1.6.2013

Today I joined a club-tour with the SI18; out at the Gouwzee. In fact we would have gone out at sea but changed to this location because of the windforce.

But paddling this area is nice as well because of the historical surrounding and a lively sea as well.

My experiences of the day are:
First, after departure from the harbor Monnickendam, the watersurface was rather flat and the wind was coming from aside. After the previous sessions it is no surprise that this means that the kayak weathercocks even with retractable skeg down.

After rounding the dike we paddled against the wind and the weathercocking is gone.

While paddling in the group the SI18 turns out to be faster than average and it was a pleasure for instance to paddle quickly to the front of the group for discussion.

After a pause in Volendam we could go straight to Marken but to make it more challenging for the group, we set out first to the IJsselmeer where you could see nice waves in the distance.
At first the 40-60cm-waves came from aside and the stability of the SI18 was still very good. In fact I could stop paddling and still sit relaxed, while leaning lazy backwards in the cockpit.
The kayak liked it very much and danced over the waves.
In these waves I did not have to lower the skeg as the kayak is very maneuverable in these conditions and stayed on course with the greatest of ease.

Arriving at a buoy north of Marken we turned south with the waves pushing as. Perfect to go surfing. It was a pity having to stay with the group, otherwise I would have gone surfing for a long way: because surfing the SI18 is big fun.
This kayak is a real surf-machine. She picks up a wave with ease and accelerates quickly. While surfing I discovered that she is still controllable in a way. Often it helps to improve surfing in a kayak to lean backwards while operating a paddle-rudder. While doing so I could play a bit with how far leaning backwards. To my surprise this had effect on the course and offered a tool to change course at will while surfing. Amazing.

When not surfing the kayak stays very good on course having to mention that I paddled with the retractable skeg down.

Arriving at Marken there was quite a lot of clapotis-waves at the harbor-entrance. Just for fun I let me drift in these waves for a while. Good stability.

After a brake we stared the last leg of our tour: westwards, back to Monnickendam. As the wind was NNW the waves came more or less from aside. The waves were very lively and I was happy how easily the SI18 could be steered over them. In fact I did not use the retractable skeg now as the kayak was so maneuverable that keeping course just happened with ease.

On this leg of the tour I paddled criss-cross through the field of paddlers. Getting a paddler back to the group, enjoying the speed with which the kayak is splitting the waves. Or just trying how the kayak could be turned in waves and wind: turning against the wind or turning downwind.
Here I have to write a rectification on earlier remarks: Earlier I had problems with turning downwind but today, keep in mind that I tailorfitted the kayak, I had no problems in turning downwind in waves and wind thanks to the improved grip of hips and knees in the cockpit. So this is again a proof for the proposition that tailorfitting effects the performance of a kayak in a positive way.

Coming near the harbor of Monnickendam the waves died away and immediately the kayaks starts weathercocking again; even with the retractable skeg down.

I enjoyed it very much today: paddling the SI18 !
In fact I think she would be a beautiful and perfect seakayak, without much compromising if only three issues are improved: a twice as big a skegblade to prevent weathercocking, thigh grips with a better and more anatomical shape and the sloped surfaces in the deck made longer and/or moved forwards. And of course the watertightness of the back-hatch should be improved but that is obvious a must. Yes, today again water in the aft-compartment.

To be continued.

pictures will follow later.

CLICK:        [0 Comments]

30.05.2013

Conditions: wind 4 bft N. Distance ca. 28 km.

Today we planned a tour in the Voordelta-area: a circumnavigation of the sandbank Aardappelbult.
Hoping that conditions at the sea-side of the sandbank would be ocean-like with a nice swell as a result of the wind the days before.

But before we could start I had to wait for an hour due to traffic-problem for my paddling-mate.
I used that time to take a critical look at the kayak. And I was pleasantly surprised: it is a magnificent design with very nice lines in the hull. The bow is very sharp with a flare to give enough volume. The front-ship has quite a lot of volume whereas the aftship is very lean and slim. The hull looks very good.
The widest point of the deck-line is just in the middle. But the widest point of the hull is a bit in front of the seat; which is the result of the lower volume of the aftship.

I think that the designers did a good job by developing this kayak for stability, speed and behavior in waves.
But: everything is a compromise. So also with this kayak. The downside is that the SI18 weathercocks a bit too much. Especially when paddling in wind in combination through low waves.
In fact the seat should be moved backwards, but that's not a good idea with the lean aftship. So rests only the solution to increase the skeg-surface to probably double size. This solution is easy to realize because the only thing to change is the skeg-housing. What result is a maneuverable kayak that can be trimmed with the skeg when weathercocking.

What I found out this morning is that the deck is surprisingly strong. Much stronger than the hull on certain points. So may be there is hope and can the hull be reinforced in the same way as the deck.

Now about the paddling.

