Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

In the Netherlands the days in December are short, and mostly grey, cold and wet. Not my favourite time of the year. I escaped to the sun and spent last week on a Canarian Isle. Lanzarote was warm, dry and sunny and the days were also (a bit) longer. It's a special sensation for a Dutchman to bike in shorts and to swim in open water only a few days before Christmas!

Of course, on Lanzarote it was also Advent-time with this typical, somewhat quiet, almost contemplative atmosphere. In the touristical centres were palm trees decorated as Christmas trees. Lanzarote is a fantastic place to discover by mountain bike, with endless dirt tracks between lava fields and vulcanos. As "sea kayaker" I was fascinated by the coastline of the island, and felt almost jealous when two seakayaks landed through the surf on the beach of Arrieta.

This was my 4th visit to Spain in a year, by now I should slowly start to understand some Spanish words. For the reader, a free interpretation of the title of this post:

Happy holidays! A good 2012!

Winter paddling in the Green Heart of Holland: "Rondje Kamerik"

"Rondje Kamerik" is one of the shortest kayak routes near Woerden. It's just over 10 kms long and perfectly suited for an evening paddle tour. I regularly paddle this route with local kayak club Wyrda on Tuesday-evening (= the club-evening), but in the last few weeks I was often busy on Tuesday-evening and missed most of the club-paddles. The more I was happy to be on the water again with Paul and Guus. Paddling the route by daylight is even better as it is in darkness. It's a varied paddle through the canals in the city, through the industrial and rural parts of the river and through narrow ditches in the polder. This morning the weather and skies were changing every 5 minutes, which made the paddle even more varied. We chatted a lot along the route, about "important topics" like the Euro crises, kayak techniques and kayak politics, the latest smartphone gadgets and the most sustainable way to clean the toilet... I enjoyed a relaxed paddle in great company ;-)

Tracklog made by the Smartphone:

2011-12-02 10:01 Rondje Kamerik weergeven op een grotere kaart

A year ago "Rondje Kamerik"was snow-covered and looked completely different.

Dag Sinterklaasje, dag dag, luister naar ons afscheidslied...

NKB Seakayak Instructor waving goodbye to Sinterklaas

Today the Dutch seakayak coaches gathered at rowing/kayak club Michiel de Ruyter in Uithoorn for the anual NKB instructors meeting. Over the years it has become a tradition to wave Sinterklaas goodbye before the meeting starts. Sinterklaas visited Michiel the Ruiter early in the morning to embark the vessel "Gousekop" for the last stage of his long journey from Spain to the city of Uithoorn.

This is a tidal race..

In the post about the Sand Motor I wrote that, due to this new peninsula along the Dutch coast, locally the sea currents have increased. The result is more lively water. But you still shouldn't expect too spectacular tide races near the Sand Motor. My colleagues at work asked me what I meant with a tide race. This National Geograohic video (with Paul Kuthe by Brian Smith) makes that very clear. This is a tide race! You don't find races like this in the Netherlands. Alas ;-)

Exploring new land: the Sand Motor by seakayak

The Sand Motor is a large amount of sand (about 21 million m3) which is recently deposited in front of the Dutch coastline, roughly situated between Rotterdam and the Hague, in the shape of a peninsula of about 100 hectares. Wind, waves and sea currents will spread the sand around, creating new land for nature and recreation. This is called "building with nature". Working for the province of Zuid-Holland I've been talking a lot about this innovative project for coastal development. Now the construction of the project is (almost) finished it was due time to explore the new coastline by kayak. René and Roel joined me for the "expedition".

The conditions were perfect: today was the warmest November the 4th ever measured in the Netherlands: 16-18 gr. Celsius, sunny with a blue sky. The wind was blowing rather hard, 5-6 Bft in the morning, 4-5 Bft in the afternoon, but from south-southeastern directions, which is a little of-land. We planned to stay close to the coastline and with this wind direction, you are sheltered by the dunes and there is not much surf to be expected.



