- Details
10.10.2012
On forehand it is always difficult to predict the weather. Today Roel and I planned circumnavigating Kernwerderzand; starting at Harlingen. The weather turned out to be very quiet with a NE 2bft. wind. Lucky enough a rainsquall passed by, pushing the wind to approx. 4 bft. for about an hour. Anyway it was a useful trip for the test.
At first, with the wind at 45 degrees from behind the Etain weathercocks slightly, needing the retractable skeg to drop for 50%. This is not strange because, to my experience, a seakayak needs often more skeg on wave-less seas. This is because small waves make most kayaks more maneuverable causing small course-corrections being done without knowing.
Another issue which became clear is the knee contact. As described before the knee-contact is a bit painful on a ridge in the deck next to the cockpit-rim.
Today I saw that this is not strange because the "wings" in the cockpit rim, which are supposed to give support on the thighs, do not function at all: pressing my knees against the deck there is no contact between these wings and the thighs. There is approx. still 1 cm space between thigh and wing. I can put 1 finger in between.
- Details
08.10.2012
Today Henk and I planned a paddle-day. We were blessed with quiet weather: sunny, SSW-wind 2-3-(4) bft.
The idea was to cross the Marsdiep where the tidal currents often can be up to 3 knots. Starting at Den Helder we paddled just north at 0 degrees to follow the desired course of approx. 30 degrees. This should bring us to shore at Texel just south of Oudeschild where we planned a gastronomic break of a few hours.
- Details
30.09.2012
Oh, what I regretted it today not to have tailor-fitted Leo's Etain. In 2 earlier occasions the hip- and knee-contact was fine in the Etain, but now conditions were much more demanding and I missed hip-support (the seat is a bit too wide for me) and also my knee-contact was painful.
Wieger asked me for a sunday-afternoon-paddle at sea; starting at Wijk aan Zee. Conditions were a SW 25-knot wind (6-7 bft.) and down-going tide.
Our plan was to break through 2 zones with breaking waves and than to take a look at the north pier of IJmuiden; just to learn how the sea looks like in the conditions of today.
- Details
Als een vervolg op eerdere tochten langs de Noorse kust begonnen we dit jaar in Stavanger. Doel was Bergen.
Daar zijn we echter niet gekomen omdat we vlak voor Bergen een brede zeestraat moesten oversteken. De weersvoorspellingen waren echter dermate ongunstig dat we dat niet verantwoord vonden. Er is daar namelijk tamelijk veel scheepvaart en omdat het water overal diep is heeft men geen aangegeven vaargeul. Op een breedte van 4 kilometer is het lastig te bepalen hoe je schepen kunt ontwijken.
Klik hier om verder te lezen een een grotere track van de route te bekijken
- Details
21.07.012
This Saturday-morning Anoushka organized a surf-session at the beach of "Castricum aan Zee". Although the wind was reduced to 4->3 bft. North, she consulted surfsites predicting a good swell for surfing.
And Yes, there was swell with surfable waves and cresting waves up to 1 meter. Good conditions for testing a seakayak.
Left a 2-minute film with an impression of today:
The way the Etain behaved in the disturbed and irregular waves, which you normally find in the surfzone, gave me a lot of confidence. First of all the excellent stability of this kayak tributes to that. But also "how the Etain glides over the waves in a very balanced way". There has been no single moment that she moved or responded in a "twitchy" way on the waves. All her movements were predictable and forgivable. So I was relaxed all the time. Only when a particular strong dumping wave tried to push me backwards I had to paddle very hard.
Of course I also surfed on waves: like most seakayakers I know, I like surfing. Besides fun surfing is an opportunity for constant improvement on paddling skills. Anyway, the Etain surfs very well on the steepening swell approaching the beach. As long as the wave does not crest too much, the Etain runs fast. The stability also gives confidence in performing the paddle-rudder. Inviting me to hang over far aside to curve a wave.
- Details
18.07.2012
Shortly ago Leo bought an Etain and gave me permission to test her. Thx :smile:
To get used to his kayak, I paddled on a Wednesday-evening a short trip in heavy weather: 5 Beaufort SW and heavy rainfall.
- Details
Mostly I try to find out what a specific seakayak is meant for first. I discovered that Valley does not write much about the Qajariaq.
Quote from Valley's website:
Boat Spec:
Length: 18’ (548cm)
Width: 21” (53cm)
Depth: 13” (33cm)
Weight*: 51lbs (23.5kg)
- Details
Dit is de eerste keer van wat de komedne jaren een traditie zou gaan worden: met een groepje KVU-ers de zee op voor een trektocht van ca. 1 week. Samenstelling: Henk, Jos, Theo, Gilbert en ik. DE samenstelling is in de loop der jaren licht veranderd maar dat kan natuurlijk niet anders.
De Funense Archipel is een geweldig mooi gebied om en kanoen en een gebied waar natuur raakt aan authentiek leven op de eilanden. De tijd lijkt daar te hebben stilgestaan.
- Details
As described before, I tested an Xcite Classic built by Plastex in Poland, while at this moment the Xcite is being built in Thailand.
Because some details are changed during this move, I asked Kanoshp.nl to lend me a "modern" Xcite for a day to compare both versions.
Today I went with a Thai's Xcite to Holwerd for a trip to Ameland: Just to experience the changes. For this purpose the conditions of the day were challenging enough: a NW-wind of 5 bft.
- Details
Today I amused myself very much with the Xcite: playing in surf at the coast near Castricum aan Zee.
Yesterday the wind blew from SW at a 6-7 bft. force.
A nice history to go surfing today, although the wind-force was reduced to "only" 4 bft, because there was enough swell in the sea to create nice waves for surfing.
Paddling the Xcite in surfconditions was the last testsession I planned; and today was the perfect moment.
At first the tide was still going down and the waves not very powerful. Still I could perform several surfs. But it must be said that I had to paddle hard to catch a wave. After a break the tide started to ris again resulting in more powerful- an higher waves (approx. Between 60 - 150cm).
To catch a wave became much easier and once the Xcite was surfing I surfed fast while the Xcite was still rather good controllable: or by a paddle-rudder or by carving a wave.
Only at the moment that a wave collapses on top of my head you loose control, meaning that you end up in a high brace to stay upright in the wave. But still; when in that position, parallel to the wave, I could still maneuver the kayak to prevent a collision with Anoushka's kayak when we had a duo-surf on the same wave.