Paddling the Fjord in the tideraces around Anglesey seemed an ideal opportunity to learn more about here capacities. We went in sept´08 with a group of 7 kayakers (mostly from Kayakclub Uitgeest) to Holy Head in Wales.
Axel Schoevers was our guide (Click for his weblog) and we had a perfect paddling-week. Axel guided us to Puffin Island, North Stack, South Stack, Skerries and Penrhyn Mawr.
To be honest, being at sea the combination of strong currents and waves was a bit intimidating at first. But as Axel slowly increased the level, the learning-curve was perfect.
Looking at the boats of my companions, paddling the Fjord was easy, especially when you compare her with a Sirius: I would like to describe the Fjord as a trustworthy companion.
Of course I had to make a brace sometimes. Mostly a low brace, but high braces only in the cresting waves of Penrhyn Mawr. The stability of the Fjord was outstanding.
The only thing that made me a bit uncertain was that rolling this kayak was heavy and required a complete stroke until the stern, coming up on the backdeck. Otherwise you need a very powerfull hipflick, wich is not so easy anymore after being a bit tired having played around in waves.
My uncertainty was caused by the thought that I don´t like swimming in a tiderace in case I didn´t succeed in rolling. So probably I was a bit too carefull when surfing the front of the race. So my learning-curve was not as fast as possible. Afterwards I thought that I should have tried rolling in a tiderace anyway, after having mobilized 2 buddies to be at hand in case of a failure.
Surfing a tiderace is big fun.
As my Fjord is heavily built and not a fast kayak, I could not accelerate very fast and thus only able to catch the most powerfull waves for a surfride, not wanting to exhoust myself completely.
Once the fjord was surfing she could be controlled reasonably good using the sternrudder.
When the waves are steep, the big volume of the bow is an advantage as the bow will not bury herself in a wave, thus preventing a looping.
So in general, the Fjord can be paddled in a following sea without surfing if you don´t want to. This is a safe characteristic of this kayak because you (can) have complete control.
When we were at Anglesey the winds did not exceed strength 4Bft. Under these conditions the fjord weathercocked only slightly but could be controlled perfectly with the adjustable skeg.
The general behaviour in waves is that the kayak easily follows the waves, gliding graceful over them without much spray.
Edging the kayak, to support the steering strokes, is very comfortable keeping away easily from the capsizing point and giving a very predictable response.
Ferrygliding in current with the Fjord , strongly edged and with a high brace, was big fun to me.
The manoeuvrability of the Fjord in waves is reasonably good, especially when you fit well in the cockpit and support your strokes with edging.
About the speed of the Fjord I can tell she is not very fast but I could keep up with my companions when touring normally. Only when someone challenged me, I could just keep ahead when using maximum effort and 100% technique.
In rough water the stability is an advantage when compared with a less stable kayak as I can just keep on paddling without loosing energy while trying to keep uprigth. In that case the Fjord is relatively fast.
To be continued.