training log

Have now gone into Fergs Kayaks in Okahu Bay, Auckland several times trying out different kayaks... Elaho HV nice bt wonder for the type of kayaking I want (training, tooling aorund coastlines) it is the right one; paddled a prijon kodiak and was completely unimpressed- awful cockpit, irritating pedals and continually getting splashed from waves breaking over deck and into cockpit... the Squall is OK but with lower volume than say Elaho HV was submarining a bit and when a wave would come over the deck and hit the hatch cover it would spray up and directly into my face... have now spent 2 sessions in a tasman express and i like it a lot; longer at 5.3m and a bit of heavy side at 29kg but handles waves and grumpy chop well..the light weight model weighs 25 kg, so might try to see if i can paddle one of those somewhere... canoe & kayak on the shore say that i can give them a list of 4 or so kayaks to try out and they will bring them to lake- may do that this week- a tasman, tasman lite, sequel, and a challenge 5- maybe for soemthing completely different a cobra expedition which is a longer sit-on-top (5.46m, 22kg)..... must admit that the pic of the cobra is just what i want to do...

ok so have spent a few more hours on water

monday- lunchtime paddle of a barracuda (with about 4kg bag in rear compartment)and a Necky Elaho HV (high volume); water conditions inside the breakwater fairly flat, outside a bit sloppy with chop from several directions

weighting the rear of the 'cuda made the nose slap on top of even small waves- need to change that toequally weight front and back. good primary and secondary stability but still felt like sitting on top of water rather than in at all

the ElahoHV (5.18m, 29 kg) with a chined hull and flat bottom tracked incredibly straight and true- very little rudder needed to keep it online. turned very quickly.. however, in the slop... the lower primary stability meant that it was a bit more work to keep it up- felt much like paddling a MS kayak... fast boat though... would need some work to grow into this one.. def need to take a skills course to learn to roll!.. nice boat overall- had an easy to reach hatch just behind seat; the seat itself was really good with lumbar support and easily adjustable. felt great after an hour in it...

went back again and spent an hour in the Squall... was not really impressed with it on the day- lots of slop from several quarters and the boat seemed to wallow a bit... not overly fond of the look overall of thsi boat either.... we ssall see...

done next to nothing since the race... now test-driving sea kayaks!

070106- tried a Barracuda ultralight (18 kg) 4.88m bilge-hull polycarbonate boat. Easy to paddle, responsive, and turned well but seemed that I sat on the water a bit so wonder about the stability in rougher seas; I am maybe a bit light for it. stayed reasonably dry in choppy water

080106- tried a Penguin and a Squall. Penguin (4.8m) bilge hull thermoplastic is quite heavy feeling (26kg) and takes much more effort to paddle than the Barracuda. quite stable but probably would get tired of how unresponsive it is; got reasonably wet in choppy water.

080106- also tried a Current Designs Squall (5.03m), a 26 kg thermoplastic boat. Less primary stability than the penguin and a rounder bilge-type hull. heavier than penguin but instantly easier to paddle; stayed quite dry inn choppy water; probably not as fast as Barracuda to paddle and a bit less primary stability; that said i would probably grow into it fairly quickly;

must try barracudea and squall with about 3-4kg of weight inside the hull to see how they feel under load.