First results with the Legend

Today I went for a trip with the Legend as the rain has gone. I have made quite some trips now with the Legend and the results are becoming more clear.

Rest at isle Drost

The Legend is a fast sea kayak. It feels easy driven. I can get it over the 8 km/h limit easily. The speed seems only limited by my own performance... and that is a pity sometimes ;-) May be the Explorer is even a bit faster but the difference, if any, is small.

The amount of weathercocking in a quartering sea has now become quite annoying. It is possible to correct this with edging and sweep strokes. I am still not that confident about the stability so there is probably some progress possible when I would use more edging. But with a retrectable skeg life will be easier. So I am thinking of adding a retrectable skeg. This could be a nice new project after the Shadow is ready.

Stability is sufficient for a sporty kayak but for use on sea I would like to have a bit more stability to be able to eat a sandwich in a troubled sea. As said, on this moment I don't feel comfortable enough to edge the Legend to a far degree. When I have more confidence and experience with it's stability curve the Legend would probably become even more enjoyable.

The aft dry compartment appeared to be not very dry at all. After each trip there was some water in it. The test with the fire hose shows that the water is leaking from under the rubber lid. The good thing is that there are no structural faults that cause leaks but it is the fit of the lid on the rim. Well, the bad thing is that I can't change much about this. May be the Kajaksport lids from the Shadow do a better job, I can test that.

Another annoying thing is the sprayskirt. It is difficult to get the backside under the cockpit rim. It take a few minutes (yes, minutes) to put it in right. Not very practical for quick entries or exits. This is mainly caused by the lack of space under the cockpit rim in combination with it's recess into the aft deck. You can't just pull the skirt around the rim. The strong elastics of the sprayskirt doesn't help also.

A new seat for the Shadow, part 4

In the meantime the work on the Shadow goes on. The hole in the bulkhead is closed with five layers of glass. Two chopped strand mats embedded between three woven cloths. I have to do some finishing work yet.

bulkhead under construction

My idea's about the seat have changed a few times last week. I often have this problem... On this moment I want to use woodcore, plywood sheeted with carbon fiber. This will be lightweight and the carbon will give it a hi-tech look. I hope so at least. I started to glue extensions to the seat to form sidewalls.

seat under construction

Another trip with the Legend

Another trip with the Legend yesterday. Beautiful weather with a firm wind of 4 Bft. I took another route this time on the lakes Gooimeer and Eemmeer.

Rest with view on lake Gooimeer

On these more protected waters the waves are not that big and that makes the Legend more prone to weathercocking. Especially in a quartering sea it is difficult to keep course as the Legend wants to luff all the time. With the wind fully across or fully behind it is more managable, so that's what I did to prevent the quartering seas. I think I want a vario skeg...

A new seat for the Shadow, part 3

Still thinking of all different ways to fix a seat in the Shadow I examined the seat of the Skarabee. It is bolted to the flanks. A good idea to make seats interchangable. When someone wants a larger seat again then it can be arranged without doing polyester or epoxy work.

The seat in the Skarabee is bolted

Of course the seat will be supported by foam. And there is still an option to place back the original seat and glue it to the hull but not to the side walls. The side walls are necessary for bolting the seat to it and for fixing the backstrap.

I have received a few tips on my suggestion to place the seat as low as possible: Care must be taken that the seat can not touch the bottom or split can come under the seat as this can cause leaks after a time.

A trip with the Legend

Yesterday I took the Legend on a longer trip. Wind was a 4 Bft with gusts to 5. Good circumstances to get more familiar with the Legend and to check how it performs in the wind with the fixed skeg.

The first track was in a following sea. The Legend felt quick and I managed to get it surfing sometimes over multiple waves. Afterwards I checked the log and I am happy to report a speed of around 10 km/h. However, the Legend did not surf spontaneously, I think the Explorer is more eager to surf. Tracking is sufficient and with some edging you can make some corrections. However it broached several times.

Then a track followed with wind from aside. I could feel the Legend wants to weathercock a little. Normally I would put some skeg down but now I had to manage it with some edging and sweep strokes. It worked but I prefer a vario skeg.

