IJmeer wanderings

Last weekend I made some wanderings around IJburg and the lake IJmeer. I used the app from the KNRM www.knrmhelpt.nl (rescue organization) to be able to make a quick call in case of emergency. The app also tracks the route following my location with a time interval:

route tracked by the KNRM app

There was a lot of wind (5 Bft) blowing from the NW. The first part we paddled against the wind to campsite Zeeburg going through the protected waters of IJburg. I was never been there and nice to see some spots I've only had seen by car before. We took some coffee on the camping beach in a fresh sun.

at Zeeburg camping

After the break I splitted from the group because I wanted to feel the waves on the open water of the IJmeer in this wind. First I headed to Lighthouse Island and followed the coastline to the north. Then I crossed the IJmeer to Pampus Island, the wind has changed to the West and seemed to have decreased a bit.

large coffee

On Pampus Island I took a break for a large coffee. Stormy clouds were gathering and soon it started to rain. The last leg back to IJburg was almost fully against the increasing Western wind.

stormy clouds

The leakage of the cockpit rim of the Shadow is starting to become annoying. Especially now the water is getting colder I want that to be fixed soon. Apparently the filling with gelcoat didn't last a long time. A quick and safe solution may be made with a marine kit that stays flexible. Removing and re-glueing the entire cockpit rim seems quite riskful to me.

A trip from Enkhuizen

I had registred for a trip on the lake IJsselmeer last Sunday. The starting point was Enkhuizen. The planned destination was Laaxum, a small place near Stavoren on the opposite site of the IJsselmeer. Due to the strong wind in the morning the destination was changed to Wijdenes. So we didn't have to work against the strong wind. The wind would diminish during the day so this was a better route. 

Start at Enkhuizen

The first leg of the trip was the most spectacular with some nice waves. Soon we rounded Enkhuizen and went through the locks from the IJsselmeer to the Markermeer. To Wijdenes we could surf a little but the wind was already diminishing. We took a rest at a little beach at Wijdenes.

beach at Wijdenes

view to the South

view to the East

The way back was against the wind but as it was diminished it was no problem anymore. We went through the locks again and entered short the historic harbour of Enkhuizen. After rounding the coast we returned at our starting beach.
The other group members were all very seasoned paddlers that uses a variety of good sea kayaks. So there was someone with a Dawn Treader Odin, some Explorers, a Nordkapp etc. My Shadow did get some attention too. Also nice to see two other paddlers using a Greenland paddle.

A trip to Uitdam

Last Saturday I went with some KOIJ club members from IJburg to Pampus Island. Again for a coffee break on the island, it is starting to become a tradition! Despite the forecast the weather was nice.

Coffee on Pampus Island

After the break I decided to continue to Uitdam on my own. The wind was a mild 2 to 3 Bft from the North East and I was in for some lonely paddling. After some time I arrived at Uitdam and explored the coastline to find a suitable beach to land on. There was a little harbour that seems new to me but I paddles further to the North East and found a little beach at the start of the dyke to Marken. I believe this is the beach that is used for starting trips around the Marken Island. 

rest at the beach

view on the lake IJmeer

The way back I headed straight to IJburg. However I had to get around some working areas and watching the shipping lane to Amsterdam. After all it was a nice trip and that evening I felt tired.

route back to IJburg

A trip from IJburg to Pampus Island

Last weekend I visited another kayak club at IJburg: www.kanoopijburg.nl. I am considering to become a member there because it is situated directly at the lake IJmeer. And the travel time from home is about the same as to my kayak club at Almere Haven: www.aquavite.nl.

Originally I would do a trip to Terschelling Island but that had been canceled because the risk of too much wind (6 Bft). So I hoped for a strong wind on the IJmeer. We made a trip to Pampus Island. Starting from IJburg this is not that far, about 5 km. As I had hoped for a strong wind the 3 Bft was a bit disappointing. It was an easy and short trip with a long break. On the way back I could surf a bit, but the waves weren't very impressive.  

Landed on the tiny beach

Nice weather and view

First trip with the Legend with skeg

Last evening we made a trip to the lake IJmeer with our kayak club. I took the Legend, the first time after adding the rectractable skeg. Of course I was anxious to test the new skeg. Well it works, with a smooth operation I could easily trim the kayak on all courses in the wind (3-4Bft). So far so good!