The tracklog gives a somewhat surrealistic picture: we paddled around a peninsula which is is so new it isn't visible yet on Google Earth. The track gives a nice indication of the current shape of the Sand Motor. The yellow marker indicates the position of the northern cardinal buoy.

The Sand Motor gives a new experience to paddling along the coastline. An interruption of the straight line. Normally there would be hardly any surf here with a southern wind - but thanks to the new sand banks (partly underwater) we enjoyed some good surfable waves along the southern side of the Sand Motor. The sea currents also changed. The current increases most at the exposed northern tip of the Sand Motor. Still don't expect spectacular tide races over here (therefore the currents along this stretch of Dutch coastline are to moderate), but in combination with the wind (especially when it comes from the West or the North) and the shallow sea, the current can create interesting conditions - see the aerial photo below - taken during a recent storm. With any NW-wind above 4 bft. be careful over here - it's an exposed site!



About the idea behind the sandmotor:


Note: the construction works for the Sand Motor are (almost) finished. The site itself (situation early November 2011) however is still closed. Access to the Sand Motor peninsula from land and from sea is until further notice strongly prohibited. Security guards monitor the site all day and send every "intruder" back. Swimming is forbidden, but kayaking (and kite surfing) is not swimming - is allowed. So at this moment: you can paddle along the Sand Motor but you are not allowed to land on the Sand Motor.

Fast!

I am happy when paddle in 1 hour from Woerden to Oudewater. That's 8 km+. Paul Wycherley paddled in 2 and a half hours from Britain to France. That's incredible!

Video and article on BBC Sports.
The English Channel was exceptionally calm on the record day - almost as flat as the channel from Woerden to Oudewater!

KV Wyrda - 20 jaar!

Yesterday kayakclub Wyrda celebrated its 20th anniversary. Club members and their partners were invited for a program covering the full day. In the morning it started with a guided sight seeing tour in Oudewater. After the lunch we paddled from Oudewater to Woerden with a "apple pie break" at a farm halfway. We finished with a great BBQ at the boathouse.
Thanks to the party committee - Natasha, Paul, Wolter and their helpers for the perfect organisation of this festive day!

An unequal couple on the Lek

Today I toured on the river Lek with René. René paddled the Epic 18X Sport kayak with a Epic Mid Wing paddle. I paddled the Tahe Greenland kayak with a Superior carbon fibre Greenland stick. Seakayak equipment can hardly be more different. It was an unfair "battle" ;-): no way for me to keep up with Rene when he paddled full swing. While I paddled at a decent pace, René was dipping the wing relaxed in the water… Changing the paddles levelled the difference: Greenland kayak with Wing paddle and Epic kayak with Stick were a close match.


I enjoyed a perfect day on the water in good company. The weather was amazing, it changed every 5 minutes: sunny, clowdy, showers. Constant were amazing skies and a strong NW wind (6 Bft.).


Paddled distance 29 km, av. speed 7,2 kmh.

"Sla om-training" - Capsize drills

Picture of the BCU Canoe and Kayak Handbook, Pesda Press- Wales, 3rd edition.

-> Excellent learning guide - a must have for every paddler!

Earlier this evening I hosted a kayak training on capsize drills for KV Wyrda. It was on special request of several members of the club after an incident on a club paddle a week before. At that club paddle one of the paddlers capsized (on the calm flat water around Woerden). The incident wouldn't have been so impressive for him (and for the rest of the group) if he wouldn't have got stuck in the cockpit: he capsized and didn't manage to get out of the kayak. Fortunately it ended up all well, as he finally managed to swim, supported by the other paddlers of the group, half sitting in the capsized kayak, to the embankment of the channel. But this could have ended much worse if he would have been alone and or if the embankment wouldn't have been so close nearby.
Well, the group was seriously startled, suddenly confronted with the risks of the sport - even on the calm placid waters around Woerden. Lessons to learn: (1) don't paddle alone, (2) practice the wet-exit, (3) always wear a PFD.

