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

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

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.

With the Skarabee to Volendam

Today I did a trip to Volendam with a total length of 25 km. The wind was max 2 Bft so it was a quiet but beautiful trip with great views on the lake Markermeer.

Skarabee with view on the Markermeer

For a change I took the Skarabee. It was a time ago I paddled my yellow cargo ship after the recent trips with the Nigel Foster boats. Compared with the Legend which is a sharp knive carving the water, the Skarabee felt as a beach bal, just wobbling on the water. And it was not tracking well without the skeg. Strange as how my experierence with the Legend has altered my opinion on the Skarabee. If the Shadow with the new seat will please me, there even might be a chance that I will sell the Skarabee.

Marken lighthouse

Volendam beach

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.

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 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.

Storm Dennis arrives

This weekend the storm Dennis passed by. But first we had a swimming pool session on Friday. This time I took the Seajett, making it my first action with it. It soon became clear that I should do some adjustments on the seating position: the foot rest is too close in its far-most position but when removed the front bulkhead is too far away. Also the thigh braces proved to be too small, as my legs slips too easily out of them. These things made rolling more difficult and should be fixed for reliable rolling. With the Orion and Skarabee I had better swimming pool sessions. After the session it appeared that the front hatch was dry but the rear hatch had taken some water. Could be the skeg fitting but the rear bulkhead doesn't look very confident too. So, enough work to do on the Seajett, including the rudder.

The next day storm Dennis had starting to blow with a decent 5 Bft with gusts to 8 Bft. I made a trip to the other side of the lake Gooimeer from Almere to the beech of 'Oud Valkeveen'. With this wind and waves I took the Skarabee as I didn't want to take any risk with the Seajett yet. Seating in the Skarabee felt as comfortable as always and I never felt unsafe during the trip. It was hard working with my Greenland paddle against the gusts of wind. The Skarabee slammed sometimes on the waves, not very disturbing but a Baidarka would have done this much more elegant. After a while I finally came near the shore and out of the wind. I took a rest on the beach. Looking from there the water seems so quiet...

Resting on the luff side, no waves here...

The trip backwards was a lot quicker. I tried to surf as much as possible but the Skarabee was not very eager to take off. With the Explorer this trip would probably have been one exciting long surf but with the Skarabee it was up and down. I experimented with the skeg. Without the skeg the boat was indeed easier to correct. However, I was continuously busy with correcting and the Skarabee zig-zagged from left to right. With the skeg down it was a lot easier to stay on course but the boat still wants to break out sometimes, even when not in a surf. I got sweet memories of my Baidarka that tracked so much better in these conditions. On the end of the trip the waves became bigger and bigger and I had to take care not to ram the landing place. But with the skeg in I could control the surfing Skarabee to point it in the good direction.

After the trip I checked the average speed and that was a little dissapointing: against the wind 4,8 and before the wind only 7,8 km/h. With the NDK Explorer I would certainly have reached much above 8 km/h... The Skarabee is known as a fast boat but may be I am not strong enough to overcome the extra resistance of it's length and width. But with this wind I would have expected there was enough power to get it up to hull speed... I am curious how the Seajett will compare in this. We will see later.

Skeg or rudder?

I made a few trips with the Skarabee. I have already praised it's maneuverability which makes the long boat feel a lot shorter. However, this is without using the skeg. When you lower the skeg a bit, the boat feels completely different: it does not want to turn anymore, even on edge. Of course this is explainable as the skeg prevents the tail to slip sidewards and the skeg remains under water on edge. This is actually the purpose of a skeg, so it is not a failure but a design feature. But it is a pity to sacrify so much maneuverabililty when using it. With the Baidarka I never experienced such a difference. But with the Skarabee there is a huge difference in maneuverablility. I am now trying to remember how this was with the Orion, it should be about the same as this is also an easy to turn boat. But somehow it didn't bother me at the time.

That makes me wonder how to use the skeg in a surf: normally you put down the skeg when going downwind. It prevents the boat to break out and that is a good thing if you want to make long surfs. However, when it starts to break out it will be hard to correct because of the same skeg. On the other hand, when you don't use the skeg in a surf the boat definitely want to break out earlier but it would be easier to correct. May be because of the good maneuverability of the Skarabee this could work. Definitely more fun also. Something to test the coming months when there are enough waves to surf.