Resting on the beach

It was nice paddling the Legend again. It has less room for my feet compared to the Shadow but the seating position is quite comfortable. It feels more sporty than the Shadow and I could make a lot of speed. I used the Lendal Seamaster paddle, a simple but useful paddle. After the trip I checked all compartments and no drop of water has entered. So happily no leaks at the new skegbox.

Evening sight on the lake IJmeer

Lendal Seamaster paddle

Last week I acquired a Lendal Seamaster spare paddle. My idea was to replace the Schlegel Ozean paddle as this is very heavy. The Lendal has a carbon shaft and is indeed much lighter. Just as the Schlegel the Lendal blades have a slim symmetrical shape that is not that different from a Greenland paddle. I changed the lock on the shaft so that I can paddle it with zero degrees blade twist to get the same feel as with a Greenland paddle.

Seamaster blade

Last evening we made a trip on lake Gooimeer to sail a bit and to try the Lendal Seamaster paddle. The first impression was that it is not as refined as my Greenland paddles. The entry did cause a lot of noice and spray. It was also more difficult to add a sidewards slide during the stroke. However after a while I get used to the paddle and the action improved quite a lot. The forward stroke is powerful enough, even with a simple straight stroke with body rotation. The light weight makes it comfortable to use. Strange was that the oval shape on the right side of the paddle did irritate my hand now. As the paddle is symmetrical I could happily use the paddle backwards where the shaft has the normal round shape. My first conclusion is that the Lendal Seamaster will be a useful spare paddle. It can be fitted on any boat. Especially on the Skarabee where the front deck is cluttered with sailing lines that makes it difficult to take a spare Greenland paddle on it.

Good fit on the Skarabee's rear deck

About the sailing: again we miscalculated the wind. The first part with the wind in our back the wind was almost gone and sailing did not help much. During our break however the wind increased but on the way back we had to go against it. I did sail to windward but the Skarabee has not that much lateral resistance causing some draft. I did make progress (sog) but not as much as the non-sailing members of the group. So I lowered the sail and paddled the last leg home in the dark.

Evening on the Gooimeer

Fitting a retractable skeg to the Legend, part 2

It took some time as there were a lot of other things to do but the Legend was still waiting to be completed. First the fixation of the skeg box was further completed and reinforced with glass tape. The final result is smooth and hopefully strong enough.

final internal result

The skeg cable was inserted and the slider box fixated next to the cockpit.

Then the most difficult part started: closing the rear deck again. I laminated some glass strips and glued them under the rim to support the deck on.

adding glas/polyester support strips

It took a long time to shave and sand the strips and the bottom of the deck to got the deck level on the strips. Then I glued the deck on the strips with polyester resin. 

after first fixation

I reamed the split to receive the yellow gelcoat. I used topcoat: gelcoat with paraffine that dries in the air. I mixed the gelcoat with some pigments to get the right yellow color. After applying it proved to be a shade too light. Well, I can live with that.

applying last layer of gelcoat

Then a lot of sanding and polishing resulted in a smooth surface. The original gelcoat had darkened quite a bit during the years. So on spots where I did a lot of sanding the color became less dark resulting in some shades of yellow. Well, I don't think it will be very notable.

final result

For now I want to finish the Legend as soon as possible. I will have to add deck lines yet, fix the backrest and add some thigh braces...

final result

A trip with the Skarabee and Falcon sail

Last sunday me and Leen went for a kayak sailing trip. Leen has a Flat Earth sail and both of us are the only members with sails at our kayak club. The wind was a promising 5 to 6 Bft. 

Before the trip I fastened the stays as these proved to be too loose on my last sailing trip, already some months ago. We started with a beam wind. Unfortunately when the wind began to push hard my mast collapsed again to leeside. Well, the circumstances were quite nice to paddle so I stored the sail on deck and enjoyed the waves that were surprisingly high due to the Northern wind. 

Leen however was still sailing. His sail was pushed almost flat but it didn't collapse. However, I could keep up with him so the sail didn't add much for speed. 

After a while I decided to do a new attempt: I hoisted the sail again and pulled the forestay with all my force... too much as the mast collapsed to the front. This became an awkward situation as I wasn't able to retrieve the sail on deck. The only way to do this was to remove the backstays or to push the mast back again with some force. The mast with sail, partly submerged, acted as a skeg causing the Skarabee to put the bow in the wind. Well, that's safe of course but not the direction I wanted to go. I asked Leen for help and he was able to get the sail out of the water. He had to store his own sail to be able to come near me and after that he didn't want to take the risk to hoist his sail again. So we paddled to isle Schelp. There I fastened the backstays even stronger to prevent this would happen again.

