06-Sep-2003 -- The confluence is 5.5 km east of Ratan harbour. After checking the weather forecasts I decided to bring the kayak when I was going south from Boliden to my summer cottage near Umeå. 2-6 m/s wind from S to SW was forecast.

I arrived in Ratan at about 10:00 a.m. and started paddling at 10:12. I took the route north out of the harbour, that is sheltered from the sea waves by the island Rataskär. When I arrived at the open sea, it was 4.6 km to go, 2 m/s wind from the south and very small waves with no white caps. Since I was then almost exactly on 64 degrees N, it was just to keep compass course East for an hour. It was even easier than that to keep the right course. The lighthouse Ratu Storgrund is located on an underwater rock (sea depth 3 m) 10 km from land and just south of 64N.

I arrived at the confluence at 11:12 and took the pictures in the cardinal directions and of the GPS. Water depth is about 30 m on the spot, according to maps.

On the way back the wind increased to 4 m/s and turned SW, so there were a few white caps and I even got a little water into the kayak. I took the route south of Rataskär, and was back in the harbour at 12:40.

Ratan was one of the last battlefields of the Swedish-Russian war 1808-1809, when Sweden lost Finland, which had been an integrated part of Sweden since the 14th century.

Ratan was the largest harbour on the west coast of the Bothnian Bay during the 18th century, when tar and timber was exported to continental Europe. Today Ratan is a small village and its harbour is used only by holiday seafarers. The mareograph still measures the daily water level, which is reported on the weather forecast on the radio.