Workers and players

The kayaktrip this Sunday was according to the forecast: windy, very windy! René joined me and Guus with his latest test-kayak: the SKIM–Distance. He wanted to test the behaviour of this long (5.85 m) and sleek seakayak under following winds. The conditions were perfect for this purpose. But before we could surf back, we had to fight our way out against the strong onshore wind: NW 7-8 Bft. according to the lighthouse guard. Wind against tide made it a bouncy ride. With 3 experienced kayakers in different kayaks it was remarkable to see how the different the behaviour of this kayaks were. While I was playing around in the manoeuvrable and assuring Valley Pintail, René and Guus with the SKIM Distance the Valley Nordkapp (a older classic HS-type) had a hard job keeping the boats on track and with turning in the wind. Under rough circumstances like today, the Pintail (not known as a fast kayak) makes much easier progress than the Nordkapp and SKIM (both with less rocker, a longer keel-line and under more normal circumstances faster). Of course this is all relative: with wind blowing around 7 Bft. against, you don’t make much progress anyhow!
After 3 hours fighting against the wind, we surfed back in half an hour. Just a little bit disappointing that the wind decreased: we had "only" 6 Bft. following winds.

Read René’s blog for his first impressions of the SKIM. I suppose a test-report will be published later at www.zeekajak.info.

Facts and figures:
Temperature: 10 degrees Celsius
Water-temperature: 13 degrees Celsius
Low tide Brouwershavensche Gat: 12.45 uur
Departure: 11.00 uur Return: 16.00 uur
Total distance: 15 km
Wind at start 7-8 Bft. NW, later decreasing 6 Bft.