Naked and Afraid - Nicklas Lautakoski

For some time now I've had the pleasure of being Nicklas Lautakoski's Survival Coach during his inspiring adventures. A fun mission I must say cos Nicklas is a wonderful and sparkling personality spreading joy with his warm and crazy curiosity.

One very interesting project is now to be launched; this weekend Discovery Channel US will air the episode of Naked and Afraid where Nicklas is one of the participants. The mission is to survive butt naked out in the Australian outback only equipped with a few objects.

Pic from Nicklas' FB page

The adventure took place in the Southern Australia during Fall 2015. The place as well as most other details were kept secret even to Nicklas prior to the adventure. So therefore it was a challenge to figure out what survival skills we should focus on during Nicklas' training prior to the adventure. The mental aspect is always the most important thing in a survival situation, therefore we focused a lot on the psychological scenario of being paired with a complete stranger during these difficult 21 days. Nicklas also practiced on his skills in fire making, water collecting, hunting and fishing. You can see more from the preparations by clicking HERE.

Nicklas quietly reflecting by the camp fire. It's important to combine both laughter and seriousness when preparing for a survival adventure.

The one object Nicklas choose to bring was a knife; Fällkniven model NL2 Odin. Nicklas' partner in this adventure brought a fire tool and the production added a pot. These three objects got to be a nice combo. This challenge truly became an adventure Nicklas will remember for the rest of his life. I hope you'll be watching the episode this weekend at Discovery. In Sweden the episode will be aired this Fall (2016) but you can already now take a look at some teasers via the links below.

Link to teaser No.1:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/i-dont-have-a-problem-being-naked/

Link to teaser No.2:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/we-must-split-up/

Link to teaser No.3:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/naked-confessions-after-the-outback/

Link to the bio of Nicklas:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/bios/nicklas-lautakoski/?utm_source=Facebook.com&utm_campaign=Naked%26Afraid&utm_medium=social&sf26176418=1

I hope the full episode will inspire as many as possible to reflect on the subject of Survival as well as generate more outdoor adventures. I'll be writing more about Nicklas' preparations here on the blog after the program has been aired. You can also follow Nicklas' naked adventure by visiting his website Naked Afraid Viking and the Facebook page Nicklas Lautakoski Naked and Afraid. Nicklas also will speak about his Naked and Afraid adventure during the Bushcraftfestivalen 2016 in Gottröra Sweden August 12th-14th.

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A Florida Adventure - Alligators and Milkshakes - Föräldrar & Barn No.3 - 2016

As of today the latest issue of the mag Föräldrar & Barn will be available in Swedish stores. As always the mag offer a wide range of interesting articles on parents and their kids. For instance you can read a number of helpful articles on kids and their sleep habits. Also a great article by Jesper Juul speaking about the value of kids being bored sometimes. Inside the magazine you also can read my article about the Florida adventure me and my family had last Fall.

Hope you'll have a relaxing time reading the magazine sitting in the warm Spring sun. Please let me know if you have any questions about the article or our trip through the Everglades. Stay tuned for more post here on the blog about this trip.

To see my other Föräldrar & Barn articles; click HERE.

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Every Childhood is a Curious Adventure - Föräldrar & Barn No.2 - 2016

I´m humble and grateful to have been blessed with yet another beautiful baby girl. Little Miriam was born about a year ago and now every day is an adventure together with Miriam, her 4 year old sister Sonia and my beloved wife. My parental leave together with Sonia gave me a lot of knowledge about me and my dear family and now I'm grateful for this second parental leave together with two kids.

In the latest issue of the magazine Föräldrar & Barn (No.2 - 2016) you can read my article about what I learned during my adventurous parental leave together with Sonia and my best tips for when taking the kids out into the woods.

It's very inspiring working together with my friends at Föräldrar & Barn and I hope you will continue reading my articles inside the magazine this Summer. You can see my other articles in Föräldrar & Barn by clicking HERE.

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Ystad Täljfestival 2016

Place: Ystad Täljfestival, Gamla Vattentornet, Ystad, Sweden
Coordinates: 55.438553, 13.827444 (lat, lon)
Time: 4 days in March (the Easter weekend)

Early morning out at the cabin and I'm loading my pickup truck with gear for this weekend's workshops. I'm off to the Southern parts of Sweden invited by the enthusiastic Miss Julia Kalthoff. She is arranging a carving festival at the town's old water tower. During four days a wide range of courses covering wood, leather and edge tools is offered in an inspiring and creative environment.