Before we were out at sea we had to paddle against the current for a few miles. When paddling against waves, wind and current the SI18 spliced the waves. Needing almost no corrections for weathercocking. At the foot of the lighthouse we traversed the stream to reach the sandbank. The tide-situation at the moment resulted in a real tidalrace with a front wave on which we could surf. But as we were next to a sandbank the tidal race was mixed with cresting waves coming from 2 directions resulting is clapotis-waves as well. A nice "inferno" of waves in which the SI18 was completely at home. She danced nicely over the waves and was complete under-control.

Out at sea we had to keep distance from the sandbank for over almost 1 km because the area was declared protected area. This for new for me and now we discovered that more out at sea runs a strong current of almost 2 knots. There was a nice ocean swell. No problem for this kayak.
With the following wind the kayak started to weathercock again. For today I did stow approx. 5 kg sand in the back-compartment and approx. 2kg in the front compartment. But unfortunately this did not have enough affect because, although the retractable skeg was lowered maximal, I had to make correction strokes all the time. I could not understand this yet because this trick works in most kayaks.
The positive side of the weathercocking today was that I could feel how well the kayak responds on edging and leaning in combination with sweep strokes. Positively influenced by the improved knee- and hip-contact as well.
Because the extra weight in the kayak did have effect you may even conclude that a heavier person than me probably will have the same experience regarding weathercocking.

At the end of the sandbank we turned east and now e could enjoy a following sea. The waves were a bit irregular and although did not invite for long surfs, I could feel the potential in this kayak: she is very eager to catch a wave; accelerating fast. In an other testsession I will take a closer look to the surfing.

The last leg of our tour brought us a lively sea; caused by crossing-waves coming from both NW and SW together. The SI18 really likes this and danced over them while cutting the water giving me the feeling as if it cost no energy at all to propel this kayak.

During the whole tour today I was happy with the stability. Primary- and secondary-stability are good and made me feel at home in all conditions e met today.

Back in the harbor I rolled the kayak twice. Rolling was no problem. Maybe it will be even easier without the sand-ballast. Something to investigate later.
Sculling is not as easy because you have to lift yourself out of the seat because of the high backband in combination with the cockpit-rim. But it can be done.

Other technical remarks of today are:
- The operating of the retractable skeg is very easy. The cable runs very supple.
- The front-compartment was bone dry afterwards
- The back-compartment has again about 1 liter of water inside. I suspect the glue-layer with which the hatch-rim is glued on the deck. I will take a look at that later. Honestly I cannot think that the hatch itself is the problem because the front-hatch is not leaking.

pictures will follow later.

CLICK:        [0 Comments]

28.05.2013

As I wrote before, my body did not fit exactly in the cockpit. So today I added some foam underneath the thigh-grips and on both sides of the seat to match my hip-width.


Today the wind was nice again: NE force 4. So fine conditions to check if my improvements are enough.
And: Well yes, I was satisfied because, when paddling with the knees unlocked, I could still edge for steering just on my hip-contact with the boat.

When using the knees as well, while edging, I was very surprised how easy I could turn the kayak.

As I was on the water anyway I made a small tour of 8 km to enjoy the weather and the wind. My attention was drawn again to the weathercocking. In fact you can, in windy conditions, best paddle with the retractable skeg fully dropped down. Most of the time this is enough to paddle a stable course. But sometimes in a tailwind, blowing a bit from aside, you have to correct course every stroke for weathercocking (with the skeg full down).

I think that this kayak needs a bigger skegblade. Next time at sea I will take some ballast for the aft-compartment to investigate if this helps for the moment. But also to find out if the SI18 with a heavier person than I am, weathercocks less.

CLICK:        [0 Comments]

As the wind was NW 4-5 bft today, this seems an opportunity to paddle the kayak to the club-evening at night and at the same time test the kayak. Total distance 19km.

I took a GPS with me to get an impression of the speed I can reach with this kayak. My natural solo-pace in this kayak turns out to be 8,5 km/h. Only a bit slower in a head-wind and a bit faster in a tail-wind. When I entered a wind-free area I reached 9/km/h immediately. I think that this is not bad at all for a seakayak. Anyway: faster than the average seakayak.
I will do the sprinting later when there is no wind, but looking at the way the kayak cuts the water, she must be quite fast.

While paddling I discovered that the sloped surfaces, left and right, in the deck, which could make the paddle stroke more efficient because of entering the water with the blades closer to the hull, are too far aft. The sloped surfaces look very good in the current position, but are not functional because the paddle blades enter the water farther away to the front.
Afterwards looking at the paddle-scratch-marks on the deck, I concluded that these surfaces should move towards the bow over approx. 35 cm. A positive spin-off will be that the chart-table-elastics (read article "first glance") can be positioned better as well.

The seat and the cockpit are comfortable. About the knee-contact I have some remarks. But because every paddler has different legs this is a personal remark: the thighs does not touch the thigh-grips (they could be placed more aft for me) and the kneecaps have a direct, unpleasant contact with the deck next to the cockpit-rim. I will investigate if I can solve that for me with a layer of foam underneath the thigh-grips.
The width of the seat was a bit to wide, not providing hip-contact for easy edging. So I will fill up the space with foam as well.