Now I realize the real benefit of a rudder: with a rudder you always keep maximum maneuverability. Especially in a surf this would be perfect. And it makes me think there are two types of sea kayaks: 'skeg boats' and 'rudder boats'. The Baidarka is a good example of a typical 'skeg boat': the vario skeg just varies the built in 'skeg' in the already well tracking hull. You use the skeg to fine tune the balance of the boat. There is not much difference in maneuverability with or without skeg (both are bad).

On the other hand a typical 'rudder boat' would be much more maneuverable. A skeg would spoil this, so a rudder is the better option. Because of the rudder it is not needed anymore to make the hull track well and it can be optimized for speed and/or maneuverability. Such a boat is the Tiderace Pace 17 Tour. One of the kayaks on my wish list...

May be the Skarabee would be also a good candidate for a rudder. At least, it is an option if you order a new one at MSC. Another thing to think about because a rudder has also some drawbacks.

First trip with the Skarabee

After the swimming pool session the broken backrest support had to be repaired. The strap should be also placed a bit more to the front as it was too far aft to actually support my back. Finally I decided to go for a simple solution: With a disc cutter I made a new slit in the seat side walls, a few centimeters before the old one. The backstrap goes through it, then to the front of the seat side and then backwards on the inside of the seat where it is hold with velcro. In this way the forces on the strap are well distributed on the seat sides. When the temperature rises I can make a repair of the broken seat side part, just for optical reasons. This solution has proved to be sturdy enough.

A new slit in front of the broken one

New backstrap fixation around the sides

The first real trip was on a cold but sunny afternoon. I paddled a few kilometers along the shore of the lake Gooimeer. At that time it was on the news that three sea kayakers had died in France and for some reason it witheld me to make a crossing over the open (and very cold) water alone. Happily it was the leeside shore so there were the most waves.

View on the lake Gooimeer

The seating position was perfect and the new backrest fixation worked well. The Skarabee didn't give me that sporty feeling as the NDK Explorer, it's more a comfortable ride. It needed a lot of skeg with the 3 Bft cross wind: almost all. Not a real problem but I am still spoiled with the excellent skeg working on the Baidarka that you can trim so easily with the vario skeg. The boat seemed a bit slower than the Explorer and that proved to be true after examining the GPS tracks: around 7 km/h.

Skarabee on the shore

Rolling with the VKN Skarabee

Unfortunately I owned the NDK Explorer too short for taking it to one of our scheduled swimming pool sessions. So, the first action with the Skarabee was in the swimming pool for rolling exercises.

It was the first time after my test trip in December that I entered the Skarabee. Of course with high expectations of the seating position and stability. Well, the seat was now a bit wide and the back strap too loose but the thigh support was excellent. Stability was as reassuring as I remembered.

No problem with rolling happily. Also sculling seemed easier because the Skarabee proved to be stable on a side. Probably because of the high deck. Clearly better than the Orion that was more of a 'flip-flop' between up and down and that was more difficult to hold in position while sculling.

Downside of the high deck was however the impossibilty to do a re-entry via the aft deck. The hull is simply too high to climb on easily. And no place to fixate the paddle for making a paddle bridge: the deck lines are not in a position you can put a paddle under it. May be I can make some clamps for that. Well, then I have to rely on a 'wet-re-entry-and-roll', that did work quite well.

I used both the Greenland and the Euro paddle and found the GP easier for sculling and rolling. Another argument to keep using the GP.

Unfortunately the backrest fixation broke off where the strap is fixated to the sides of the seat... grrr, I thought this was such a high quality build boat... I am still thinking about a way to fix it without doing too much epoxy work.

Also, the keel strip must be replaced as it is broken on some places. Well, let's consider this as 'normal' maintanance. The good news is that all compartments appeared to be leak free after all the swimming.

