- 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.
- Details
To learn what the Xcite is able to I chose a day with minor wind and paddled with 2 GPS-'s on my deck.
First warming up at a moderate pace of 6-7 km/h
Then we changed speed and tried several speedblocks.
This is what I found:
- Relaxed pace: 4-7 km/h
- Normal pace for touring: 7-8 km/h
- Exercise- or workout pace: 8-9 (-10) km/h to maintain for an hour or so (10km/h only for strong paddlers)
- Maximum speed: 11,5 km/h (may be a stronger paddler gets 12km/h out of her)
The estimated maximum "hull-speed" is somewhere between 9-10 km/h. Above that speed you need excessive more power to come above 10 km/h.
Of course wind will influence these figures in a positive or negative way.
Summarizing, I think that the Xcite has a very normal cruising speed. She is NOT slow and not extremely fast.
To my opinion the Xcite is a very good compromise between speed and her other characteristics.
An interesting experiment was a sprint in very shallow water. Normally it feels there if the kayak sticks to the water. Trying to sprint there (just for a joke) it was much faster than I expected: I reached 11 km/h and it feels like the kayak was planing.
- Details
Today we paddled on the IJselmeer because the tides didn't allow a trip at sea in daylight. Beside this the weather-predictions were quite unstable, not allowing us for a trip to Noorderhaaks f.i.
So we started in Uitdam for a 10 km crossing to the other side: Block van Kuffeler.
Conditions were ideal for summer-lovers, but not for testers: 2bft, sunny and too warm for a drysuite.
- Details
Er zijn verschillende redenen waarom je (doordeweeks) zou willen gaan varen. Je zou aan je conditie willen werken. Of je hebt niets anders te doen. Of je wilt de werksfeer even ontlopen en neemt een dag vrij. Of je wilt jezelf eens verwennen. Waarschijnlijk kan je deze opsomming nog aanzienlijk uitbreiden.
Toen Jos mij belde met de mededeling dat hij vrijdag vrij had genomen en of ik in was voor een tochtje, zal het een combinatie van verschillende van de genoemde factoren zijn geweest. Ik ben altijd wel in voor een tochtje en die vrijdag waren er geen andere plannen, dus we waren het snel eens.
Aangezien het getij ongunstig was voor een waddentocht en de weersvoorspellingen wat te onbestendig voor de Razende Bol, kozen we het IJsselmeer als decor voor ons tochtje.
Alhoewel we om 9 uur afspraken op de loods, koste het ons toch een halve dag om te water te geraken. Eerst moesten we bij mij thuis nog de waterkaart ophalen die ik was vergeten. Vervolgens reden we een toeristische route langs Jisp en Neck. Daar deden we lang over want onderweg zagen we allerlei gevogelte dat onze aandacht trok. Het leukste was dat we een aantal Kemphanen mochten begluren.
Jos wist goed de weg in de omgeving van Purmerend en loodste ons helemaal binnendoor naar Uitdam waar we op het terrein van de camping konden starten na betaling van parkeergeld op het terrein. Alhoewel ze daar de kustlijn aan het verbouwen waren deerde dat ons niet want de zon scheen volop en het leek wel zomer. OP een strandje stond een picknickbank; zie daar een mooie gelegenheid om mijn eerste ooit eigengebakken gebakken appeltaart te consumeren.
- Details
Today you can't really call the conditions suitable for testing. It was real nice weather. Sunny and only 2-3bft wind from the north: a present !. But as we were in the mood for paddling, I paddled the Xcite.
Starting at Wijk aan Zee we paddled to the south, crossing the piers of IJmuiden, having a break at a restaurant before turning back.
Of course there were almost no waves and than it is interesting to see that the Xcite needs the skeg to be a bit lowered for weathercocking. I think that weathercocking is a good quality for a seakayak because this makes a kayak less sensitive to leecocking. So the Xcite weathercocks a bit, which is OK. But it is interessting that when the Xcite is paddling what she is designed for, paddling waves, you almost never need the skeg. Just because of her maneuverability.
On our way back we did some rockhopping along the piers behind a few big concrete blocks. Maneuverability is a nice qualkity than.
This is also a good spot for some exercises again. I liked to check the stability again; after the re-entry having rolled up.
Well, the result of the exercises was:
High brace: very easy
Rolling: very supple
- Details
Today we started paddling at Castricum aan Zee for a tour along the coast to Egmond. No challenging conditions (NW 3-4bft) but a lively sea, which was a good scenery for safety-exercises.
First we paddled against the current and diagonally against the waves. Just like I noted on earlier trips the Xcite splashes a bit after passing waves; more than the accompanying Mariners and Explorer cutting more through waves. But as explained earlier the Xcite is designed to suppress the waves in the tidal races around Wales: real "thick water" over there. The Xcite almost never got water on the foredeck today while the other accompanying kayaks frequently dove deep enough to have water on the deck.
While the Mariners needed their skeg, I paddle the Xcite without using the skeg: she paddles so lively that she keeps her course with the greatest of ease.
During a short break at sea I lent back, hands folded, for a while observing the stability. The kayak turned parallel to the waves by itself, as most kayaks do, and I bobbed without problems on the waves. Great stability.