[Paddlewise] Hi all!

Just wanted to introduce myself and my paddling partner, that is my wife!

My name is Tord S Eriksson and my wife's is Ann-Christine. Both are
around 50, and both have extensive out-door experience, for my wife
much of it spent in canoes paddling the waters of Sweden, and for me
it has been a lot of trekking in the Scandinavian mountains, with a few
stints in kayaks, the longer along the Hvga Kusten ("The High Coast")
which offered spectacular views and grand sea-paddling in various
kayaks from Vitudden, and an old Navy Klepper Aerius II. Three glorious
weeks, indeed!

For me there then was a twenty years hiatus, where other interests,
like motorbiking, took over, until a severe motorbike accident forced me
to consider a life in a wheel chair instead. But, after lots of toil and
10+ operations, I was back at my work (eight years later), found a 
woman who rekindled my appetite for outdoor life (I had spent a lot
of the intervening years flying models and editing an outdoor magazine,
which not quite qualify as outdoor activities, but almost).

We got our own Klepper Aerius II late last summer and had a few nice 
paddles in the surrounding waters, both lakes and estuaries, and in October
we went for a paddle near Fort William, Scotland! Just a perfect end of
a short paddling season. 

So this year we're going to circumnavigate Skye in our Klepper, our beloved
folding kayak. Hopefully we'll see whales, porpoises, seals and otters, not
to mention a lot of the flying fauna!

But the first outing this year became very, very memorable!

To put it short, I just remail a mail I sent the very same day (slightly 
corrected, with official water and air temperatures, et cetera):

====================================

 Hi all,

  I recently praised the stuff from Chillcheater in the UK,
  and today it definitely saved my life, and my wife's!

  While paddling in +3C waters at sea near our home, we 
  somehow turned topsy-turvy and were for a few secs
  totally immersed in the ice-cold water. Slowly the Chilcheater
  dry cag, and dry trousers filled with water, but it was actually
  after getting onto a little reef the cold really took hold -
  it is now a few degrees below freezing, so it was about
  two degrees then. 

 The kayak drifted downwind while we swam towards the
 the nearest rock - a length swim time-wise, as the clothes 
 and wading boots slowed our process to snail pace, but just 
 a hundred yards, or so.

  We tried to raise help from the shore - eventually a fishing boat,
  saw our predictament!

  It was piloted by Henry, a veteran 76 years old, who had scuttled 
  thrice in his 62 years as a fisherman - once he was the sole survivor,
  so our adventure didn't impress him one bit! 

  Henry expertly manouvred his boat close to us and we could 
  just step onboard, not much strength left by then. With the 
  aid of a guy in a small open boat we managed to take the 
  folding kayak, that had drifted a half a nautical mile downwind, 
  on tow. Getting the waterfilled boat out of the water proved 
  to be a major problem, so we'll invest in an electric bilge 
  pump as soon as possible! But we eventually got it out, 
  after my wife had pumped a few hundreds of water 
  out of it - I was just too shaky to do much just then.
  She sat there with her feet immersed in the freezing water, 
  pumping and pumping! Eventually she was too cold to do 
  any more, and with the help of bystanders we got it out.

  All stuff were eventually retrieved, some more soggy than 
  other - the alarm button to the car died totally, so we had
  to get a spare, in the other end of town, which took a lot 
  of time, of course!

  So, we are still in one piece, if terribly sore, totally thanks
  to Chilcheater in Devon, UK! 

  Yours,

  Tord

=========================================

Addendum:

We turned topsy-turvy in a second, or so, while we
both were looking towards the shore and pointed,
with the seas coming from port - not a brilliant idea
in the first place, and we were very lightly loaded, so
the stability was marginal, to boot!

We now have the bilge pump installed - with associated
heavy-duty, sealed, lead-acid battery, and the minor
damage the kayak's frame sustained when we tried to lift
it, partly water-filled, over a two meter high quay-side, has 
been repaired and we have moved the seats down quite 
a bit (2", 5 cm). Hopefully that will improve things a lot!

Other mods are bigger rudder (balanced) and simpler method
of installing the rudder padels assembly!

A solar panel will charge the sealed lead-acid battery,
which also will be used to charge various items so
essential in modern life, like GPS!
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