We don't often have strong Northern winds and I was anxious to check the waves near isle Hooft. So I headed in that direction and Leen returned home, trying to sail some more. As I was alone now I didn't want to take the risk to sail anymore with the strong wind. So the rest of the trip was only by paddle.

I was now heading partly and fully into the wind and it took some time to arrive at the shelter of Marina Muiderzand which kept me out of the wind for a short break. I checked the weather for lightning but it was okay. So I started the crossing to isle Hooft. This resulted in a sort of 'traving' course: the Skarabee was pushed sideways a lot and it wouldn't weathercock further than 45 degrees into the wind. When the wind diminshed I could point it a little higher but with some strong gusts the bow was swept back again. The waves were high, higher than I have seen here before. Well, here we see the limitations of the Skarabee when paddled empty, too much windage and with a low speed the boat is not weathercocking enough anymore. For now it wasn't a problem as the course brought me directly to the isle Hooft so I didn't fight the Skarabee to get more into the wind. But this could be a possible hazardous situation.

I wanted to paddle around the isle Hooft in a clockwise direction. After leaving the shelter I was almost hitting the rocks on the north side because of the windage when turning the Skarabee to the right. I should have taken a wider turn. But soon I was riding the big waves. Some nice surfs but still the Skarabee wasn't eager to surf. Here I missed the Shadow...

I let myself blown homewards. Unfortunately I had to paddle the last leg partly against the wind but the wind seemed to be decreased a bit. I felt never unsafe in the Skarabee and had no problems in dealing with the sail in this kind of waves.

the route

Vlieland training week

Last week I was on Vlieland isle for a sea kayak training camp with www.zeekajak.nl. As planned I took the Shadow with both Greenland paddles.

Shadow with both Greenland paddles on deck

The Shadow convinced me this week that it is a good sea kayak. It was comfortable in all kind of waves, and very controllable, also in a surf. The day hatch kept dry but the cockpit rim did leak a drop or so. Another member owned a Silhouette (the smallest version in the Silhouette - Legend - Shadow range). She told me she had completely removed the cockpit rim because it was only fixed on three spots with polyester, the remaining rim was filled with kit... Could be the same as with my Shadow. May be I should do such a drastic repair too.

Rest at high water on the Wadden Sea

I received many comments on my pair of Greenland paddles, mostly positive. For me they did a good job during the week, never missed a Euro paddle. They proved to be large enough for making strong low and high braces in the surf, a situation I couldn't test on my home waters. The only remark is that it is more difficult to paddle in very shallow water as you have to paddle at a very low angle to prevent the blades touching the bottom.

In front of the coast of Terschelling isle

It was a nice week with varying activities. We made a few longer trips, played in tidal races and surfs and did a lot of exercises like rescueing, reentry and roll and all kind of techniques.

Wide views

With the Shadow to Pampus isle

Today we made a trip to Pampus isle of about 24 km with a wind 3 to 4 Bft. Very nice weather.

rest at Pampus isle

We also did some rolling and rescue excercises. The day compartment stayed completely dry now as I had fixed the leakage with some epoxy and fibers last week. Happily as I want to take the Shadow to Vlieland isle next saturday.

The Shadow in full wind

My first plan today was to make a trip with the Skarabee to try the sail with more wind. But as the wind appeared a hefty 5 - 6 Bft I thought it was safer to postpone my sailing ambitions for a while. So I took the Shadow for a classic, bouncy trip.

The trip to isle Hooft took long while working against the wind. I used my power blade greenland paddle the whole trip and had the smaller one as a backup on deck. I felt no need to change paddles against the wind. During the trip I realized I had become quite familiar now with the Shadow. It is very comfortable due to it's new seat and I can lay back on the aft deck because of the better backrest. The problem I first had with the initial stability has dissappeared totally, partly because of the lower seat. The Shadow is now my number one sea kayak and would be my choice to take to Vlieland in the summer.

There were a few moments now that I found the boat was leecocking. Especially in a quartering incoming wind there were manual corrections necessary that you wouldn't expect with a well trimmed boat. In comparison: with the Baidarka I would even put the skeg a little down in this wind as it still wants to weathercock a little.

