A sunny trip with the Skarabee

Today the weather was too good for not paddling. It was sunny and a nice wind of 4 Bft. I went for the isle 'Hooft' in the lake IJmeer. A trip with a total distance of about 18 kms. I took the Skarabee and started with my Greenland paddle.

A sunny day

Soon I switched to my Schlegel Ozean spare paddle. It is heavy because it is fully made of aluminium. Today, I just wanted to make a longer tour with it. This paddle has long, narrow blades for easy stowing on the deck as a spare paddle. This shape does not differ much from a Greenland paddle and it can even be adjusted to a similar 0 degrees blade twist. It has a bit more power in a normal forward stroke but it is less suited for more dynamic slicing and dicing. Probably because of the high weight.

Schlegel Ozean paddle

Not much to say about the trip, just a few photo's to show.
On the isle, sitting sheltered from the wind, it was nice resting.

Break on the isle Hooft with a view on the lake Markermeer

A few trips with the Skarabee

Last two weekends we have made a trip with our club. Both times I picked the Skarabee. Both times there was a lot of wind. The first time we didn't make a trip actually but played again around our sheltered bay. The second weekend we made a trip of about 18 km to the isle Hooft in the IJmeer.

The experiences with the Skarabee were not different than before. It needs a lot of skeg to correct weathercocking. Probably this would be better when loaded, as this boat has been designed for taking a bulk of load. Unloaded as I paddle it now it definitely needs a larger skeg. When you paddle across the wind and totally lower the skeg I want the boat to turn down the wind but it is not very eager to do so. Also downwind it is not very straight tracking. I will look if I can alter the skeg somehow to get it more effective.

Nothing new about surfing also. It takes some effort to get the Skarabee into a surf. But I managed to get the bow burried in the wave once. Exciting and fast. On sea, with larger wavelengths, it would probably surf better. Controlling the boat when surfing is still difficult as it wants to break out too soon. A larger skeg would help here of course. Or...why not make a rudder on it? and why not a sail? The Skarabee can have it.

Another idea I have is to lower the aft deck as I don't need all that volume. It could help diminishing the weathercocking and also for esthetical reasons this would be good idea. But a lot of work... And before I would make such a drastic change I first want to test the Skarabee when it is loaded. The first camping trip is planned with Eastern. However, this trip might be cancelled because of the Corona lockdown.

During the long trip I developed a few blisters on my hand. A few minor ones but one serious. The shaft of my Greenland paddle is made from soft wood. The spots where my hands are on have been abrased by wearing gloves with some antislip pattern.

worn spots on both ends of the loom

The bare wood absorbs water and these spots are pretty rough now. Not good for wet and cold skin. I already tried to fix the spots with linseed oil but this didn't help much. Now I try the hardwax oil that is used for wooden floors.

First trip with the Seajett

Last Sunday we went with six Aquavite members on to the lake 'Gooimeer'. The wind was a strong 5Bft decreasing to 4Bft. That afternoon there was a hypothermed paddler rescued from the lake 'IJmeer' about 10 miles from our location: https://www.knrm.nl/nieuws/onderkoelde-kajakker-gered-uit-ijmeer. But when we started our trip we didn't know that yet. We planned our trip to the isle 'Schelp' straight against the wind. However, when we left the protected bay and entered the full wind and waves two members indicated they were not fit or save enough to make the crossing under these circumstances. So we returned to the protected bay and played around there. We made some short trips outside the shelter heading into the wind and surfed back again. When the wind decreases we made some short trips on the lake. Good conditions to get an impression of the Seajett on open water after my first experience in the swimming pool.

The maneuverability is excellent without skeg. That the skeg is not lifting complete into the hull is apparently not an issue. There is no need to edge the boat to make a turn. I even had to pay attention to paddle in a straight line. With skeg down it's maneuverability diminishes dramatically to the level of a traditional sea kayak. That's a pity but of course expected behaviour of the skeg. As expected the Seajett was very prone to weathercocking but this was easily resolved by using the skeg. Stability was good, may be not as assuring as the Skarabee but never a problem to me.

In the waves one thing surprised me: The bow hardly rises on the waves, it just penetrates the wave burrying itself into a lot of water. But it happened very smooth and the boat seemed not to slow down. It made me think the Seajett is certainly not a real traditional sea kayak but may resemble more the fast racing sea kayaks of today which behave in the same way. Or is the Seajett just a flat water boat and not a sea kayak at all? Happily when surfing, the bow did not burry itself too much.

The Seajett is certainly a better surfer than the Skarabee and may be on the same level as the NDK Explorer, but that is hard to compare. Surfing without skeg is possible as the boat is good to control when it broaches. Better controllable than the Skarabee anyway. With skeg down it doesn't break out too soon but it will do sometimes. With the skeg down it is not easy to control anymore of course. With a rudder the Seajett would probably be an excellent downwind surfer. I have to make time then for adding the rudder...

After the trip I checked both compartments and unfortunately both had taken in some water. There was no water in the cockpit so I can exclude de bulkheads from being leaky.