Lesson 2 is what we exercised this evening: how to get out a capsized kayak: key elements to make this more easy are:
- stay calm, don't panic (easier said than done ;-)
- stay in the boat until the kayak is completely capsized;
- feed the boat of your legs (like taking off a pair of trousers).
The training was a confidence booster and good fun for all.

Regarding the first lesson I admit that I am the bad example in our club. Sorry: I do paddle solo regularly. I shouldn't? A calculated risk? Now about self rescues?

DVD Greenland Rolling with Dubside and Maligiaq - Part 2

Freya Hoffmeister introduced me in the world of Greenland Style kayak-rolling on Spiekeroog in May 2006. After Freya's introduction I learned the several variations of the layback and forward ending Greenland Competition rolls from Dubside's DVD "Greenland Rolling with Dubside - Volume 1". It's a simple and straightforward DVD, but Dubside's instructions and hints are brilliant. With this excellent "virtual"coach it didn't take long before I mastered most of the rolls of the DVD. I was looking forward for the next step - and waiting for Volume 2 of the DVD that promised to cover the more advanced rolls. Alas: Volume 2 of Dubside's DVD never appeared ;-).

But now there is something even better: the University of Sea Kayaking (USK) of Wayne Horodowich recently released 2 new rolling DVD's: Greenland Rolling with Dubside and Maligiaq - Part 1&2. Together these DVD's cover all 35 rolls of the Greenland championships. I received a copy of part 2 last week. The USK DVD offers the same excellent instructions by Dubside's, in a more professional package with higher quality film-work. Highly recommended!

De Biesbosch - in transition...

The National Park De Biesbosch is one of the largest remaining freshwater tide areas in NW-Europe. It consists of a network of rivers and smaller and larger creeks with islands (with 3 large fresh water basins in the middle). The Biesbosch is an attractive place to paddle on a short distance from home (half an hour by car), but it has been more than a year ago I paddled there for the last time. Today I had an appointment with Govert for a paddle-tour in the Biesbosch.

It was quite a different experience compared to last time. Our last visit was in winter. Most of the creeks were covered with a layer of ice, it was quiet, the Biesbosch was deserted - we did only meet a fox, a few deer and a lot of birds. Today was a warm summer-day, at the end of the holidays and the Biesbosch was over-crowded with loud people in motorboats. A lot of people, few wildlife. We passed by a real traffic jam when one of the large cruise-boats was manoeuvring through the creeks. Surprisingly we did hardly meet any other paddlers. That's quit strange with such fantastic weather. But so we still had the smaller creeks all for ourselves ;-)

In transition: not only the season changed - the National Park itself changes too: as part of the national sustainable flood risk management strategy and in order to restore the natural situation, agricultural areas are transformed into wetlands and added to the estuary. This summer the former "polder" De Zuiderklip was flooded (the satellite picture of Google Maps dates from before the inundation). It was amazing to see today how fast wildlife returns, obviously the waterfowls (white herons!) feel already very comfortable in the Zuiderklip (no acces to the Zuiderklip, but a good overview from a bird-watch station). An upcoming change is that(2012) most creeks in the centre zone of the Biesbosch will be closed for motorboats. A measure that definitely will change the experience of a summer-visit of the Biesbosch!

The Marsdiep

View on the skyline of Den Helder over the Marsdiep, seen from the SW-tip of Texel. Den Helder looks close, but the distance is almost 2 nautical miles.

The Marsdiep is the gap between Den Helder (on the mainland of Holland) and Texel (the largest Dutch Wadden Island). The Marsdiep connects the Northsea with the Waddensea. Four times a day the water squeezes itself through the narrow gap.
The exposed location in combination with the strong tidal currents, the busy shipping lanes, the complex setting of buoys and the nearby sandbanks make the Marsdiep the favourite location for the leadership assessment of NKB-Zeevaardigheid Extra (= the Dutch equivalent of the BCU 4 Star Leader Sea Award). Yesterday 2 seakayakers passed the test. Congratulations!

