30/8 Stockholm Canoe Marathon 2008 SKM Stockholm Kanot Maraton

Saturday we, Point 65 and our flag ship store, PampasKajak, hosted the 2008 Stockholm Canoe Marathon. 200 paddlers, yours truly amongs them paddled through down town Stockholm in all sorts of kayaks, styles and shapes.

Geat ready, set...

Getting ready, #29

Another paddler preparing for the race

Staffan, who heads our Swedish distribution and Lina our office manager, reeady to go. they came in third in the short double kayak class.

Vivi and Zoe Öhman also paddled a double. They beat Louise Rosenqvist and Richard Dellström!

Paul in the little red kayak (a Picnic) at the start. Paul had a big day. I flew in from London with Paul at 1 am the night before the Marathon. That after a grueling drive though south England to Gattwick Airport.
Saturday morning he first rushed of to the classic rowing competition "DISTANSEN" from Vaxholm to Stockholm which he won at a new record time.
Paul after the marathon
He just made it to the start of the Canoe Marathon and paddled the 31,5 km in the plastic day boat in 3:15 h!!! He came in 27th amongs a bunch of racing kayaks and fast touring boats. Thats 9.6km/h average. Hey, Picnic is faster than we thought:-)

This photo by Glenn Mattsing
Halfway through. I made it in just over an hour! The short marathon....

Happy paddler. I made it!

And in time for the price ceremony.

The winners in the short double class were two proud 16 year old kids,
Torbjörn Sandberg and Axel Thorell

The winners of the mens and womens full marathon, Mikael Westlén and Agneta Bergman Fredrikson

The Point 65 team

The Point 65 team in one place at the same time!

From bottom right : Andy and Karen, Tobbe, Erik, Tomas, me, Åsa, Nigel, Kristin, Staffan (with paddle),David, Vivi, Christian, Paul, Börje, Malte and Justin on the very top.

And the whisky loving big kahunas, Tomas, Nigel and me:-)

15/8 Point 65 photo shoot

It's mid August again and time to shoot the photographs for the 2009 catalogue. I'm in trouble here but actually made it without capsizing!

This year we headed out to the southern part of the Stockholm archipelago for half a week. The islands out there, hundreds of them, like Öja, Askö and Bokö are incredibly beautiful.

Waves were high! Thats my head there...

The granite stone, the light and the water is magical All within a day of paddling from Point 65s head office. The shoot is more a combination of adventure, fun, play and serious paddling.

Justin can always be found were the rough water is

All recorded by photographer Malte Danielsson. But most importantly it’s about spending quality time without the company of key boards, screens and phones.

Börje, Malte and Vivi disscusing the next shoot

We bring tons of food, drink, gear and a guitar and just let go. This year there were 19 of us.

Nigel in a reversed pipeline?

The preparations for the shoot are frantic. Organizing paddling apparel matching the colours of the kayaks, tents, sleeping bags, camping stoves etc etc.

Karen advising Börje and Nigel

Börje Salming and Nigel Foster, two ledgends discussing hockey or paddling? Actually it's coffee...

And getting the new kayak models for the coming season ready from production for the shoot. The shoot is a lot of work. But it’s a riot and we have a great time doing it!

Malte shooting Karen and Andy

Just rigging for the campsite picture took 3 hours. Malte directing with Staffan, Paul, Lina, Jonna and Åsa moving the stuff around

Jonna and Åsa "is this a chocolate commercial"?

Tomas and Malte shooting the tent

The tent picture finally ready for shooting

Lina, Vivi and Staffan rigging for the "fishermans shed" picture while models Nigel and Kristin wait and wait and wait and wait

Malte shooting the "fishermans shed"

It's ready. Smile!

Börje and Åsa heading for lunch after som serius paddling