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Paddling the Fjord in the tideraces around Anglesey seemed an ideal opportunity to learn more about here capacities. We went in sept´08 with a group of 7 kayakers (mostly from Kayakclub Uitgeest) to Holy Head in Wales.
Axel Schoevers was our guide (Click for his weblog) and we had a perfect paddling-week. Axel guided us to Puffin Island, North Stack, South Stack, Skerries and Penrhyn Mawr.
To be honest, being at sea the combination of strong currents and waves was a bit intimidating at first. But as Axel slowly increased the level, the learning-curve was perfect.
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In addition to the first dry impression that I wrote before, I now looked for the design-briefing which NDK followed in designing this Romany, as well as for some more technical information.
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As the kayakclub bought herself a new Romany S rm, I got the opportunity to take a close look to this new kayak which is introduced by P&H (OEPS: I mean NDK of course) in march 2008.
Later I will take her along for a paddle, but first I will take a technical look underneath:
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Last Wednesday I paddled the Fjord on the lake 'Alkmaardermeer' and surveyed her behaviour in wind: a SW-wind at force 4Bft. Waves approx. 20-30cm
I wrote already about this topic in the first article, but since then I tailorfitted the kayak.
I concluded earlier that the Fjord weathercocks quite remarkable.
Today I concluded that the weathercocking is still there but to a lesser degree due to the weaker wind. Again, the Fjord could be trimmed perfectly with the skeg. But that’s no news.
Next thing I did was lifting the skeg and trying to keep course with only sweepstrokes. I did this on several courses compared to the wind-direction. That was not too easy and in fact rather tiring.
Now I added edging to my sweepstrokes and shifting weight as well: and thus I recorded a big improvement. In fact I could easily keep course now while using much less paddle-energy. There was only one note to make: the timing of the weight shifting was important. To my opinion this improvement in compensating for weathercocking was the result of tailorfitting my cockpit. I got now much better grip and could transfer the paddle-energy easily to the boat's course.
A final note on weathercocking-corrections is that the course with the wind at an angle from behind is the less easiest in keeping course without the skeg.
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For going out in the dark with a small boat the sea rules indicate that the minimum requirement is a normal electric flashlight (which you need to turn on early to prevent a collision).
For kayaking this isn´t so easy and a better solution, to make sure you are visible, is a light/lantern that will “show a steady light over the horizon at 360 degree”
Quite a lot of Dutch kayakers, paddling in the dark on their weekly evening-club-events are busy inventing nice solutions. Myself, I used until now a PETZL LED-headlantern whereon I clicked additional two cycle-led-lanterns on the backside of the headstrap as well, showing thus 3 white lights at different positions.
I became serious in using this after almost having been in collision with a speedboat traveling at very high speed and showing no lights at all(probably a smugler 
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Last Wednesday evening the kayakclub planned a surfsession at the beach near Bakkum. As conditions were good I joined the party because this was an ideal opportunity to paddle the Fjord in surf. Conditions: wind SW 6bft, waves 1,2-1,6m, temp seawater 19°C
Starting just after the high tide, with the sea lowering already, the waves were steep and rather disturbed while coming from several directions and zipping into each other, causing a kind of Clapotis as well.
At first I felt a bit uneasy under this conditions as the Fjord reacted on every wave with a kind of uncontrolled edging. Probably I had to get used to this behaviour of the Fjord as I did not notice this anymore after half an hour.
So after a while I paddled quite relaxed on the edges of whitecaps; mostly without bracing.
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A part of the testing kayaks is examining the design and compare it with the testresults.
Just to try understanding the testresult.
In the testreports on this website you will sometimes read that I noticed the widest part of the kayak being forward of the cockpit.
Every designform has it pro´s and contra´s. Experts consider as a pro of a hull with the widest part of the kayak being forward of the cockpit, that such a kayak is more directional stable.
In my testreports I refer sometimes to this theory.
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I just read on the site of P&H that they invented a new skeg system.
In contrary to other developments in the market, they claim to have followed the path for a simple solution which is also field maintanable.
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As you notice the appearance of my seakayakblog is changed.
I just decided to stop regular writing and to specialize on articles about more technical issues. The present technical blogposts will be integrated into my website zeekajaksite.nl
I will keep on using the blogscript for easy writing and uploading of articles to the website.
This way the possibility for readers to discuss, to comment, to add valuable or additional information to articles will be maintained. Although this possibility is not used often, I sometimes recieve feedback; something I highly appreciate.
Besides this the use of the RSS-feed will give readers the opportunity to be informed when new articles are published.
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Last saterday I joined together with Wieger, a tour from the NKB (Dutch Kajak Association) starting in Muiden. Because of the wind the original destination, the "island" Marken, was changed into Durgerdam which was shorter by as well as offering a more convenient course with the wind and last but not least also offering better surfing possibilities on our way back.
Although the area is very familiar to me, there was enough to be seen: 6 kayakers I did not meet before and two trainies practising for becoming an instructor. They practised issues like group-behaviour and paddletechnics on us.