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10-05-2013
A lot of wind predicted: 6-8bft. But no good conditions for surfing along the coast due to a strong current along the coast.
BUT: ideal circumstances for wet exercises on the Alkmaarder-lake.
I aimed at a spot in the middle of the lake and paddling that direction was fun, being pushed by the SW-wind.
Although higher waves surf better the conditions were OK and the Pilgrim surfs well on these windwaves.
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08-05-2013
Until now all paddling opportunities sent me to the sea. The place to be for the Pilgrim Exp. However, I want to paddle her on flat water as well. This Wednesday-evening the wind was SW 3-4bft and I set out to paddle to the club in Uitgeest and back. In total approx. 19 km.
My purpose was to get an impression about the speed this kayak is able to reach. Until now I experienced that I could reach normal paddling speed unless I had to paddle against short steep waves. Under those circumstances she sprays a lot and is slowed down by every wave. Of course this is part of the compromise in a kayak-design. This kayak is designed for rough water and has, for that purpose, a lot of volume in the bow causing the "slowing down" as described.
This means that the Pilgrim Exp. is on her best on the open sea and rough water.
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8 march 2013, wind E 6-7 bft, temp 2˚C, distance 22km.
Although the conditions were cold today because of the icy wind, we decided to paddle as planned. We started in Holwerd with destination Nes on the Island Ameland.
With wind and current pushing us the way out was not heavy. Because of the easterly wind the tide was very low: although we departed shortly after the high tide it seemed if we were paddling at the lowest tide already. Due to the low tide the waves were not higher than 40 cm. Keeping course in the strong wind without using the extractable skeg was heavy work. But with the retractable skeg the Pilgrim could be trimmed well. It turned out that the Pilgrim was depending much on the adjustment of the skeg and I had to re-adjust frequently. Partly this is because of the combination strong wind and low waves. In higher waves it is expected to be easier to maintain course.
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5 march 2013 ; wind SE 3 bft ; temp 20˚C ; distance approx. 18km.
Today was very pleasant with plenty of sunshine and a nice temperature. A day to go kayaking. Not a day with demanding conditions for testing. This did not hold us back to go kayaking.
As you can imagine I didn't find new issues about the qualities of the Pilgrim in this quiet weather only consolidation of earlier conclusions.
Two observations:
- The Pilgrim tracked nice in a following sea with 40cm waves. No problem to maintain your course.
- The Pilgrim is really a boat for smaller persons. In winter I use neoprene shoes size 44; a bit bigger than normal to fit over an extra pair of socks in my drysuit. In the Pilgrim this shoe-size is not very comfortable because it forces me in a fixed position: the deck is too low forcing your feet in a unnatural position. Not using the footrests, but the bulkhead to put my feet against helps, but not enough. The lesson learnt is that the Pilgrim indeed fits smaller persons. I think persons width shoe-size 42 as maximum.
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06.12.2012
Yesterday it was terrible weather: windy and snow. Tomorrow it will be even worse with 8bft winds and 15 cm snow predicted.
BUT today it was a quiet, sunny day. Ideal to go paddling.
For testing I like wind and at least some waves and therefor paddling at sea in the Voordelta-area would have been perfect as the swell from yesterday could arrange interesting conditions over there.
Due to the predicted traffic-infarct, caused by the snow of last night, we changed plans and went to Lemmer, a lot more to the north.
Today's weather was pleasant because it was not so very cold. But I also thought that this weather and place were a pity for testing. But I was wrong: also today I collected useful information about the Pilgrim.
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19-11-2012
Although 4-5 bft wind was predicted for today, the reality was thick fog and S-SE 3-4 bft wind blowing offshore. This means a rather calm sea.
But a trip was planned and so we started in the fog at Bakkum to paddle along the coast; hoping for nice waves somewhere to surf or playing along.
In a headwind and a rather lively sea it was very pleasant to paddle the Pilgrim. I could, without using the retractable skeg, easily keep course with only minor corrections.
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13-11-2012
Today I paddled the Pilgrim for the first time at sea. But the short time I paddled her at the Grevelingen, a month ago, gave me confidence to take her for this first test-session to the Texelstroom; starting the trip in Den Oever. The wind was average SW-4 bft with some periods SW-5bft. Such a wind against a current of 2,3 knots gives an interesting sea.
The seat is rather comfortable with my knees fitting exactly in 2 bubbles in the deck on both sides of the cockpit.
The deck is rather low because my feet were almost locked between deck and bottom. Maybe because I wear shoes of size 44 (for fitting over my drysuit socks)
At first I wondered if I was too big for this kayak because she felt if I was "top-heavy". Probably I had to get used to this kayak and her stability. I think that the initial stability is good, but not a very stable platform. The secondary stability is not bad but the end of the stability curve is a bit abrupt, meaning the stability, when edged, changes quickly in zero. But at the end of the day I had no problems with this any more. But it is a different behavior compared to other kayaks. The bottom is very pronounced; almost hardchined in the midsection. I can imagine this the explanation for this behavior. But on the other hand; these hardchines makes her very obedient in following your paddle-corrections. However, other test-sessions will follow and probably give more information on this.
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29 October 2012
Thinking about a summary of the test-sessions, I concluded I needed more information about changing course in windy weather; especially because I improved the grip on thighs and knees.
Today it was bad, rainy weather with 6-7 bft. at sea and approx. 4-5 bft. on the Alkmaardermeer.
So I paddled for an hour in the rain looking for the windiest places on the lake.
When changing course into the wind this is very easy as the kayak wants to weathercock a bit sending you automatically in the desired direction.
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19.10.2012
The predicted winds were S2-5bft. To find reasonable waves we to paddle the Hoornse Hop, just south of Hoorn. A spot were waves build up quite fast in southerly winds.
But unfortunately: the wind was only 1-2 bft and the IJsselmeer like a mirror.
Beautiful yes, but not to gather much information about the Etain after improving knee- and thigh-grip contact in the cockpit.
Today we started in Edam and on the first 14km-leg the wind came from aside causing our kayaks to weathercock very slightly. Jos and Henk dropped their retractable skegs slightly to compensate for this.
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13.10.2012
In earlier posts I wrote about the bad knee-contact in the cockpit. This bad contact is not just with my knees, but Leo, who owns this kayak, isn't either happy with that.
Last test-session I defined the problem: the wings on the cockpit rim, which are supposed to support the thighs, does no make any contact. Instead the kneecap is pressed bluntly against the underside of the deck where also a ridge can be found. To my opinion this is or a design-fault in the cockpit or the mistake is not having covered the underside of the "wings" with a thick layer of foam.
In both cases I cannot really understand why Valley delivers such a cockpit because almost no one will fit comfortable in this cockpit.
For this test I concluded that I had to add 2,5 cm of foam to the underside of the "thigh-wings". The result was encouraging. The kneecap only slightly touches the deck now. To improve that I added 1 cm soft foam at that spot.
