Paddle 7 Prinsted Bay

28 September 2014

Sea Flea for another first paddle

The water was warm and murky but still great fun for old and young.  The Sea Flea had another outing and proved itself as an excellent design for young novice kayakers.  My daughter was quite happy controlling it in a F3-F4 breeze, the boat and her are both so light I expected her to be more affected by the wind.  Our friends son had his first kayaking experience and after using it with and without the outriggers decided kayaking is fun.  Plenty of smiles and requests for more time on the water in the future.

Sea Flea with outriggers fitted

Easky left, Kodiak right

The Easky 15 is a boat often recommended to new entrants to kayaking.  I have paddled one on flat water only and found it well behaved and easy to control.  It responds to edging well and feels very predictable.  I can only just fit in the boat with the seat set as far back as it goes and with the foot rests at their longest setting, and then I have to be wearing thin soled shoes.  I'm 6'2" and have unusually long legs with an inside leg measurement of 37" from ground to groin standing in bare feet.  At 113 kg I'm just under 18 stone and within the design load of the boat.  My wife is 5'4" and significantly lighter (apparently its not possible for me to know her actual weight) and she was very happy in the Easky.  She has very little experience in kayaks but has used open canoes on rivers quite a bit, so I think its fair to say the stability of the Easky is suited to novice kayakers.

From this angle they don't look too different

Easky 15 left - Kodiak right

The Easky 15 has a skeg, the Kodiak has an optional rudder.  The camera angle above hides the difference in boat lengths.  While the photo below shows how different the lengths are (Easky 15 4.75 metres, Kodiak 5.18 metres including the rudder), both pictures were taken without moving the boats.

Kodiak left - Easky 15 right

Paddle 6 Southsea Seafront to Portsmouth Harbour and back

21 September 2014 - PDCC trip from Southsea Seafront to Portsmouth Harbour

Lunch stop at Tipnor

This was my first time entering Portsmouth Harbour by kayak.  I have been through on boats and ships many times, but it looks quite different from sitting on the water.  It was a great deal more relaxing than by yacht, but that was in part due to the size of a kayak but its ability to move as fast as many yachts under power.

PDCC paddlers in the lee of a small island

Tony shares my excellent taste for yellow boats!

 No fitness issues today and I'm starting to feel at home with the rudder.  The past few paddles I have been using a euro paddle, an Aquabound Manta Ray.  It came with my boat and after having used Greenland paddles for the past couple of years I didn't expect to like it.  Towards the end of today's paddle I found myself missing my Greenland paddle for the first time.  There have been too many variables changing between paddles for me to give them a direct comparison.  I'm going to have to find some time to do some comparative paddles with each to explore their strengths and weaknesses.

Left Kodiak, right Scorpio

The picture above shows my Kodiak next to a P&H Scorpio.  My Kodiak is known as a high volume expedition boat that can carry vast amounts of kit.  The Scorpio is not, and yet the size difference isn't striking is it?

Paddle 5 Eastney Training Night

Monday evening training with Portsmouth District Canoe Club (PDCC) - 15 Sept 2014

Another excellent evening with PDCC, although it was the last wet training session of the year.  The nights are drawing in and it was dark enough by 8 PM that anyone without a light disappeared from view in a scarily short distance.  I used an Adventure Lights Guardian white light and was very happy with it.

Manufacturers picture

It was certainly bright, not sure how close it is to the manufacturers claim of maximum visibility of 5 km.  Time will tell if the batteries really do last 100 hours as per the manufacturers specifications.  More details can be found here: Adventure lights Guardian Expedition. It is turned on or off by twisting the lens, turning it on tightens it down, unscrew to turn it off, but be careful as if you unscrew too far the whole unit opens and the batteries fall out.  At about  £13 it's not going to break the bank.

Paddle 4 Hilsea Creek and Portsmouth Harbour

Hilsea Creek and Portsmouth Harbour.

Not the most attractive or well cared for site, but it is quick and easy to get to, allowing more time on the water and less time driving.

F2, slack water, launch and return at the public slip next to Hilsea Lido, 6 miles of paddling with and without the rudder just getting used to the boat still.

Looking West from Hilsea Creek towards Pounds Scrap Yard and Portsmouth Harbour

The single largest milestone on today's paddle involved me doing non paddling things while sitting in a kayak on salt water.  It may not sound like much, but being able to take a drink of water, eat some wine gums and even take a photo is something I wouldn't even attempt from my Inuk.

