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.

I amused myself very much in the stronger waves. Not only because it was easier to catch a wave but also I felt very much at home in this kayak. I felt safe, stable and always in control of this kayak.

The maneuverability of the kayak in surf between waves, is better than most seakayaks. Still she is in surf, with all its currents and turbulence, less maneuverable as on flat water. On flat water she turns on a dime but here in waves more effort is needed. But most times when I wanted to turn to catch a wave, I was turned just in time.

Summarizing I think this is a very competent kayak in heavy seas. And also very suitable to play around in surf and waves.
I paddled for two hours in surf now and thought it was a pity to quit. But alas, my body needs rest after so long a session.

To give you an impression of the conditions today, you find 10 photo's underneath:

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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.

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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 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. This stimulated me for high braces to cool down a bit. As I tested the high brace before in the Xcite, I knew I could use this brace as escape safely. Half an hour later the weather suddenly changed: it became cold and the wind increased. Allowing us a few nice surfs at the lee side of the lake.
Arriving at the other side we had to look for shelter as the thin wind cooled us down too much during our break. In the mean time the wind increased to W-5 bft and after leaving we rocked over the steep waves at the lee shore. We had to work us against this wind over approx. 6 km; setting course for Marken. The whole trip we rode short waves and I noticed that the Xcite leecocked a bit on the moment the bow was exposed to the wind while on top of a wave. Keeping the Xcite on the desired course was easy as she responded very good on sweepstrokes and edging. Her manoeuvrability is also an important ingredient for keeping the correct course.
Although the kayak splashes a bit I had a very dry ride.
After putting on an extra shirt at Marken, (the weather became icy cold) we started our final leg, back to Uitdam. The wind blowing at out right side. Not much to tell about this conditions. Only about minor leecocking; easy to correct for. Funny enough Jos, being a bit heavier, did not show any sign of leecocking in his NDK-Explorer. I think that the difference in kayak, the Xcite being slightly more flat-bottomed, is only part of an explanation. My weight is rather low and so I am riding high and catching more wind. But anyway, the Xcite was very controllable and easy to paddle the whole trip.

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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

Re-entry: very good.

And after the re-entry the stability felt much better than a few days ago. But this could well be that there are no waves at the spot of practicing today.

In addition to the test on Sunday, we now practiced the X-rescue as well.

The Xcite is quickly emptied thanks to the bulkhead just behind the seat. There were enough perimeter ropes along teh deck for grabbing by rescuer and swimmer. Today I practiced the entry from outside the two kayaks, grabbing the lines of the rescuer-kayak over my own deck. I ended up on my stomach on my backdeck and from that position it was easy to twist myself into the big cockpit.

After passing the piers we came into a zone with "wind against current" which produced a choppy sea. I was, again, impressed by the good secondary stability of the Xcite.
The last part of the trip I paddled as close to the beach as possible: to paddle is as much waves as available.

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