Rest at isle Hooft

Also on the way back the trim could be better. As earlier stated I have the idea the skeg is too small. Even with the skeg fully down, the boat luffs to a quartering course before the wind. When surfing the waves today it needed many corrections to prevent broaching. Well, these were steep and short waves, on sea they would be longer and probably easier. But despite of all this, it was a quick and nice ride again. It still amazes me how fast the Shadow can ride down the waves.

Some weeks ago after doing some wet exercises there was a lot of water in the day hatch. Today I filled the day hatch with the fire hose to check for leaks. These appeared to be in the upper left and right corners of the bulkhead. Happily not the places I have adapted with the removal of the backrest bulb. But very unconvenient of course. Just as the leaks in the cockpit rim this make me doubt about the build quality. Made in Middelburg, The Netherlands, I can't be very proud on this product made in my own country. When the Legend is ready I can work on the Shadow again...

First sailing experience

Last evening we went with our club for a trip on the lake Gooimeer. There were two kayak sailors, me and Leen with a Flat Earth sail. We decided to go with the main group so we could sail on our way back as the first part was against the wind. We didn't sail but I did try to hoist the sail but it fell sidewards. Strange.

At our rest on isle Huizerhoef I discovered it was the sheet that was still clamped preventing the mast to raise fully up. After this 'fix' and after the rest we took off and started sailing. Unfortunately the wind had decreased a bit but I could still make progress on sail alone. I had to make a few strokes now and then to match the speed of the other group members. So, this was an ideal first sailing trip, very quiet and safe.

I did try some different courses and was able to sail even by the wind. Very promising! It seems that the Falcon sail is indeed a better sailer than the Flat Earth sail, at least in these light winds.

Besides the problem with raising the mast there was another problem when lowering the mast. When the mast and sail comes down it is almost unreachable to grab them for tying down. I think I will make a longer line on the end of the boom. This line functions also as outrigger for the sail. And a wind vane on top of the sail would also be nice.

The Falcon sail has arrived

Finally, after almost three months, the Falcon sail arrived from the USA. EU customs must have delayed it, may be because of Covid-19. Yesterday I unpacked the box and admired all hi-tech stuff: the crispy sail, the carbon mast and boom and all stainless steel attributes. It took some time to install everything but today the Skarabee is ready for sailing:

the sail stands

The high quality of the materials was one reason to buy a Falcon sail and not a Flat Earth sail. The latter being the more 'common' sea kayak sail on the moment. The other reason is that the Falcon sail enables better sailing performance. However, at the cost of a higher heeling moment and a more complex trim, the Flat Earth sail is more forgiving. When I ordered the Falcon sail three months ago I thought it would be a good fit for the Skarabee with it's ample stability.

fore stay and boom vang cleats

sheet cleat and tie down loops

When working on the Skarabee I changed decklines and some shock cords too. 

ready for sailing

Tomorrow evening I will take her to the club for her first sail.

Fitting a retractable skeg to the Legend, part 1

In between the nice trips with the Shadow I also did some work on the Legend to add the retractable skeg. I had ordered a Kari-Tek cable skeg with a modern fin style skeg blade. In my opinion a good match for the sporty Legend.

adapted brush

Despite the preparation of tools and dry practice the job got out of hand very soon: The first fixation with thickened polyester resin went reasonably well but when I started to add glass tape to the sides of the skeg box it soon became a mess. After some thinking I came to the conclusion that the only way for a reliable fixing was to open up the rear deck to get ample access to the skegbox area. You see it sometimes on old kayaks with an after market built-in skeg. I decided to make the cut under the grip lines as this may be the least notable place.

opening the rear deck

the first fixation of the skeg box

After removing the surplus of polyester I could pour in topcoat to fill the remaining gaps. And I added glass tape between the side walls of the box and the hull. All of this was now much easier working through the large opening.

after the second fixation

The topcoat has nicely filled the space between box and hull and I could trim the edges of the skeg box on the outside.

after smoothing out

With the Shadow around Pampus isle

Today we originally planned a trip to the Marker Wadden but because of the wind we changed plans to a more safe trip to Pampus isle. Wind was a 4 Bft from the west. No sun today, but some rain. We went with a group of six.

I took the Shadow with both greenland paddles. A few days ago I had fixed the leak in the cockpit rim by filling it with polyester topcoat. This proved to be a good repair as I didn't feel any drops of water on my left leg today.

