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Pulka and dry suit testing at Rajamäki swimming hall

60 10 00 N 24 46 00 E

The Expedition team met at Rajamäki swimming hall to test possible methods to cross open water. The evening had two clear targets:

  1. To build and test a simple pulka draft.
  2. To test dry suit in pool conditions.

Before entering the water, a planning session was held. Quite quickly we were able to fix two pulkas together by using light weight karabiners and using skis to add firmness to structure. Both pulkas were filled with approximately 130 kg of weight (approximately 260 lbs.), to find out how the pulkas float with cargo and then Henkku started to paddle. The correct technic was found out pretty quickly and now we have a fast and reliable method to cross open water. Next test will take place on more realistic conditions close by Helsinki or Oulu, depending on the weather conditions.

The other important test was to find out how the dry suit works. The suit is made of Gore tex based on our own design. The main design principle was to have a light and easy to be used suit together with the skiing wear in very cold conditions. Toni entered the water with the suit on and soon we discovered that some water had entered the suit caused by improper zipping of the suit. The suit is designed to be used when floating face up. Swimming with the suit is possible, but one must be extremely careful. Others tested the suit as well and a few improvements were discovered. The suit must be really large to enable wearing it with smittens on. There will be one more prototype provided before entering more realistic conditions. The night was really succesfull and the team closed the meeting around 11.00 pm after several hours in water.