Fabian Simon from Lauche & Maas, Germany

Very professionally organized. The infrastructure behind OAS is very good. Impressions are very well communicated.
The participants had very good experiences, party very tough but it will make the experiences stick longer in memories.
To mix staff from different personalities is perfect!

Bernd Woick from Woick, Germany

The OAS concept is perfect. For me personally it was fantastic to test products for several days.

Ben Winnard from Cotswolds, UK

A fantastic opportunity for staff to better understand the Scandinavian Outdoor experience and experience the products in a real world setting.

Florian from Riap Sport, Bavaria

Now I understand the differences between fuel and gas stoves and how to use them correctly.

Peter Grote from Unterwegs Münster, Germany

I like the interaction between the different trades in the outdoor industry. It was very useful to learn the reasons behind specific product details. It’s when you use the products in the real environment that you understand the ideas behind the product.

Gijs Loning from Op Pad, Netherlands

Your guides are worth gold and I rediscovered the fun of rock climbing.

Issio Ehrich from Welt Online, Germany

I like the fact that you get to try many different activities in one trip.
For me, personally, it’s a great opportunity to get to know the area of west Sweden.

Sabine Schiner from Darmstädter Echo, Germany

For me it’s been a great experience. I liked how we got to try different activities such as hiking, biking and kayaking.
The amount of time spent on each activity was great

I hope you all made it home ok on Monday and that you have managed to catch up on sleep a little bit.

On behalf of the West Sweden Tourist Board I just want to say a BIG thank you to all participants for coming to West Sweden. It was great having you all here and we appreciate that you came here with a positive attitude and a will to try new things and get to know our part of the country.

We had a great time and want you all to know that we hope to welcome you back soon again. If you have questions regarding West Sweden or if you need assistance in product development, theme ideas for articles etc - don´t hesitate to contact me or my colleagues.

Ann-Charlotte Carlsson, UK & France
ann-charlotte.carlsson@vastsverige.com

Catrine Andersson, Denmark
catrine.andersson@vastsverige.com

Jennie Svärd, Germany and Switzerland

Until next time!

Ann-Charlotte, Catrine & Jennie

Here’s a few of them.

OAS is very much an experience of contrasts. Since arriving on Tuesday the 23rd, I’ve been bathed in sunlight filtering through the morning mist, drenched by seaspray out kayaking in the archipelago, sweted and squelched my way across swamps and through thich forest on an orienteering exercise and camped wild on an uninhabited island beneath a perfect night sky peppered with stars.
I’ve been soothed by calm lake breezes and buffeted by wasted gales. I’ve squatted tired and stiff (but happy!) on the damp grass eating instant porridge from a plastic bag and dined on wild chantarell mushrooms picked fresh from the autumn woods.
I’ve tossed and turned during a sleepless night as the ocean winds slammed into my tent and slept like a baby on a soft mattress in a waterside cabin.

And it’s only Sunday!

Today (for the tour operators at least), it was down to business, with a chance to meet some of the companies from the area. Some of them have been working very hard guiding, cajoling, feeding, thrilling and transporting us about for the last few days. For the journalists among us the day started at the crack of dawn with a RIB ride bouncing across the waves to the islands of Koster, Sweden’s most westerly inhabited islands and the site of the country’s first marine national park.
After lunch we all met up at Smögen’s picturesque harbour for a trip out into the bay on the hunt for lobsters.
Jenny had force fed everyone with sea sickness tablets an hour earlier so even the quesiest tummy was at peace as we followed the local fishermen out into the waters to theck the lobster cages.

Two hours later we returned with our bounty. Now it’s time for both lobsters and OAS “students” to prepare for dinner though I suspect we’re going to enjoy the evening more than the lobsters…

Tomorrow it’s time to head for home. In one way it’s all gone by far too fast. But we’ve certainly had the chance to make enough good memories to keep us going until next year’s OAS!

Here’s one of them.

Once there, you can click on the “View as slideshow” link to see them in a nice slideshow from flickr.
See screenshot:

Screenshot of how to view photos as a slideshow

We all split up into a couple of fishing boats and headed out. Some boats took it easy, some even stopped on an island to have a coffee break. Our boat went further out into the sea instead and the waves there were huge! (good we didn’t kayak there as planned) Oh, and the photos below are from the calm waters before we got further out.

We all had to grab whatever we could hold on to keep our balance as the boat rolled over the huge waves. This of course provided some welcome excitement to the lobster fishing and we had a lot of fun!
Unfortunately we only caught two lobsters… and six crabs.
One of the other groups caught as many as eleven.

We finished off the evening at Kroons restaurant in Smögen where we had a great dinner with lobster as starter. Everybody got their OAS-diplomas. I held a slideshow of the photos I had taken so far plus some I had been given by others in the groups (thanks again! :))
All in all a great evening!

The waters further out without the shelter of the islands were very tough so we stuck closer to shore and paddled through Sotekanal. We had a mix of single and double kayaks and I’m happy to say that nobody went into the water. I know at least a few people who will do a lot more kayaking from now on.

It’s a bit tricky having a snack break with a groups of kayaks but we managed it well.

This is just one of the sights along the Sotekanal where we kayaked. Apparently a woman lived in this little hut in the 1950s with her six children.

Everybody then joined the tour operators in Smögen for a nice lunch buffé before the afternoons activities.