The first part of the trip was fully and partly against the wind. I used both paddles and both worked well to beat against the wind. Good to notice that I was able to make a lot of speed, also with the smaller paddle. Quite faster than most other paddlers in the group. As this was the first time I used the Shadow in a group it is another indication for me that it is quite faster than e.g. the Skarabee.

The Shadow did pound often on the steep incoming waves. I already had noticed this during other trips but compared today to the other boats it became quite obvious. The hull shape with it's rounded bottom between hard chines has apparently not the smooth entry lines as e.g a Baidarka. Besides the noise it is not really a problem. Even in this situation the Shadow has a dry ride.

Pampus isle, an old fortress

We took a short rest at Hooft isle as we couldn't land on Pampus isle because it is still locked down. Then we headed to Pampus into a quartering head wind and rounded the isle. On the way back we surfed a lot and again the Shadow proved to be rather fast compared to the other boats.

It was a really nice trip and I enjoyed the Shadow and both greenland paddles.

Paddling the Greenland power paddle

Last sunday I had the chance to test my new Greenland paddle with the experimental 'power blade'. I took my normal Greenland paddle as spare paddle on the deck to be able to compare. It was a nice day with a wind of about 3 Bft. I took the Shadow and enjoyed paddling this boat. Certainly on the way back I made quite a speed of about 9 km/h in a downwind 'surfing' over the waves. That was with the power paddle by the way.

The power paddle feels a bit less elegant to the hands as it is heavier (1000 g) compared to the normal paddle (800 g). I think now 1000 g is about the maximum weight for a fine Greenland paddle. More heavy and you will loose flexibility like my Schlegel Ozean paddle (1400 g) that is only suited to make simple forward strokes, no 'slicing and dicing', probably not only caused by it's weight but also the different cross section of the blades.

Rest on Hooft isle

The power paddle has also a slightly thicker loom (shaft). But the overall feel is the same, it is clear that both paddles are twins. So switching between both paddles is no problem. And the power? Well, it certainly has more power. No overkill, there is no need for downsizing. And it is not that I now missed power with the normal one, you compensate automatically with a higher paddling frequency to get the same back pressure. However I can imagine that in strong headwinds I will prefer the smaller one and the bigger one on downwind courses.

For now I expect the Greenland Power Paddle (GPP) will become my main paddle, and the normal GP my default spare paddle.

Nice, two wooden sticks on deck

An experimental power blade Greenland paddle

As mentioned in an earlier post: about-greenland-paddles I have a second greenland paddle that I don't use as it is clearly not as good as my first one. I think this is caused by the more blunt edges of this red cedar paddle without hard wood insets. Refining the edges could be an option but as the wood is very soft the edges would be prone to damaging.

it's the middle one

Some time ago the idea grew to extend the paddle with hard wood insets and in the same time making the blades wider. It should become a sort of a power blade Greenland paddle. There is a rule of thumb for the maximum blade width: you must be able to grip the blade with your hand in a C-shape. In my case, as I have long hands, I could reach to about 12 cm. With the current blade of 9 cm there is a lot to win.

In stead of glueing pieces of wood to the sides I thought it would be stronger to make a shallow groove around the edges to glue strips of wood in. So I tried but it appeared hard to make such a groove. I ended up by sawing completely through the blades because that is a lot easier. A very deep groove indeed...

sawing through the blade

Then I glued strips of wood in between both sides of the blade with epoxy. Of course around the edges but also one strip in the middle to prevent deformation while clamping both sides on each other. For this experiment I used some yellow pine, not really a hardwood like ash or oak but a lot harder than red cedar.

Wood strips glued into the blade

Unfortunately the strips were not a very good idea as there was a lot of filleting needed to make a well fairing profile. Glueing thicker pieces of wood to the sides would have been a better idea.

some epoxy filleting...

and a lot of sanding...

After a few times of adding epoxy fillets and a lot of sanding the result was a paddle with wide and thin edged blades. The width at the tip has grown from 9 to 11 cm. As the extensions taper the extra width reduces to 0 at the loom. By the way, my Schlegel reserve paddle is even wider with 11.5 cm. The result is promising but however not very attractive and it would need some paint to cover up the epoxy fillets. But before the final finishing I would like to try it first. You'll never know what changes have to be made yet...

The result left compared to my first paddle right

also compared to my Schlegel spare paddle

the Schlegel has no tapered blade