- Details
Whow, what's that, I thougth when I stumbled over the "hydro skeg" at internet today.
Next thougth was: Shit! Did I decide finally, after years, to have a variable skeg built into my AnasAcuta and do I find 3 weeks after completing, a much better system.
It has also a name: Murphy's law, from good old, never dying, Mr. Murphy.
However that's life!
Now to business:
The Hydro skeg is a skeg that is not controlled by rope, or by a stainless steel wire, but by hydrolics.
That´s news and can be a great improvement because the rope controlled skeg is not very user-friendly and the stainless steel operated skeg can have the problem of damaging cq. kinking the stainless steel wire; for instance when landing on the beach while forgetting to retract the skeg.
Anyhow it is new and worth investigating it.
- Details
Noorderhaaks is a small island in the NorthSea. In the past it was infamous and known as a hazard to all ships. Quite a lot of ships were wrecked on this big sandbank; smashed to pieces by the poundering surf.
This tells something about the conditions you could meet there as a seakayakker. In a NW-wind it is therefor not recommended to circumnavigate it, for conditions can be too challenging; especially on the NW-side.
So you have to take into account that there is a realistic chance planned trips must be cancelled. Because of this I never made this trip before.
However today I was lucky; my kayakclub planned a tour there and the easterly 5 Bft.-wind did not stop us this time.
The only thing was that we could face rough water on our way back in the Marsdiep where, at that time, a strong current against the 5Bft.wind can cause quite a heavy sea.
- Details
Today Hans Heupink planned a tour in the Voordelta for the TKBN.
Unfortunately the weatherforecast was too bad to go out with a group of 20 kayakkers: wind NW 5Bft ; showers accompanied with gales of 7Bft and hail and thunder.
So HAns cancelled the tour; with pain in his hart. It was however for the safety of the participants.
Because I discussed with Hans the day before to participate, he called me, knowing I work on the test of the VestVika, if I would like to go out anyway, but in a small group.
I said yes because I always want to test a kayak on the dim border of "to paddle or not to paddle"
So there we are: saterday 10.00h in the morning. Hans and I stand there looking out over a windy sea. On the horizon we see the breaking surf at the Aardappelenbult.
First thing Hans did, interessted as he is in the speedmachine Vestvika, to lay down his Pintail next to the Vestvika. We are amazed how much slimmer the Vestvika is, compared to the Pintail; which also known as a slim kayak.
- Details
Last Saterday was lost because I had to work than. However, today I compensated this by staying home for a day. A day I spent completely to "dry kayakking". It feels almost like a present, which is nonsense of course.
Anyhow, I had time for doing quite a lot of kayak-related activities.
Like working at my website and a couple of other sites.
Like customising the Vestvika again: just changing the footrest which turned out to be too tigth.
More important was customizing the AnasAcuta again. This was necessary now the variable skeg has been built in. It was nice: playing around with bits and pieces of foam for some hours, sitting in the sun in my garden.
Having done that, the skeg itself needs also some finetuning and I grinded the edges a little bit away for better "free running" of the blade in the housing.
After having finished all this kayak-related activities there was also time for the real work and I ended the day with a 23km-paddle to the kayakclub and back.
Yeah, it feels good, having done al this.
- Details
Everybody has his habits: good, bad, strange, ... !
One of my habits is that I store a testkajak at home in the narrow corridor: a safe place. That is the way I am used to nurse the properties I borrow from persons.
A few days ago I used the same place to customize theVestVika-testkayak with foam. Doing that I am busy for a couple of hours, making a mess there with all the bits and pieces of foam around the kayak.
It is ready now and in the mean time I paddled the customized kayak and am happy with the result.
Most of the time I can't be stopped in preaching felllow-kayakkers how important it is to customize your own kayak to suit your own physics.
It is not the first time I am asthonished about the result, in such a way that a kayak can behave completely different (read: much better) than before the customizing.
Try yourself.
- Details
In the last two entries in my weblog I planned pictures but did not, at the same time, find time to make and upload them.
But yet I managed to include them in the entries; please look below.
- Details
Instead of picking up my improved AnasAcuta up on last friday at JG.Polyester, I toke off 2 free hours doing it around midday today.
