The peace and tranquility of the winter archipelago attracts the people of Helsinki like a magnet, even during difficult periods. When the boat has not yet reached the island, the man travels to his destination with his inflatable funnel.
March the sun rises in Helsinki Jan-Erik in Luther an internal unrest that calms only in the silence of the southern archipelago of Nauvoo in the family’s island cottage.
“This is the time of year when the fire in the archipelago grows so great that you only have to get there.”
Luther’s cottage island is not accessible by connecting ship, so the man has had to come up with different ways to move around in the winter. A trip of half a kilometer on sea ice can be folded skilfully, for example, by skiing or hiking with a skateboard, but the problem becomes the time of the break, when the ice no longer carries, but also does not give the boat space.
To these moments, Luther has developed his own means of transportation.
“The inflatable funnel board is a great running game. It fits easily in a car and is not damaged as easily as a hard and fine funnel board, the surface of which can be like an eggshell. ”
Inflatable funnel boards are much more durable than they can be, but they too can be damaged, for example, by the knife-sharp edge of thin ice. To this end, Luther has always been equipped with a good quality dry suit, a floating survival backpack, a casting rope, a waterproof equipment bag and ice buckets.
Travel the ice already starts at home, where Luther carefully examines the current ice and weather situation. He checks the coverage of the ice sheet from the satellite images and examines the weather forecast.
“In bad weather, I don’t start moving at all. Paddling on a funnel board in the slightest wind is heavy and awkward. ”
A funnel boarding on a quiet summer day is a sheer pleasure for many, but how do you make the board move in the spring among the ice? Over the course of ten cottage years, Luther has developed the technology to get to his cottage.
“It works by tying a string to the front handle of the hopper and pulling the board after me. When you take the fin off the board, it acts as a sledge on the ice really well. ”
To make the draw on slippery, possibly wet spring ice, Luther has put wet slippers on top of his dry socks and loose slip-ons on top of them.
Initial meters usually run smoothly, but then the most difficult part begins.
“The hardest part is moving from hard ice to soft ice. Thus, in the spring, the ice is often such that it thins little by little. It is terribly difficult to assess whether or not it will take you to walk. If it falls through the ice somewhere, it’s usually here. ”
When Luther estimates that the ice is starting to soften and he can no longer walk, he settles on his funnel, either in a quadruped or on his stomach. At this point, the ice can no longer withstand walking but also doesn’t break under the funnel yet from the man’s weight. Luther pushes his funnel forward while sitting or lying on the board until the ice starts to break a little. That’s when technology changes.
“I move to stand behind the board so that the front of the board rises up on the ice. Then I walk forward on the board and break the ice under it with my weight. Another way is to swing the board sideways all the time so that the ice breaks. ”
Slowly the ice softens into a slush and the board glides evenly into the spring-winter open water. For Luther, this is the best part of the trip, where at best the calm sea surface allows the board to buckle calmly forward. It is time to calm down for a moment, allow the pulse to stabilize and the breathing to deepen. A smile creeps into his face unnoticed.
Soon, however, there is another soft edge of the ice and Luther is forced to start breaking the ice again. When it no longer breaks when a man jumps on the bow of a funnel, it often starts to take a walk.
“This is another difficult point. If the transition from thick to soft ice is difficult, then it is also difficult to switch back to thicker ice. At these points, those plutaminations take place, if somewhere. ”
Luther has plumped into the ice-cold seawater several times.
“It always surprises just as much. It then curses it in its mind that either again! But I have been windsurfing for over thirty years, so let’s talk about the seconds when I’m back on the board. ”
Luther emphasizes that he does not recommend spring-winter funnel boarding trips to anyone. Poor equipment and poor skills can cost too much.
“By no means can I recommend this to anyone. There has to be a lot of fitness and technology here as well, because being on the ice is already heavy, let alone getting on the board, which can be a really hard effort. ”
Luther reminds that you should always inform your loved ones or even the neighbor about your exact travel plan and agree on when the search will start if there is no acknowledgment of arrival and the phone cannot be intercepted.
Sweaty after a racing contract, Luther awaits his own above-ground paradise, a cottage in the middle of the beautiful archipelago scenery of Nauvoo.
“My first job is to eat and drink coffee in the sun and then I usually go back to paddling. The water is clear, it’s quiet everywhere, the sun is shining. Sometimes the seals come to marvel. This is quite a luxury. back home after the weekend, i’m a better person than before, that’s at least what my family says, “Luther laughs.
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