Pic from Ystad Täljfestival's facebookevent

I have the honors of giving a daily half day course during this weekend sharing my experience regarding choosing an edge tool, edge tool design (different edge profiles) and how to maintain the tools. I'm focusing on how to sharpen different edge tools when out in the field (without electricity). The visitors bring their own edge tools and I teach them how to sharpen them.

Photo: F. Ekelin

It warms my heart to see the growing interest in caring for ones tools. I think it's all in line with the modern view on Sustainability and our responsibility to downsize our consuming on this beautiful planet. When I for example restore the edge of my dull knife, instead of just scraping it and getting a new one, I build a relationship with my knife that reflect warmth into my wood cawing results.

I'm grateful to be a part of his first issue of Ystad Täljfestival; a success I hope from now on will be arranged yearly. I want to express my warmest thanks to the project group, the instructors and the visitors for your enthusiasm, knowledge and inspiring energy.

Photo: A. Undén

With my course attenders satisfied smiles and sharpened tools in my mind I now start my 700 kilometers long trip back home. Looking forward to enjoy the amazing beautiful Skåne as the Spring sun settles in the calm horizon.

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Buck Classics - Vapentidningen No.2 - 2016

After an inspiring workshop weekend at the Vildmarksmässan and a short trip to North Africa I'm now sitting in my pickup truck heading down to Ystad Täljfestival for a weekend of workshops on edge tool sharpening I'll be giving. It's a 700 kilometers long road trip and it's time for a coffee break by the roadside. What better to do than to take the opportunity to read the latest issue of Vapentidningen (No.2 - 2016).

In this issue you can find articles like; Testing the new Tikka T3x (Fredrik Odebring), Rifle silencers (Arild Støen) and Magnum Field Shooting (Henrik Kalling). Regarding edge tools I've written an article on the fixed blade classics from the 60's from Buck. You'll get the history of the manufacturer and a presentation of each knife model in this hunting knife series; 102 Woodsman, 103 Skinner, 105 Pathfinder, 116 Caper, 118 Personal, 119 Special, 120 General and 124 Frontiersman. These knives are classics that are here to stay and if you want to take a closer look at them after reading my article I can recommend you to visit Buck Knive's webpage and Fondprodukter's webpage.

Oops! Coffee is out and the beautiful Ystad awaits me; time to keep on rolling...

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Vildmarksmässan 2016 - Survival and Bushcraft at Camp Vildmark

Place: Vildmarksmässan, Stockholmsmässan, Älvsjö, Sweden
Coordinates: 59.277644, 18.015208 (lat, lon)
Time: 3 days in March (11th-13th)

This year's issue of the Vildmarksmässan (the Wilderness Fair) in Älvsjö was a bit special. The exhibition celebrates 30 years and some new features was added to the program. New this year was; Fotoskolan and Camp Vildmark (Camp Wilderness). The idea of Camp Vildmark is to offer the visitors a menu of short courses inside the fairground to educate and inspire the visitors prior to their upcoming adventures. A wide range of experts was gathered by the company Swett arranging Camp Vildmark together with Vildmarksmässan. I got the honors of sharing my experiences of Survival and Bushcraft during one of the courses held daily during the weekend.

It was a crash course with 90 minutes of basic survival. We mixed theory with practical exercises and some of the topics touched upon was Psychology, Fire, Water, Shelter and Gear.

I got interviewed by Madeleine Grem-Nielsen for this years fair magazine, also to be found in Dagens Nyheter. If you click on the pic below you'll be able to see the article.

I think the premiere of Camp Vildmark was a success and all the nice feedback from the enthusiastic attenders still warms my heart. Thanks to all involved in making this happen!

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Driving Fox in Bogesund 2016

Place: Bogesund, Vaxhoms kommun, Sweden
Coordinates: Lat: 59.41233, Lon: 18.23497
Time: 1 day in February

Time for the annual Fox Drive in Bogesund; as always great arranged by my friends in Svenska Jägareförbundet. This year it's me, my 4-year-old little Sonia and 40 other hunters enjoying a unusually green Bogesund. It got to be a beautiful day full of experiences. By the end of the day; two Fox were laid down and Sonia got to tell some amazing hunting stories to her Mother and Sister. Especially fun Sonia thought it was to use her little sister Miriam's little blue toy tambourine when walking in the drive crew. I let the below pics describe a bit more of our refreshing day.

Also take a look at past year's Fox Drives in Bogesund by clicking HERE.


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