During the last weeks I have been busy with collecting and studying all the notes I made while testing the Skim Distance. To compose a test-report from these, that is kind of an art.
But I like that and I see it as the ultimate challenge to write an objective report.
Once I have a first draft I like to discuss it in detail with Willem Molengraaff. Since he had to stop paddling and testing, I appreciate him acting as a kind of mentor. He has so much experience and I also like to keep him involved with the testing. We did this too long together to stop talking about kayaks all at once.
So there we are, thursday evening 25 januar in Nunspeet, discussing my first draft.
I must say that this is a cosy but also time-consuming activity and before I knew it was 23.00h and time to drive back home. At his time of the day, still one hour to go.
As a result of our discussions I can present the summary about the Skim Distance here:
The skim Distance is a long and seaworthy kayak with a big volume and with good stability. She likes paddling in waves and is dedicated to longer crossings. This long kayak gives a quiet ride in waves or in a choppy sea.
In waves she is good tracking cq. not very manoeuvrable and lets most waves pass by easily, when paddling in a following sea.
This means also it is not always very easy to get her surfing; except on very big waves.
In winds up to 5 Bft the kayak can be trimmed, with the variable skeg, between weathercocking and leecocking. In winds of 5Bft and more it is possible she starts leecocking on certain courses; the more wind, the more extreme the leecocking will be. It helps if the paddler is at least 85kg because with a weight like that, the leecocking starts only to be unacceptable above 6Bft.
The longer length makes that the kayak does not feel as lively as a shorter kayak can be, and this can ask for a certain "getting-used-to" period because you don't feel instantly the effect of your corrective paddlestrokes.
There is of course much more to be said about this kayak; I advice you to read the comlete report later on this site. Be patient please, because I am not ready yet and there is still much work to do on pictures, layout etc.