Hi Robert!

Yes, it was an inclined plane. Not so much angle though, but inclined. And he needed a little help just for saving the stern keel. So it was as close as an yakboggan launch you can get if you are a bit generous.
I did another kind of yakboggan launch when i paddled up on a drifting icesheet. Normally they split and you have acted like a icebreaker. This time it didn´t split so I drifted along with it for a while. From that icesheet I did an yakboggan launch. A little bit unstable when only the aft keel was left but I have had time to concentrate and was alert with paddlesupport. You dont want to capsize this time of the year, no way! Not even with the drysuit from Chillcheater that I was wearing. Drycag, drytrousers, super and fleeceunderwear, divingboots and neopren hood and gloves, kept me warm and comfortable. It was just my toes that was a bit cold.
That reminds me of when my son Erik and I was on a divingvacation to Gozo, Malta and presented our divinglogbooks to the divingcentre. They didn´t believe them at first, cause our last dive was outside Gävle in +6degC water.
The divemaster said that water couldn´t get that low temp, their refridgerator temp was +8degC and below that it went to ice in his opinion. And scubadiving in such water was totally impossible!
In Gozo water the temp was above +20degC even 32 meters down that time. Surface -1meter temp was about +29degC!