Today I paddled an Xcite in the first test-session. It was ideal testing weather because the wind blew with 6-7 bft. from SW. This first time I paddled on the Alkmaardermeer; a good place to get used to a new kayak.
The kayak has a big key-hole cockpit for easy entering. And in spite of the big cockpit you have very good grip with the knees under the deck.
To me the cockpit was very comfortable thanks to combination of the big footrest, back-band and kneegrips.
After getting in, I turned the kayak in the harbour: it turns like a dime. A very manoeuvrable kayak.
With the wind blowing from behind, under an angle, she keeps course without problem en responded very good to the retractable skeg.
As the Alkmaardermeer is not very deep, a 6 bft. wind produces short, steep waves there. Paddling against the wind and waves, the Xcite splashes quite a lot. As this kayak is designed for heavy sea-conditions the bow has more volume than average which causes more splashing than with a sharp bow.
At the north-end of the lake, where the waves are biggest, we paddled a course with waves and wind pushing from behind. The Xcite behaved at first a bit inconstant and asked me to stay alert in keeping course. Dropping the skeg fully did not help much. Later, when the waves were bigger, the Xcite was not easy to get surfing. Only when leaning backwards I managed to surf. Surfing went very well than, just as good as the Mariner paddling next to me. May be the seat has to be moved a bit backwards to tune the kayak. On the other hand: it could well be that an Xcite likes longer waves for surfing. I will find out later about all this.
Where the waves where highest, we turned to get wind and waves coming from our right-side. Under these conditions the stability is very good.
Without the skeg the Xcite weathercocks very much. Because the Xcite is manoeuvrable it is possible to compensate for this with edging and sweepstrokes. This is hard work but possible. However: when using the skeg, keeping course is easy because the Xcite responds very well to trimming with the variable skeg.
The weathercocking is so strong under the conditions today that it very difficult, when paddling parallel with the waves, to turn downwind. The good news is that this is easy to solve by dropping the variable skeg completely: again the Xcite responds and you turn downwind using leecocking. This shows that the skeg is well dimensioned and perfect for the job.
The last part of our trip today is against the wind under an angle. Passing the top of a wave, the wind grips the bow and the kayak leecocks for a moment. This is a very common effect with seakayaks. But because the Xcite is manoeuvre enough is is possible to bring the kayak back on the desired course before hitting the next wave.
Today Wieger, also joining this trip today, paddled a Tiderace Xplore. Nearing the end of our trip he accelerated maximal. Although the longer Xplore should be faster than the Xcite, I could keep up with him. So the difference in potential speed between these kayaks can not be very big; or in other words, the Xcite is fast enough. 