Rest at isle Hooft

After a rest on isle Hooft I went on to IJburg. The last track between Muiden and IJburg the wind was on a beam. Being on leeshore the north eastern wind has created some big swells, some waves even breaking. I almost got the impression I was on sea! The Legend behaves well in waves. However, stability is not that reassuring as it would be in the Skarabee, Orion or Seajett. On that moment I remembered I still had to put some knee or thigh bracing in it. A positive remark is that the weathercocking in the waves wasn't noticable anymore. Or may be the corrections could be easier to make.

The way back had some tracks against the wind and it proved to be a good workout for me. No issues with weathercocking. I can imagine there are paddlers that don't need or want a retrectable skeg on a Legend as it behaves mostly very neutral. But I think I would rather prefer one, just to have more options in all kind of different situations with wind and waves.

A new seat for the Shadow, part 2

From the kayak shop where I bought the Shadow I could get a kayak for free to obtain a new seat. Well, not new, actually quite old, but I do fit better in it.

The seat removed from it's donor wreck

First I removed the bulge from the bulkhead with a disc cutter.

The bulkhead with the bulge removed

The bulkhead has gelcoat on it. It would be difficult to match colors with the new inset. And I don't like a coloured bulkhead, so I decided to remove all gelcoat from it. Quite a tedious job...

The bulkhead without gelcoat (almost)

There are still some pieces gelcoat to be removed but I need some other tool for that. The new seat is a lot smaller than the original one. On both sides there is more than one inch space to fit to the wide cockpit coaming. I am still thinking how to solve this in a functional but also beautiful way.

The seat smoothly transitions into the bulkhead

To be continued...

A new seat for the Shadow, part 1

I have decided to give the Shadow a fair chance. The primary stability issue has probably something to do with a lack of load. When the chines are deeper in the water the stability will probably improve. Besides this, a seat that is too wide does not help also. And as the seat is quite uncomfortable for me, I actually want to make a complete new seat in it... Quite ambitious indeed and I have to say I am inspired by the new owner of my old Orion who is also making a new seat. See his blog on: https://www.zeekajaksite.nl/blog/r_weblog.php. The new seat should be placed as low as possible in the hull as every single centimeter will help for initial stability.

Old seat

So I started to remove the seat. It was quite well fixed with polyester resin but with some force the seat finally got loose. I also removed the backrest and all it's fixing bolts. The seat may be original but the backrest certainly is not.

Seat and backrest removed

After removal of the seat the hull appeared to be undamaged happily. The next step will be to remove the bulge in the bulkhead. This bulge, padded with foam, forms the original backrest. Also a Nigel Foster idea, simple but not very comfortable. My plans are for an ordinary backstrap.

An empty cockpit

To be continued...

First trip with the Legend

When finished the trip with the Shadow, see previous post, I was so curious about the Legend that I quickly put a backrest in it and took it to the water. After the hard seating in the Shadow the Legend was a delight. I fit exactly in the seat and the simple backstrap is a lot more comfortable. Also entering the small ocean going cockpit is no problem at all and may be even easier than the Shadow's cockpit where the thigh braces are in the way.

To my surprise the Legend didn't feel that tippy at all. Strange, I would expect it less stable than the Shadow. Of course the secundary stability must certainly be lower than the Shadow. That makes me think that with more weight the Shadow may feel less tippy also. May be I am too light for the Shadow with my 95 kg. Or may be you need some luggage to let the Shadow come out of it's shadow.

The Legend gives me a 'sporty', quick feel, somewhat like the Explorer. The maneuverability is may be a bit less than the Shadow but on edge it still carves it's turns. So, this first impression was very positive. In the evening I fitted some deck elastics to prepare for a longer trip the next day.

That day I made almost the same tour as the previous day with the Shadow. The wind was also a 2 Bft, so no serious waves but safe circumstances to test a new boat without rectrectable skeg. Well, I have to say I never missed a skeg during this trip so I need some more wind for further testing it's weathercocking behaviour. The Legend seems a fast and easy driven kayak but I don't have good speed measurements yet.

The stability of the Legend makes more sense to me than the Shadow. The transition between primary and secundary stability is more fluent. Actually, you can't feel a switching point at all. So, I don't have a problem with the stability. For me it feels about the same as the Explorer. Of course in perspective: the Skarabee, Orion and Seajett are far more stable. The Baidarka probably less but that's already a time ago.

