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To test a kayak it is important to paddle her in different conditions. The weather is however a matter of luck: I mean that mankind does not have influence there. But today I was lucky. We went to the Noorderhaaks (a sandbank near Den Helder) an area known for the heavy conditions you can meet there. Today's conditions were: a WSW 4-5bft wind and a big swell from the north; the remnant of a storm somewhere on the ocean.
This resulted in a very choppy sea with cresting waves, especially on the north-side of the sandbank.
Crossing the Marsdiep, having departed from Den Helder, we met the first serious waves at the beginning of the Molengat. The Xcite rides this short steep waves splashing down after every wave. The accompanying Xplore did the same thing while the accompanying North Shore Mariner cuts the waves without so much splashing. But while the Xcite stayed more on the surface without water on the foredeck, the Marines often dives a bit getting water on the deck.
The designers of the Xcite designed her for the heavy seas near Wales and this means more volume in the bow. This is about making choices and every choice is a compromise. As a result the Xcite will splash more. But in this seas we paddled now I felt completely at home: the Xcite listening to every paddlestroke and hip-movement without delay.
Paddling against the wind and waves the Xcite did not show signs of leecocking nor weathercocking. The kayak is maneuverable enough to correct her course between waves.
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Today my kayakclub KVU planned a tour around the "island" Marken. Starting at the end of the dike connecting the island to the mainland, we paddled before the wind. The waves were a bit disturbed but now and then a nice surfable wave came by. With the skeg lowered to maximum depth it was no problem to keep course. However it was necessary to stay alert en react quickly on waves to maintain course. But I can tell that these conditions a difficult for a beginner in what-so-ever seakayak.
But in the hands of an experienced kayakker keeping course should be no problem at all in this maneuverable kayak.
Nearing the lighthouse " 't Paard" the waves were a bit higher and the Xcite just dances over them. It is really a lively kayak in which you can feel united with kayak and waves.
IN these waves U exercised turning away from the wind as well as turning into the wind. I used edging plus sweepstrokes for this and had no difficulties: the kayak just responded very well. I mean there was NO obvious point where the kayak refused to turn (something which happens with some kayaks when parallel to the waves).
When the wind came from left the Xcite weathercocked only slightly. I could easily tune the kayak with the variable skeg for this.
Although: without using the skeg it was also easy to keep course with this maneuverable kayak on these short, irregular waves.
We paddled also a track against the waves and I did not notice any significant leecocking. But I must say that leecocking most of the time only occurs in stronger winds than today's.
Highlights of today: lively, maneuverable and stable seekayak.
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Today I visited the seakayak-demo-day by NDK and kanoshop.nl.
For me this was an interesting event to compare Tiderace and NDK; two kayak brands sharing some roots.
But what I want to write about now is the Xcite, which I am currently testing.
My testkayak is one of Wieger's kayaks; which he is so kind to lend me for testing.
What I learned today is that the testkayak is produced by Plastex in Poland, whereas the newest Tiderace kayaks are produced in Thailand.
Although this has no effect on the kayakdesign, there are differences in the cockpit.
The differences between the newest Xcite, I saw yesterday, and the Xcite from Poland are:
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Finally, after having completed the test, I would like to mention a few technical issues
Dimensions:
Length 5,48 m
Width 55,9 cm
Depth: 28.6 cm
Storage capacity: bow-compartment 87 litres, stern-compartment 119 litres
Weight: 19,1 kg; for the performance version
Capacity: 173 kg
More details can be found at www.epickayaks.org
Design
The 18XS has a design that is basically equal to the 18X and 16X:
- long waterline for creating a fast vessel,
- sharp bow which has still a lot of volume (more volume than the 18X)
- a wide, flat aftship
- the deck, in front of the cockpit, has cutaways making an efficient, fast paddlestroke possible.
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I paddled the Xcite before on the Alkmaardermeer, a few months ago. Today was the second trip, at sea this time. Unfortunately or luckily, it depends how you look at it, the weather was very quiet with a 2-3 bft SW wind.
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Today I paddled an Xcite in the first test-session. It was ideal testing weather because the wind blew with 6-7 bft. from SW. This first time I paddled on the Alkmaardermeer; a good place to get used to a new kayak.
The kayak has a big key-hole cockpit for easy entering. And in spite of the big cockpit you have very good grip with the knees under the deck.
To me the cockpit was very comfortable thanks to combination of the big footrest, back-band and kneegrips.
After getting in, I turned the kayak in the harbour: it turns like a dime. A very manoeuvrable kayak.
With the wind blowing from behind, under an angle, she keeps course without problem en responded very good to the retractable skeg.
As the Alkmaardermeer is not very deep, a 6 bft. wind produces short, steep waves there. Paddling against the wind and waves, the Xcite splashes quite a lot. As this kayak is designed for heavy sea-conditions the bow has more volume than average which causes more splashing than with a sharp bow.
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I decided that paddling in 7-8bft was representative enough for paddling the 18XS out at sea in 6 bft.
So no more test-sessions necessary and I returned her to Kanoshop.nl today.
Now the final step of testing comes close: the writing of a summary from all the blog-posts I produced about the Epic 18XS.
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Having paddled the 18XS during a few months, I noticed a few issues that should be mentioned in my testreport about her.
During the last few weeks paddling the 18XS, I wondered why the fin did not drop to its maximum depth. It was if there was some obstruction. Taking a close look later, I discovered some corrosion inside the rudder. At the pivoting point of the fin a metal ring is mounted; which was corroded. My opinion is that the corrosion produces more friction. Probably the elastic has not enough power to pull the fin over this increased friction.
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This is surely a point Epic can improve on with non-corroding rings!
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Until now I collected already quite a lot of information about the performance of the 18XS.
The only issue I wanted information on was WIND. Tis weekend it was windy enough but unfortunately I could not find a buddy to organize a test-session. Although I must confess that the 8bft-wind was a bit too rough to go out at sea today.
So instead I went to the Alkmaardermeer where the wind blew at 7 bft with gusts up to 8bft.
I met Max there by chance and together we let us blow by the wind to the middle of the lake. Halfway Max waited in the lee while I went into the soup in the middle of the lake.
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Today it was very foggy. When Jos asked me if I was interested in a Sunday-paddle I thought this to be an ideal opportunity for wet-exercises with the 18XS. May be even a last opportunity before weather and water turns nasty cold.
For today Jos organized hot chocolate-milk and I a film-camera.
For a test I usually try the following wet exercises with the testkayak:
the high brace
In fact I have no comments: the high brace is easy to perform in this kayak