John did a nice job with the lower- and longer skeg-housing: I guess the surface of the skeg must be enough to prevent the weathercocking.
Although I went over to JG last week, to establish the best place for the controlbutton of the skeg, there was a small surprise with my knee interfering with the tube, going from there to the front, behind the controlbutton. I will have to improve that with some foam John gave me with that purpose.
- Details
On friday-evening the weatherforecast for the next day was that bad that I wondered if the planned tour, organised bij the NKB (Dutch Canoe Association), would be canceled.
To my surprise Joris not intended to do so and only planned to change the destination according to the level of the participants of the tour.
In testing kayaks I love the bad weather which was predicted now. Not because of the bad weather of course, but because it is my intention that testing a kayak should be done under the conditions an organised tour can meet. As a tour normally will not be canceled at 5 Bft- wind or less, I believe a kayak must be able to function in 6Bft because the wind can be stronger than expected. That is why I love 6 Bft to test Kayaks in.
although I did not yet paddle 1 meter in the VestVika, the testkayak I picked up yesterday, I took the kayak with me today.
Honestly it is against my principles, which are that I first wants to try a kayak on protected waters, to get used a bit to its characteristics, before I encounter heavy weather in it. This of course from a safety point of view. However today there were quit a lot of kayakers nearby and the level was intermediate so in this case I dare doing so.
- Details
It´s friday and I planned to take half a day off to get my AnasAcuta at JG Polyester, who added a variable skeg to it.
After that, not the most economic plan, I intended to drive back to Bram in Baarn to pick up his VestVika, a brand new kayak which I will test the coming weeks.
However, due to production-problems at work I was not able to leave earlier than 17.00h. Because of that I skipped, with pain in my hart, the trip to JG: I dare not ask him to wait for me because of the traffic-jams that are expected this time of the day between Utrecht and Gorichem and because of which it is impossible to predict a estimated time of arrival.
So instead of that I went directly to Bram. Together we drove to Meander, the kajakclub of Baarn, where the kajak was.
The kajak is the result of Brams suggestion to Jan from "Kajakcentrum De Bieschbosch" (that does, regrettably, not exist anymore) to develop a fast kajak based on the Svalbard, a succesfull design of Jan, maintaining its characteristics.
So Bram made, in close contact with Jan, the plug. Once the plug was ready, Jan made the mould and a first hull was presented the last "kayak exhibition at Nieuwegein" about 5 years ago.
Regrettably Jan ended his company shortly after that and the building of the new kajak was delayed.
A few months ago however Jan and Bram finished the new kajak and gave it the name VestVika. Jan built one kajak in his spare hours at JG polyester´s, before the mould was transported to Tjechie like some of Jan´s other moulds.
The kajak is now Bram´s and probably the only existing and finished one at this moment.
The VestVika is a beautifull looking kayak which "breathes" the quality you can think of as the "watermark" of all the kayaks Jan built in the past. :wink:
I am very curious how the kayak will behave.
The first contacts with Bram gave me the impression that I could use it a day or so to get a first impression of the kayak. Thus I planned to "do" the VestVika before the planned test with another kayak that I could borrow from Leo, a clubmember. Now it has become clear I can keep the Vestvika longer, the other testkayak shall have to wait for a few months. Sorry Leo, I come back to you soon.
- Details
I think every kayakker has these thougths now and than: to drive much more kilometers than actually paddling them.
Today I succeeded in driving without paddling:
A few weeks ago I brougth my AnasAcuta to JG-Polyester; a good, Dutch company to get your kayak repaired or adjusted to your wishes.
He was going to install a variable skeg into my kayak.
Due to the fact the AA is very flat on the back, he has to make a new mould for a lower, but longer skeghousing. So he needed some time, but the moment has come now to finish the kayak.
To be sure that the controlbutton of the skeg would not interfere with my knee, I drove the 100 km´s over to JG-polyester to talk about the best place for the button.
The skeg was in place yet and looked promising. The position for the controlbutton was easy to find and after some talk I drove homewards again: satisfied but dusty because of the polyester-dust a workplace of a polyester company is normaly covered with.
I am looking forward to next friday when the AA will be ready.