After this trip I was rethinking my experiences with the Nigel Foster boats. Before the weekend, I got my hopes up the Legend but I was afraid it wouldn't be stable enough. And I considered the Shadow to be a more stable alternative. As it proved now I really prefer the Legend. Of course there are options to improve the behaviour of the Shadow: a better fitting seat and a different backrest. Should I try to improve these things and hope for a much better boat? But why keep the Shadow as the Legend feels good? To keep it for expeditions on sea with lots of luggage? The amount of cargo you can take with you is not that much more than in the Legend. And for kayak sailing it will be less suited than the Skarabee. So, I am not sure. On this moment the Legend is exactly the boat I was looking for: a real sea kayak and a sporty boat next to the Skarabee.

First trip with the Shadow

This morning I fixed the skeg knob with a stainless steel screw that I happily could find at home.

The Shadow's skeg knob, quite a strange design

And herewith the Shadow was ready for take off. It was a beautiful day in spring and I took the Shadow on a longer trip, this time to isle Drost in the IJmeer. The wind was 2 (-3) Bft.

After entering the boat, it felt quite tippy. I may have expected this with the Legend but not with the Shadow, strange. The seat seems too big for me as I could slide an inch to both sides. And the seat felt quite hard as I was sitting on a bulge it the middle. For certain this seat has been designed for someone with a much wider stature.

The seat of the Shadow with the extra backrest

The positive news is that the thigh braces are okay and the front bulkhead is on exactly the right distance for using as footrest. During the trip the backrest started to hurt a bit, there is an extra backstrap before the foam bulge and it seems to much. During the rest I tried to remove this backstrap but this appeared impossible without a knife. It is bolted to the cockpit coaming as you can see on the picture. Not original I think. Also, I taped some foam at both sides of the seat to fill the gap between my hips. This helped a lot to help with the tippy feeling on the way back.

Rest on isle Drost

It is clear that the Shadow has low initial stability but high secundary stability. This makes it not an easy boat to just paddle away. At least it takes some time to get used to the tippy feeling. But it enhances edging and as expected, the Shadow reacts very quickly on edge. With edging you can correct a certain amount of weathercocking. The skeg works but I got the same behaviour as with the Skarabee: it needs a lot of skeg to become effective. It is now that I start to think that both these boats may need more load.

When returned I checked the hatches, rear and day hatches were dry but there were a few drops of water in the front hatch. Probably sucked into it because I saw the lid almost imploding during the trip. It had been a nice trip but it got me a bruised back of the backrest. And I was afraid for the other Nigel Foster kayak, the Legend: would it be even more tippy?

Goodby Seajett, welcome to Legend and Shadow

As I was looking for a new real sea kayak, see previous post, I've got an option to trade in the Seajett. The Seajett proved to be a nice boat to paddle but now as I want to start with kayak sailing and want a real sea kayak there is no need for a third boat. Besides, adding a rudder appeared more difficult because the front deck is not high enough to put my feet in a vertical position for operating the rudder pedals. May be I can fix the rudder to the Skarabee.

So I traded in the Seajett in favor of a Nigel Foster Shadow sea kayak. This is not a very common boat and I couldn't find much information on the internet. It has an intriguing hull shape with hard chines. The Shadow is the larger, more stable version of the Legend.

In the same time a Legend caught my eye and to make a long story short: on the end of the day I was a proud owner of two Nigel Foster kayaks: a Legend and a Shadow. I couldn't test both kayaks and to overcome my doubts on which model would be best for me I decided to take both. After some time I can always sell one. Or keep both, the Legend for more sporty trips and the Shadow for expeditions. Well, at least that is how I expect how these kayaks will perform on this moment.

yellow Legend, blue Shadow

Both kayaks have the same length but the Shadow has a larger beam. The aft decks have similar height but the Shadow has a higher front deck. My Shadow has a larger cockpit, unfortunately not long enough to pull up my legs when seated. The Legend has a smaller cockpit, about the same size as the Orion. Both need some padding for knee and/or thigh support.

the Shadow has a larger cockpit

The underwater hull shape is quite similar: a rounded shape between hard chines. A typical Nigel Foster design feature. The Shadow has some flat spot in the bottom where the Legend keeps the rounded shape to the full length. Together with the larger beam this would make the Shadow much more stable than the Legend. Both primary and secundary stability.

