DIY ultralight pants

I've had this pant project going on for a while with some ups and downs. I started to figure out some good pattern for these ultra light windproof pants already during the first half of 2010. At first, I checked out a Shelby's freeware pattern for underwear/tights, but the pattern was far too weird for pants and my project stopped for a while.

During this spring, I found a freeware pattern designing program, which included some built-in patterns. There happened to be a pattern for pants, in which it was possible to choose a pocket-less version with a rubber band waist. This time, I also built a paper version of the pants to see whether they'll fit (well it's a bit different to build them out of the daily newspaper than ripstop nylon). For now, it seems that I might have those slightly transparent ultra light pants on me during some day in the near future...

the newspaper version

And of course, I had to add a few photos of some past projects...

Paddling arrangements

Super,

We've been planning this year's paddling expedition (see the story of 2010) with our scout group since last autumn. Finally, it starts to look like more and more sure that our 200 km paddling expedition is going to happen. In the beginning of this year, we sent some emails to a couple of paddling companies and outdoor magazines. Luckily, we got one answer from a company called Welhonpesä Ltd., which promised to support our paddling trip by letting us use their tandem kayaks and gear during our trip. It's just simply awesome...

The "thing" is that we are going to paddle with tandem kayaks from Tammela (South/Southwestern Finland) to Pori (Western Finland) through two rivers, starting from Loimijoki and then continuing Kokemäenjoki all the way to the coastal line of Baltic Sea in Pori. The length of the trip is approx. 210 kms and we are aiming to paddle it within five days, so the goal is to paddle about 40 kms a day.

A rough overview of the route