Tiderace Xcite Classic - an impression

The Xcite is designed as a fast yet manoeuvrable coastal touring kayak. According to its designers the kayak is "at home playing in rough water, equally comfortable carving turns through rock gardens, the Xcite has ample storage for week long trips. Its high stability and quick turning response make this boat a joy for those paddlers looking to improve their skills and take on advanced conditions".

During the paddling week in Spain with Lieke, I paddled a (black and white) Tiderace Xcite Classic, one of the Test-kayaks of SK Kayaks in Llanca. A week is too short for a full review, but I spent enough hours paddling the kayak for a good impression.

Fitting the kayak on the beach, I was impressed by the volume of the Xcite, and a bit afraid it might be too voluminous for me (1,82 m, 73 kg) - as I was planning to do in Spain mainly day-trips with the kayak. Once on the water the high volume was immediately forgotten: due to the ergonomics of the cockpit, the contact with the boat is excellent and the hull shape with a lot of rocker the Xcite is very responsive on body movements (edging, leaning) and paddle power. It accelerates quickly, it is reactive like a much smaller kayak, but it has the cruising speed of a 17 foot-kayak. The kayak is easy to roll: the low back deck makes lay-back rolling easy, the high knee position facilitates forward-rolling. The large cockpit is a delight on rocky shores: it's very comfortable (and safe) to be able to get your legs out of the cockpit before landing! At the rougher moments (winds up to 5 Bft.)on our trip, the boat tracked well in wind, wave and chop.

From the first moment I found it a pleasure to paddle the Xcite. After a week I started to appreciate it even more: it's not only a playful boat that gives confidence in the rough stuff, but also a comfortable tourer with enough load capacity and a appropriate cruising speed for long camping trips. It does what the designer promises!

About the built quality: the finish is excellent. The test-kayak was a "Classic" - (=Tideraces standard), featuring a high tech lay-up with reinforcements and coremat constructions to increase stiffness on the critical spots. This results in a very stiff (and probably strong, but that's difficult to examine for a simple tester) yet light kayak.

Tiderace wasn't represented in the Netherlands for a long time, just recently the Kanoshop started a dealership. Congrats to Wendy and her team ;-)

SKUK (NDK) Pilgrim - an impression

The Pilgrim is designed by SKUK (Nigel Dennis kayaks) with the smaller or slimmer paddler in mind. Viewed from a distance the kayak looks like a shrunken Romany or Explorer. It shares much of the characteristics of these larger brothers in the SKUK kayak-range. The hull shape, the shape of the deck, the lay-out of the decklines, the key-hole cockpit, the sloping bulkhead, the position of the skeg-control – it’s all familiar, just quite a lot smaller: the Pilgrim 480 cm long, 50 cm wide and has a total volume of 250 l (especially this last figure is very low, compared to a standard seakayak).

Lieke is a slender teenage-girl (ca. 1.70 m long, weight below 50 kg). She is rather sporty, has a good endurance, but she is not very strong and she hasn’t got a lot of seakayak-experience either. She paddles occasionally with her father, but not very often: kids need time for their own hobbies, sports, friends (and school ;-).

To be short: Lieke managed exceptionally well to control the Pilgrim. She could easily turn the kayak around in a few paddle strokes. She also had no problem to hold it on a course, even without deploying the skeg. Mostly we paddled in calm conditions, but occasionally the wind increased and we paddled in winds up to 5 Bft, in waves of 2-3 feet high and even met some clapotis on the headlands of the rocky Costa Brava shoreline. In all conditions Lieke was comfortable in the kayak. The more lively the water got, the more fun she had with it. For one part this will be due to the “unlimited confidence” of a daughter in her father, but I think for the bigger part this is a compliment for the designers of the Pilgrim. Lieke was paddling with the kayak, not the kayak with her. The team of Nigel Dennis has done a successful job in creating an expedition-ready kayak for the smaller paddler!

