08-05-2013
Until now all paddling opportunities sent me to the sea. The place to be for the Pilgrim Exp. However, I want to paddle her on flat water as well. This Wednesday-evening the wind was SW 3-4bft and I set out to paddle to the club in Uitgeest and back. In total approx. 19 km.
My purpose was to get an impression about the speed this kayak is able to reach. Until now I experienced that I could reach normal paddling speed unless I had to paddle against short steep waves. Under those circumstances she sprays a lot and is slowed down by every wave. Of course this is part of the compromise in a kayak-design. This kayak is designed for rough water and has, for that purpose, a lot of volume in the bow causing the "slowing down" as described.
This means that the Pilgrim Exp. is on her best on the open sea and rough water.
For tonight I brought with me a GPS to measure my speed.
At first I noticed that a natural pace, for me, in the Pilgrim Exp. is about 8-8,5 km/h (without significant wind-influence). Paddling against the wind slowed me down to approx. 7-7,5km/h.
While slowing down to a very relaxed paddle-pace I reached approx. 7-7,5km/h (without wind) and this pace gave me the feeling that I could go "for ever".
If you want to paddle at a work-out-pace, you can reach something like 9-9,5km/h. The bow starts splashing a bit when paddling like that. Perhaps this is the maximum hull-speed of this kayak-design.
It must be, because when speeding up to the "maximum", I ended up at 10,5km/h. The bow spraying a lot and I had to paddle very hard spilling far too much energy for the result.
So, I concluded that the Pilgrim Exp. can be paddled at normal paddle-cruising speeds. But it is not a kayak to pull an easy sprint to reach the front-paddler in your group for instance.
She is more like a steady-"go-er", keeping her speed for hours.
Other notes of tonight:
Today I concluded again that this kayak is a very willing kayak: she listens very good to your steering strokes especially when you edge to support your steering.
And also important: edging does not mean that you enter an unstable "area". On the contrary: the secondary stability while edging gives a very secure feeling.
Last winter was not very good for exercising due to the strong, cold easterly winds. As you probably read in this blog I went on a few tours, but going to the coast for playing surf was not possible. Anyway there are no waves in easterly winds over here.
So now the waiting is for an opportunity AND company to go into surf.
Finding an opportunity for the wet exercises is a bit easier.
When these sessions are finished I shall write a summary of the individual reports about sessions with the Pilgrim expedition.