The feet-rests are the usual pegs on a rail. The have a rather nice profile and are very easy to adjust; even when sitting in the cockpit already.
Because I personally don't like foot-pegs at all I sled a wide plastic tube over the pegs: my invention which gives me the opportunity to move the feet (and thus the legs) to different positions.
I would not advise to use the front bulkhead as foot-contact because it is very flexible. I can not judge if it can withstand the high pressure I can have when paddling hard.

When paddling on the canal the kayak weathercocks quite a lot but by lowering the retractable skeg maximal, this was compensated.

When entering the lake the SI18 responds very lively at the waves. She runs slices nicely over and through the waves, almost without producing spray.
The primary stability is reasonable good. The secondary stability is very good.

I paddled still with the skeg down and the kayak tracked very well in the waves (of approx. 40cm heigth).
When hauling the skeg up she started weathercocking again. In this wind it was difficult to correct for that with paddles strokes and edging. I wonder what a stronger wind will have for effect. I certainly will test-paddle this kayak later in stronger wind.

When turning upwind this was very easy because the kayak does that herself already when not using the skeg. Turning downwind is difficult as the skeg was dropped maximal yet. I could not manage to turn down wind other than stopping and make contra-paddlestrokes as well.

Arriving at the club I was a bit disappointed because my fleece jacket, stored in the aft-compartment, was wet. The other compartments were still dry. So probably I closed the aft-hatch not exactly positioned.

My way back home in the middle of the night meant today that the wind was gone; already at sleep I guess.
This was a good condition to feel that this kayak is very maneuverable. Really she turns on a dime.
She also responds very good to edging feeling secure in the secondary stability as well.

On the mirror-like water-surface I discovered fully how maneuverable the kayak is. Even when paddling a straight line the kayak tracks less and you can see the bow moving left to right a bit at every stroke. No problem because she is so easily back on course again. When having hip contact you even don't need paddle strokes for that because leaning a bit helps enough already. But when you are in a lazy mood, just drop the skeg a bit and she tracks very good again. Personally I like this behavior because you have the choice being good-tracking or maneuverable at the moment you like. So you can adjust the behavior to the situation you are in.

The operation of the skeg was convenient with a knob that you have perfect grip on. Operation is without any friction. The only thing I wonder about is if the wire, to which the operation-knob is added is not to thin. I wonder if in any rescue situation someone could grab the wire accidentally out of the slot.

To be continued

CLICK:        [0 Comments]

Today I picked up a brand new seakayak at Kanoshop.nl. I am talking about the seakayak SI18, recently introduced by Stellar.
It is a very good looking seakayak with traditional lines. Made in China by the factory that produced Epic before and is still producing High-Tec competition rowing boats.
Behind the design stand two American designers (David Thomas and Ed Hofmeister)who designed also fast Stellar-surfskis and fast seakayaks very much like the Epic 18X.
The I in the name SI18 stands for "Intrepid", meaning brave: A nice recommendation ;-).

The design of the SI18 is not the only good-looking issue, but also the boot itself has a flawless surface. The moulds must be perfect; maybe even produced with computer-technology. The quality of the seams could be better : at a few spots we saw rough places with sharp glass particles. As this was one of the first boats produced (in a hurry maybe) for the introduction, I give them the benefit of the doubt; expecting better quality in the future.

The dimensions are:
- length: 5,50m
- width: 54 cm
- height: 34 cm
- for paddlers: 15 - 2,0m
- load-capacity: 150 kg.
- Prices vary, according to the construction, between E1999,- and E4299,-

The SI18 is available in 4 construction-options: sport 24kg, advantage 20,5kg, excel 18,5kg, ultra 18,5kg.
The construction of the testkayak is according the sport-option. I doubt however if this sport-version can withstand heavy expedition situations. The hull is very flexible and when I closed the backdeck-hatch the hull flexed quite a lot at a spot where the hull has enough curvature to have a natural resistance against flexing. This happened only when pressing on the hatch. But luckily enough Stellar has 3 other options to choose from.

The front- and backdeck hatches are oval and big enough for easy access. They are made from rigid plastic in the center with rubber snap-edges. The back-hatch is rather round which shall require careful closing to make sure that no water can come in.
The day-hatch is round. In front of the cockpit a small hatch is positioned for issues you ant to have under direct access. The hatch used there is a bit outdated because it is a screw-on model. These are sensitive for a few grains of sand making it difficult to close or open.

The deck has 2 sloping surfaces for easy paddle-blade passage for your paddle strokes. Because of this the elastics bands on the entrance of chart-table are very close to each other. Only a small sea-chart can be tucked underneath. Or when it is tucked in a bit farther away, you can not drag it to you when you want to read it. I wonder why the fitments for the elastics were not positioned in the sloping surfaces of the deck.

The kayak has a retractable skeg. The operation is very smooth. The blade fits very tight in the housing and I wonder if this will result in a jammed up blade because of sand, stones or dirt..

All of these are issues to look at in the testing program. You will read more about this later.

CLICK:        [0 Comments]