Last night I had to paddle away some frustrations and I took the Greenlander for my weekly visit at the kayakclub; a 20km paddle vv.
It was very quiet weather with a mirror-like water surface.
What I noticed first was that the speed of this kayak is much better than the AnasAcuta; also a hard-chine kayak. Arriving at the club 65minutes later means an average speed of 8,7-9,0 km/h, which is not too bad for a seakayak.
My way back was somewhat troublesome as the water was beginning to freeze, creating large icefields. Astonishing that after 1,5 hours the ice was thick enough to require piercing the paddleblade very deliberate into it. Of course the ice dropped the speed a bit.
Other notes I made are that I discovered what is the matter with the stability: Fumbling around with my headlamp made me edging uncontrollably which gave an unstable feeling. Further investigations showed that this is only about the primary stability. After having edged over about 10°, the kayak feels stable again in its secondary stability.
Actually this is the same characteristic of the NDK Explorer.
It has also something to do with my bodyweight. A heavier person of approx. 80-90kg will not notice this and feel stable in the primary stability.
Not that I felt uneasy in the Greenlander. It’s just that you notice this more on flat water. I assume that in rough water it will feel different.
I will find out later while paddling at sea.
Another note is that the Greenlander reacts very direct on edging and sweepstrokes when you want to change direction in this mirror-like water. Very good!
Finally I concluded it is very necessary to find a backband-solution that suits me because I was sitting to far backwards at first which caused sleepy legs. Some filling in the seat solved this for tonight.
About the kneetube my thoughts are a bit mixed: One thought is that you have enormous grip on the kayak supporting edging and sweepstrokes.
The other thought is that it interferes with my legs when I want to paddle fast with my knees in the middle of the cockpit. Beside this the kneetube makes entering and exiting the cockpit not easier.