NDK Explorer last trip

Last sunday we made a long trip and I enjoyed it very much. We paddled fast with periods above 8 km/h and the Explorer proved to be a fast boat again, so far so good. However after a few hours I noticed I had trouble placing my feet, the room seems just a bit too small for a comfortable position. And the tight fit under the knee braces seems to create a bit of tension in my legs. May be the HV version would have been a better fit for me? That evening it made me think and slowly it became clear what was bothering me the last weeks:

It was the memory of the Skarabee: it's seating position, it's stability and it's manouverability: all much better than the Explorer. And the Skarabee is at least as fast. The Explorer is certainly a good boat but after the Orion and Skarabee it seems to be a step back in some way. Despite it's stunning looks, it's speed and good reputation I never felt 'connected' to the Explorer. I was clearly infected by the Skarabee...

Then things went quick: the next day I sold the Explorer already to a club member and the next day I bought the Skarabee and I picked it up a day later...

A long car for a long boat

NDK Explorer arrival

The Skarabee has changed my opinion on how much money is reasonable for a used kayak. Until now I've only spend a few hundred Euro for an old British sea kayak. It is a sport to get such high quality boats for so little money. But you have to consider these boats are quite old now, in need for some repairs, have small hatch lids and they lack a day hatch. Besides, the design of sea kayaks has developed further.

So, when I encountered a used Nigel Dennis Explorer on the internet I started thinking... It is a well known and praised design with good performance and well balanced characteristics. It certainly is a good allround sea kayak and should be better than the Orion. You can still buy it new for a huge amount of money and this one was for sale for about half of it. Still not cheap but it seems in a very good state, almost new. So.... I went for a look.... and took her home.

My new acquisition ready for going home

This boat has made only a few trips, the owner got a back injury, and since then it had been resting in a garage. The fit was good, with thight knee support. And to my surprise I was able to use the keyhole cockpit properly: sit first and legs later. I was very happy with it: finally a modern sea kayak and not a low-budget boat. Happily, I could sell the Orion quick (but cheap) the same weekend.

VKN Skarabee

It is tempting to look on the internet for nice used sea kayaks. Even when you are not really in need for one. So, I came across a special one: a VKN Skarabee. A design of Bram Nootenboom and originally build by VKN "Kanocentrum De Biesbosch" in the Netherlands. Later the moulds were sold to a Czech company ms-composite.cz that still builds this model under the name MSC Skarabee. Good to know that you still can buy a new one. Here is a photo, I hope they don't mind that I show it here.

MSC Skarabee, made by MS-composite

I like the Swede form. With it's dimensions of 565 by 59 cm this could be considered as a large boat. The raised front and rear decks add even more volume to this. Despite the high deck the boat is well proportioned and you wouldn't think it is so big on the picture. Only when you see it between other kayaks you notice the impressive dimensions.

As I said, I was not actually searching for a new kayak. But as I am quite tall (197 cm) it could be a good match though. And it has already a day hatch and a built in compass... So I went for a look and a test trip. The boat was well build and maintained. It has the larger cockpit but unfortunately it was not long enough to put my legs in while seated. The sit however was perfect, the large knee braces form smoothly around my legs. There was a 5 Bft wind blowing, good circumstances to test it's behaviour and controllability. There is said that you know immediately when a boat is the right one for you. Well, I had this feeling with the Skarabee. The fit was perfect and the stability was very encouraging. Even better than the Orion. You can edge it a lot without being scared. On edge the boat was surprisingly manouverable. During the trip I never felt unsafe despite the hard wind and being in a boat that you don't know. No problem in controllability on any course to the wind. May be it drifted more due windage but that is hard to compare as any other boat will drift away with this wind. There was a lot of wind but no serious waves. But on the small waves it was very eager to surf and it seems quite fast and didn't want to break out. So, you could say I was very enthousiastic about the Skarabee. Because of the size I had expected more problems with controllability in this wind.

Clear to see how high the decks raise above the cockpit

There were a few concerns however: first the price, this was certainly not a low-budget boat anymore like the Dawn Treader Odin and Orion, about five times the price... If I would buy it, it should be the one and only boat for the next years. And reselling it later would be difficult because this is not a popular boat and certainly not for this price. Another concern is that I want a good sea kayak to actually go to sea in all kind of circumstances and making day trips, also without luggage. Can the Skarabee do this? It certainly is a perfect expedition boat for transporting lots of luggage. But would it not be too bulky for the real work on sea? These concerns made me hesitate and I decided to let it go... But I will not forget the Skarabee and may be once, who knows, I will have one.