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Today, finally the wet exercises. The wind was N4bft and Tiny accompanied me for filming my activities.
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Dit is alweer het tweede jaar dat een ploegje van de KVU (met: Henk, Jos, Theo, Gilbert en ik) een week in het buitenland met de kano zee kiezen. Deze keer voeren we rond het Duitse eiland Rügen)
Rügen is een prachtig eiland met veel historie en ook prachtige natuur, met name de krijtrotsen in het noorden.
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23-06-2013
Wind: SW 6 bft. Playing in surf at the coast near Castricum.
It might be the result of the strong winds yesterday: today the sea was white with foam and the waves dumped and were filled with sand. But this was a good occasion to paddle the SI18 in cresting waves.
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22-06-2013
Wind SW 6-7 bft.; paddled 25 km's.
Today I paddled inland waters: canals and the Alkmaardermeer. The strong winds today confirmed earlier observations:
- the kayak cuts the waves nicely when paddling against the wind and is rather fast.
- she weathercocks. when surfing with a tailwind from aside this slows down the surfing because strong course-corrections are necessary.
- but when surfing with a real tailwind she surfs very well.
- in the short waves on the lake she is very, very lively and is easy to steer. Responding immediately on every paddle stroke. This feels very nice. Feels like riding a thoroughbred.
- One exception: when I slowed down at a certain moment and the kayak turned parallel to the waves, it was hard work to turn her downwind again at low speed.
- Paddling parallel to waves or against the SI18 sometime leecocked but is easy to bring back on course after very wave.
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1.6.2013
Today I joined a club-tour with the SI18; out at the Gouwzee. In fact we would have gone out at sea but changed to this location because of the windforce.
But paddling this area is nice as well because of the historical surrounding and a lively sea as well.
My experiences of the day are:
First, after departure from the harbor Monnickendam, the watersurface was rather flat and the wind was coming from aside. After the previous sessions it is no surprise that this means that the kayak weathercocks even with retractable skeg down.
After rounding the dike we paddled against the wind and the weathercocking is gone.
While paddling in the group the SI18 turns out to be faster than average and it was a pleasure for instance to paddle quickly to the front of the group for discussion.
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30.05.2013
Conditions: wind 4 bft N. Distance ca. 28 km.
Today we planned a tour in the Voordelta-area: a circumnavigation of the sandbank Aardappelbult.
Hoping that conditions at the sea-side of the sandbank would be ocean-like with a nice swell as a result of the wind the days before.
But before we could start I had to wait for an hour due to traffic-problem for my paddling-mate.
I used that time to take a critical look at the kayak. And I was pleasantly surprised: it is a magnificent design with very nice lines in the hull. The bow is very sharp with a flare to give enough volume. The front-ship has quite a lot of volume whereas the aftship is very lean and slim. The hull looks very good.
The widest point of the deck-line is just in the middle. But the widest point of the hull is a bit in front of the seat; which is the result of the lower volume of the aftship.
I think that the designers did a good job by developing this kayak for stability, speed and behavior in waves.
But: everything is a compromise. So also with this kayak. The downside is that the SI18 weathercocks a bit too much. Especially when paddling in wind in combination through low waves.
In fact the seat should be moved backwards, but that's not a good idea with the lean aftship. So rests only the solution to increase the skeg-surface to probably double size. This solution is easy to realize because the only thing to change is the skeg-housing. What result is a maneuverable kayak that can be trimmed with the skeg when weathercocking.
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28.05.2013
As I wrote before, my body did not fit exactly in the cockpit. So today I added some foam underneath the thigh-grips and on both sides of the seat to match my hip-width.
Today the wind was nice again: NE force 4. So fine conditions to check if my improvements are enough.
And: Well yes, I was satisfied because, when paddling with the knees unlocked, I could still edge for steering just on my hip-contact with the boat.
When using the knees as well, while edging, I was very surprised how easy I could turn the kayak.
As I was on the water anyway I made a small tour of 8 km to enjoy the weather and the wind. My attention was drawn again to the weathercocking. In fact you can, in windy conditions, best paddle with the retractable skeg fully dropped down. Most of the time this is enough to paddle a stable course. But sometimes in a tailwind, blowing a bit from aside, you have to correct course every stroke for weathercocking (with the skeg full down).
I think that this kayak needs a bigger skegblade. Next time at sea I will take some ballast for the aft-compartment to investigate if this helps for the moment. But also to find out if the SI18 with a heavier person than I am, weathercocks less.
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As the wind was NW 4-5 bft today, this seems an opportunity to paddle the kayak to the club-evening at night and at the same time test the kayak. Total distance 19km.
I took a GPS with me to get an impression of the speed I can reach with this kayak. My natural solo-pace in this kayak turns out to be 8,5 km/h. Only a bit slower in a head-wind and a bit faster in a tail-wind. When I entered a wind-free area I reached 9/km/h immediately. I think that this is not bad at all for a seakayak. Anyway: faster than the average seakayak.
I will do the sprinting later when there is no wind, but looking at the way the kayak cuts the water, she must be quite fast.
While paddling I discovered that the sloped surfaces, left and right, in the deck, which could make the paddle stroke more efficient because of entering the water with the blades closer to the hull, are too far aft. The sloped surfaces look very good in the current position, but are not functional because the paddle blades enter the water farther away to the front.
Afterwards looking at the paddle-scratch-marks on the deck, I concluded that these surfaces should move towards the bow over approx. 35 cm. A positive spin-off will be that the chart-table-elastics (read article "first glance") can be positioned better as well.
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Today I picked up a brand new seakayak at Kanoshop.nl. I am talking about the seakayak SI18, recently introduced by Stellar.
It is a very good looking seakayak with traditional lines. Made in China by the factory that produced Epic before and is still producing High-Tec competition rowing boats.
Behind the design stand two American designers (David Thomas and Ed Hofmeister)who designed also fast Stellar-surfskis and fast seakayaks very much like the Epic 18X.
The I in the name SI18 stands for "Intrepid", meaning brave: A nice recommendation ;-).
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12 may 2013
Wind: west 5bft, following some days with storm SW
Paddling in surf is, to my opinion, the final proof of a kayaktest because mostly this is the heaviest part of the test. It gives in relative safe-conditions, close to the coast, a feeling how capable a kayak is.
Well, after having paddled the Pilgrim Expedition in 7 sessions before this one, it did not surprise me that I felt completely at home in surf with this kayak.
The stability is very good and, also important, the kayak reacts very natural and predictable on waves: nu unexpected movements or whatsoever that could you make feel uncertain.