About the speed of the kayak: Lieke herself was sometimes a bit disappointed that she couldn’t paddle as fast as her father did. But that’s not a fair comparison: I am (older), larger, stronger, more experienced and trained in paddling - and I was paddling a kayak with defintely a longer waterline. Lieke paddled a decent pace and covered (untrained) easily distances up to 20 km a day. I think this says enough about the glide of the kayak.

The yellow Pilgrim test-kayak is a standard SKUK dioleen copy. This stands for a straightforward layout, solid and rugged. It was no problem to carry the Pilgrim on the shoulder – compared to my own kayaks this is a light kayak. Of course that will be more due to its size than because of the layup. All the hatches stayed bone-dry and the skeg functioned flawless.



In the Netherlands SKUK kayaks are distributed by Zeekajaks.nl (Axel and Nico).

A brief impression of 2 British-style seakayaks

Lieke and I were “travelling light” on our recent kayak-holiday in Catalonia. We didn’t bring along our own gear, but we rented kayaks and equipment at the local seakayak-centre. Pau and Marc from SK Kayak in Llanca provided us with excellent gear. We paddled 2 kayaks of the demo-fleet: a SKUK Pilgrim for Lieke (the yellow kayak on the picture) and a Tiderace Xcite Classic for me.
Paddling along the Costa Brava was a nice opportunity to get familiar with the characteristics of the both kayaks. The next 2 posts are dedicated to the kayaks we’ve paddled – please don’t call it a test, it’s just a brief personal impression.

Butterfly roll in the Mediterranean Sea

Father-daughter holiday: seakayaking around the peninsula of Cap de Creus - LLanca, Catalunya

Originally I planned to go paddling in Scandinavia with Lieke, my 15-year old daughter. But the weather-situation two weeks ago, changed the plan: the Mediterranean Sun looked more appealing for a relaxed holiday than the unsettled weather in Northern Europe. In the last minute we booked a flight to Barcelona, rented a car and went paddling in the North Costa Brava. We camped at the campsite of Port de la Vall. Kayaks and paddling-gear were kindly provided by Pau and Marc from SK Kayaks. We enjoyed the overwhelming hospitality of our friends of Club Pagaia, the warm weather, the crystal clear water and the stunning coast of Alt- and Baix Emporda. The last 3 days of our holiday we visited the amazing Catalonian cities Girona and Barcelona. Father and daughter had a great holiday!

SK Kayaks is recently appointed as an SKUK (NDK) Expedition centre and can offer seakayak hire and guiding, instructional courses, expedition support and transport. Please contact orders@seakayakingspain.com for further details.

The most recent issue of Ocean Paddler Magazine (nr. 26) covers an informative article with great pictures about seakayaking in the Cap de Crues region: "The Kingdom of Tramuntana".

OmmenTV - Video of Helen Wilson's rolling clinic in Holland

You can't have it all;-( I missed a unique event this weekend. Freek, Andre and Kanocentrum Arjan Bloem organised the Greenland rolling clinic with Helen Wilson. Here is a video from the local news. Axel Schoevers published an impression with nice pictures on the Travels with Paddles-weblog.

Midsummernight - the Wyrda club paddle.

Jaap and Edwin did a performance this evening: synchro paddling.

(test: first Blogger post with mobile phone)

Triathlon Woerden

On Whit Monday the local triathlon takes place in the city centre of Woerden. Again it was a festive event. Kayakers from kv Wyrda escorted the athletes in the water-segment. Janine took part in the Sprint (1/8)-distance. I missed the party because I was paddling around the Aardappelenbult. You can't have it all ;-).