Paddle 3 Chichester Canal

Sunday 7 September 2014 Chichester Canal

Fiona in her Sea Flea today

My daughter is almost 8 and even though she is tall for her age, there are very few kayaks suitable for her.  Tom Yost has published free plans and a building manual for skin on frame kayaks at his excellent website Yostwerks.  The Sea Flea is perfect for her, its a great blend of stability, tracking and speed to allow her to get from A to B playing and learning along the way.  I used reinforced PVC fabric for the skin and while there have been no problems with the skin I'd be much happier with something sturdier like nylon fabric sealed with a polyurethane coating.

The narrow boat tour

Today saw a family outing to Chichester Canal, where Fiona and I paddled our kayaks while my wife and youngest daughter took a narrow boat tour.  The canal trust is run by volunteers and intend to refurbish the canal and build a new lifting bridge that will allow access by boat from Chichester City to Chichester harbor four miles away.

Keeping out of the way of the narrow boat

We paddled about a mile and a half out.  Fiona was bouncing all over the canal and must have covered in excess of two miles before asking for a tow.  This was the first time I had towed her, so we started slowly and soon she was asking for me to go faster and faster.  I looked back to see Fiona instinctively doing low brace turns, zig zagging from side to side on the tow line grinning from ear to ear.  We had no difficulty keeping up with the narrow boat and I'll happily plan longer still water trips with Fiona that include a lunch stop and leg stretch.

Who moved than bank closer?

Paddle 2 Hayling Seafront

Thursday 4 September 2014 Hayling Seafront.

Hayling Seafront looking West towards Portsmouth (taken on a different day near high tide).

One of the advantages of shift work is a midweek day off allowing a peaceful paddle in a place that at the weekends is heaving with people relaxing from their 9 to 5 jobs.

Low tide and a cross shore F3 breeze with a small swell coming from the SE made for enjoyable conditions.  The waves ranged from 1 foot to 2 foot and were at approximately 45 degrees to the beach.  Hayling beach has a large shallow area that is sheltered at low tide by a huge sand bar at the West end of the beach.  I stayed within the large area that is chest deep or less and paddled circuits parallel to the shore enjoying the waves that came in from the SE.  I even surfed a few waves that seemed bigger than the average.

In total I paddled for a solid 90 minutes and realized that I had made things far harder for myself than I needed to on Paddle 1.  I had stopped edging and reverted to my "Inuk safe mode" of using brute paddle force to change direction.  Edging in the Inuk was an affair that frequently resulted in me turning upside down before I could do anything, luckily it was also easy to roll back up.  To be fair to the Inuk, the designed paddler weight is max 100 Kg and I am close to 15% over that naked in the mornings, so by the time I have all my kit on, some coffee and a decent breakfast inside me I am probably more like 20% over design weight.

Today I enjoyed exploring the Kodiak's secondary stability in small waves and massively opened up my edging envelope.  I am continuing to improve my fitness in general, but I'm sure that some more time in the Kodiak, in a variety of conditions, will see me needing to use less energy to get from A to B as my technique improves.

Paddle 1 Ringstead Bay to Lulworth Cove

Sunday 31st August 2014 : Ringstead Bay to Lulworth Cove organised by Portsmouth District Canoe Club (PDCC).  The combination of F3 to F4 winds and swells reflected from the cliffs created a confused sea.

Lulworth Cove - white caps showing on the sea outside the cove but completely sheltered inside.

I was happy with the Kodiak in these conditions, it was predictable and confidence inspiring, but I hadn't adjusted the foot rests correctly.  They were in a comfortable position for bracing my feet against when forward paddling, but not close enough to allow me to engage the thigh braces effectively.  Once I had adjusted the foot braces, the boat felt wonderful and I had no concerns with stability.  I experimented with the rudder and found that it interfered with the seat of the pants feel for the boat.  I suspect there is some counter-intuitive element to rudder steering in a similar way to counter-steering motorbikes.  After enough time in the seat I'm sure I will develop the required intuitive control with either paddle, rudder or a combination of the two.

Gratuitous picture of my boat ashore above Lulworth Cove, once I have a waterproof camera I'll be able to take photos afloat.

One unexpected issue identified on the paddle was the woeful state of my fitness.  I had originally planned on paddling back to the start point along with the rest of the group, but I chose to cut the trip short in Lulworth Cove after just over 5 miles of paddling.  It was very hard for me to admit that I was not able to complete the return trip safely under my own steam.  I have a history of endurance activities and am no stranger to physical challenges or pushing my limits.  I had full confidence in the ability of my paddle partners and they made it clear that within the group there was the capacity and ability to rescue a member of the group who got into trouble, rafted tows being one option.  I know my limits and chose to finish at Lulworth Cove because I was certain I wouldn't make it back to Ringstead Bay without help, just unsure how far I would get before I needed that help.

The challenge now is to improve my paddle fitness.