I paddled the Xcite before on the Alkmaardermeer, a few months ago. Today was the second trip, at sea this time. Unfortunately or luckily, it depends how you look at it, the weather was very quiet with a 2-3 bft SW wind.
To make a trip a bit more demanding we started at " Wijk aan zee" and paddled to the two piers of IJmuiden. Today a 1,5 knot current was predicted at the end of the south-pier. Although the sea was quiet we found at the south-side of the southpier a disturbed, irregular sea with small clapotis-waves. Paddling over there, I felt completely at home in the Xcite: The seat was comfortable, I had excellent contact with knees, feet and hips in the cockpit. The stability is very good and the kayak maneuverable, responding immediately to commands like edging and/or sweepstrokes. Outstanding!
From the southpier we wend to the beach against the current, the wind blowing from our right-side. The Xcite weathercocked slightly in the current wind, but with lowering the retractable skeg a bit, I could easily trim the kayak to a neutral course. More than that: with the skeg fully lowered the kayak started to leecock. I think that is a good indication because it shows that the kayak in stronger winds also can be trimmed with the skeg to a neutral course.
After a break at the beach the current was turned from north to south and the sea was a bit less disturbed. Every wave pushed us a bit. For surfing they were a bit too small however. The Xcite weathercocks a bit so I dropped the skeg halfway resulting in a relaxed course in wind and waves.
Wieger, my paddlingmate for today, learned me something new when I told him that this kayak perfectly is corrected for weathercocking (without skeg) by simultaneous edging and sweepstrokes in a way that I let me capsize a bit into a sweepstroke. The Xcite responds, thanks to her hardshine-shape, very good to this way of paddling; just like the AnasAcuta with her hardshine does. Wieger just learned me that he never has seen this way of paddling, although it looks very natural. I never realized this. I guess that I developed this technique while paddling in my AnasAcuta for years without a skeg. To me this is a kind of lazy paddling making it unnecessary to edge the kayak with hips and knees: my weight outside the center of gravity of the kayak just does the job.
Nevertheless, this was a perfect day to get used to the Xcite at sea. Of course there is more to investigate and more sessions will follow in more demanding circumstances. Anyway I think this is a very promising kayak.
This Xcite was produced in the batch of Xcites's at Polen approx. 4 years ago and I think I should know if the shape is still unchanged.
I will also look at the technical side of the kayak: when the Xcite is produced in another factory I cannot describe technical issues in this test. But I thnk I can borrow a more recent Xcite from the kayakshop to compare both kayaks.