Friday, August 24: Still a bit of rain in the morning, clearing rather quickly, one or two showers along the way, sea breeze
Sea Kayaking: 17.2 km
Bråtö wilderness camping
We were up before the others as usual but not so early and had our breakfast in the well-hung mess. Not much of the clothes had become dry and the tent was still very wet despite the increasing wind. The quarry next to the campground was operating from fairly early on, including a couple of detonations with acoustic warnings that sounded like car alarms.
Everyone else was up as soon as the rain was over and a lot of stuff was hung over fence posts in an attempt to dry. The boats were also fairly full of water so my bailing device came into good use. Eventually the mess room was cleared out and the boats were ready to go. As the ramp was too slippery to attempt an entry into the water, I had fixated the pontoon so that the boats could be let down the slip and forwarded to the pontoon where they were entered.
Slide Show
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Then it was down the fiord in three stops to Gullholmen, with head wind but fairly good going nonetheless. Philipp had wanted to go shopping in the supermarket there and a couple of other people got out as well. Four of us (Simon, Franzi, Jan and I) stayed on the water while a bit of a rain storm passed over. It was a pity that the cameras were under deck because Gullholmen is very pretty, as a short tour of the harbor showed. After half an hour or so everyone was back in their boats and we took off to the next destination, a spot for lunch. We turned off just before the camping ground at Stocken and continued on for a short while. This had to be very improvised, a seepage “estuary” where there was at least some vegetation and little wave action. On pulling up my boat on land I was a little too energetic and knocked my self over. Anyway lunch was a couple of the available muesli bars and some water.
The next possible destinations were 5 or 7 km down the track, the first of which offered very little shelter from the sea breeze, the further a little more. Along the way a single Swedish kayaker caught up with us but he really wanted to have a word with our navigator, after which he returned the way he came. Apart from that we had nearly crossed paths with two pairs of kayakers going in different directions as well as a couple of older gents kayaking in Gullholmen harbor.
Interactive Map
The final destination was fairly clear and the sea was very rough in the approach, although it took two bites of the cherry to find a landing spot. Plenty of flat area here, mostly covered in goose droppings. Tents were quickly put up and I had a bit of a lie down as the others explored the island. One tent anchorage had torn and the improvised solution was to put a knot in the free end and tie a loop, which would hold for the remainder of the trip. The sun came out every now and then. When everyone was back, Philipp & Simon put up a clothesline and a lot of stuff was dried that had gotten wet during the day or was still wet from yesterday.
I scouted around for a more sheltered place to cook and eat, and found such behind a nearby rock. Set up the stove there, but the radiation loss was still considerable, and it took some time to get our meal of rice with kohlrabi & onions with the usual condiments cooked. In the meantime everyone had gathered there for their meals and the debriefing was held. All in all good progress for the weather (travel time appeared to be 4½ hours yet again).
Had broken the pus-filled blister yet again this morning and it seems to have settled down. The broken blister on the right thumb looks like a broken blister on a surfer, but is not inflamed. Had a bit of a runny tummy after dinner and was just able to dig the hole in time.
So there: Six days in a boat, personal records all round, and another six to go.