Legend left, Shadow right

Both kayaks needs some work to be ready for paddling. The Shadow is in good condition but the skeg operating knop needs to be fixated. The Legend seems older and needs more work. It has no vario skeg and there is a fixed skeg glued on. I want to test first but I expect that this skeg should be removed and probably replaced by a retractable skeg. Happily the rear hatch is big enough for making repairs within the aft compartment. The Legend does not have a backrest and also no points to fix a backstrap to. I can probably make a backstrap in the same way as I did with the Skarabee: around the sides of the seat. I am very curious how these Nigel Foster kayaks perform...

Evaluation of the Skarabee

After a few months with the Skarabee it's time for an evaluation. The Skarabee proved to be a comfortable boat with a good seating position and good stability. I have a good fit in the boat and that's facilitates rolling and sculling. So far so good.

However, I expected it to be a fast boat: faster than the NDK Explorer. Well, that proved to be disappointing as I don't get it up to speed as expected. Of course this is my personal experience and other/stronger paddlers may get the Skarabee up to higher speeds. But in fact the Skarabee is not built for speed but for cargo. And I would have taken the huge volume for granted but now the speed is disappointing it seems that the balance of pros vs cons is not that interesting anymore.

Another issue is the weathercocking and tracking in following seas, it is simply not as good as you would expect from a good sea kayak.

Considering everything it brings me to a conclusion that the Skarabee is not my boat for going to sea in all kind of rough circumstances. And that leads to another conclusion: I need a new kayak, a real sea kayak.

There is however some perspective for the Skarabee: lately I got interested in kayak sailing and I even ordered a Falcon kayak sail. I think the Skarabee can be a very good sailing kayak because of it's size and stability. May be adding a rudder would also be a good idea to support sailing.

A sunny trip with the Seajett

Another sunny day this weekend and I made the same trip as last week. But now I took the Seajett and the Epic Active Touring paddle. I didn't have speed measurements with the Seajett yet so I was curious about the results. The weather was about the same as last week: wind 4 (to 5) Bft but from an other direction. Despite all the plans to add a rudder to the Seajett, nothing has been done so far. I did however reduce the size of the skeg so that it fits in the housing. And I altered the mechanism by shortening the operation knob so that the skeg has a larger swing.

The changed skeg configuration became obvious on the water: with the skeg up the boat went from left to right and I couldn't control it enough to go straight forward. So I always let the skeg partly down, even against the wind. Furthermore the skeg proved to be sufficient to prevent weathercocking in all directions. So with this new skeg configuration the handling performance was not decreased and the gain is that the skeg can be withdrawn completely in the hull.

The dynamic behaviour in waves is very good. The Seajett never slams on the wave, it smoothly goes through it. Stability in all kind of waves, also from aside, is excellent. However, it tracks not very good in waves, you need to do a lot of corrections to hold the Seajett on the desired course. Happily it is easy to correct but this can become tiresome on long trips. Of course when you have a rudder the corrections may be easier. However, you will be continuous busy with the rudder. May be this can become an automatism... else it would become tiresome also. If you zoom in the track you see the winding, not very straight line:

The wind was South East, so on the first part I had the wind from aside and a bit behind, the second part the wind was pushing me in the back. So, a good recipe for high speeds. However, the recorded average of 7,7 km/h is a little disappointing then.

The way back with the wind fully and partly against me the average speed was 5,6 km/h which is not surprising.

Rest time on isle t Hooft

After returning there was a unpleasant surprise. When carrying the kayak out the water I heard the water sloshing within both compartments. A few drops may be acceptable but there were liters of water in both. At the boat house I filled both compartments with water and watch where the leaks are.
With the boat in normal position there were no leaks. However when the kayak was turned upside down the cause of the leaking was quickly discovered: both hatches leak. Apparantly the rubber lids do not close well enough. Strange, as these should have the correct size for this type. They are KajakSport lids expecially for the VCP small hatch size. And they do have a thight fit. The rims under the hatch rings seem allright too. The next trip I will try to temporary fit some original VCP lids...