip part 1

It was sometime during the winter I mentioned that I had paddled a little in the Kvarken region when we were out paddling. One thing led to another and suddenly I sat there planning a week-long trip to the area for the local paddling club here in Turku. It quickly turned out that the area we would preferably visit was the Kvarken World Heritage area west of Vaasa, where I had never been in a kayak. I had paddled the 100 km stretch south of Vaasa, but I assumed the basic principle would be the same. Lots of stones everywhere.

Vacation kick-start overnighter

June was far more hectic that I would have like. A four day Vigu course, five day family vacation to Denmark and Legoland and the conclusion of a five-year project at work kept me very busy. Even the very last day at work before the vacation had me take a work trip to Helsinki, despite having agreed to a paddling overnighter in the afternoon. After some quick packing and a slight delay we got in the car for the two hour ride to the far side of Korpo, for some paddling, team building and filming exercises for the coming paddling film of Lennart Media.