On friday-evening the weatherforecast for the next day was that bad that I wondered if the planned tour, organised bij the NKB (Dutch Canoe Association), would be canceled.
To my surprise Joris not intended to do so and only planned to change the destination according to the level of the participants of the tour.
In testing kayaks I love the bad weather which was predicted now. Not because of the bad weather of course, but because it is my intention that testing a kayak should be done under the conditions an organised tour can meet. As a tour normally will not be canceled at 5 Bft- wind or less, I believe a kayak must be able to function in 6Bft because the wind can be stronger than expected. That is why I love 6 Bft to test Kayaks in.
although I did not yet paddle 1 meter in the VestVika, the testkayak I picked up yesterday, I took the kayak with me today.
Honestly it is against my principles, which are that I first wants to try a kayak on protected waters, to get used a bit to its characteristics, before I encounter heavy weather in it. This of course from a safety point of view. However today there were quit a lot of kayakers nearby and the level was intermediate so in this case I dare doing so.
Once we were on the water the weather turned bad indeed; with approx. a 5Bft(may be 6)-wind and much rain.
Wind and waves came from ahead and we had to work us against it. During the tour I critically judged the behaviour of the kayak of course. I will write down the results of that in the testreport on my website later.
Once in Durgerdam it was cold and the pub was closed. After asking the cantine of the local yachtharbour (this is probably not the correct English word) we were invited for coffee and not allowed to pay. Very nice people indeed. AND: it was warm inside!
Occasionally the sun starts shining and that was the signal to pass on. Yet we set course to the island Pampus; a small island where an old fortification can be found. This is old Dutch history: they built a big circle of fortifications around the city of Amsterdam. Sadly enough these fortresses never functioned realy because once they were built the equipment of army´s had improved that much that a fortication was of no use in protecting a city anymore.
In the meantime the sun shined more and more and the weather was quit pleasant. Quit the opposite of this morning. It is always beautifull to paddle under a blue sky with big white clouds.
While kayaking, the wind and waves were pushing in our back and I enjoyed surfing the kayak. The waves were about 40-50cm high and a few forceful paddlestrokes were enough to start surfing on them. Due to the low after-deck I also experienced lying flat on the deck while surfing.
Once we reached Pampus we changed course to our starting point and encountered the waves coming from the side.
It is not that I couldn´t stop surfing, but I followed yet a zig-zag-course because I want to collect some more information about headwindcourses. The benefit, doing so, was of course I had to surf back to the group before starting the next zig-zag.
Once back at our starting point the sky was more blue than blue and we realy enjoined it while dressing to normal again.
DETAILS: distance 16.6 km; aver. speed 5,3 km/h; max. speed 13,1 km/h, paddling time approx 3h; Wind 6-5Bft later diminishing to 4Bft; waves 40/50cm#later 30cm.