Peter’s Paddling Blog

Saturday I picked up a surf kayak in Copenhagen. Build in carbon, weight 8 kg, three fins, space for my long legs, I got it second hand for a good price and it’s red even – Hurray!

The kayak was manufactured by Radical Moves which no longer seems to be in existence. They apparently had a strange way of naming their kayaks. The model I got is a Hooker!

I haven’t actually been surfing with it yet but used it for the Monday rolling session in the sea kayak club. The kayak is average for back finishing rolls. I could only handroll it with some effort. Forward finishing rolls are fine. I consistently forward-forward rolled it with a throwing stick.

Surf Machine

Surfing in real surf kayaks is very much in its infancy in Denmark. I doubt there are 20 surf kayaks around in all. So I did some research to find out what surf kayaking really is about.

I was surprised discover that Surf kayaking is not a discipline organized by ICF the International Canoe Federation. Rather the international competitions are organized by The World Surf Kayak Association. Still at least one national canoing federation, the BCU has taken surf kayaking under its wings

The annual Tour de Gudenaa race is coming up in less than two weeks so I have limited time for playing around in the new kayak.

Saturday while the rest of the kayak community was getting ready for the Danish Marathon Championship 2007 I geared up and headed for the port of Grenå. Following the successful trip to Helgoland I was eager to claim another island for my collection: Anholt a small island halfway between Denmark and Sweden.

For years I’ve been discussing with fellow danish sea kayakers to go to Anholt but alas the time, shape or weather forecast was never right. Now with autumn around the corner I knew it had to be soon.

Around lunch time I launched a loaded Inuk from Grenå and started the 50km crossing. I had a favorable wind in my back and it was mostly smooth paddling for six hours. I maintained a steady pace and didn’t waste energy on needless surfing.

At the start I opted to go in my Chillcheater tuiliq in case of a chance of weather. As a result I was sweating like a pig and finished up the 3L of water in my hydration system by the 45 km mark. I switched to my reserve 1/2 L bottle but ended up somewhat dehydrated. Scrambling out of the kayak I felt slightly dizzy and at first lacked the energy to drag the kayak further up the beach. The fact that I didn’t have to pee for the entire trip or even when I landed was a clear indication of what was wrong. Stupid beginner’s mistake.

I’ve uploaded the GPS track from the crossing to MotionBased.

Only 10 km left.

Sunday I had hoped to continue to Sweden but the wind had switched direction to southeast and I decided to circumnavigate the island instead – a trip of about 25 km.

This island really is a beauty. Located on the far eastern tip is a picturesque lighthouse. A long reef housing a seal sancturary stretches far out to the sea.

The end of the island. Beyond the horizon lies Sweden.

The rest of the day I spend wondering how I was to go back. With the wind forecast the only sensible crossing was to run with the wind for 80 km. In the end I decided against and took the ferry instead. My Inuk currently isn’t set up for that kind of trips. More on the limitations of my Inuk in another posting.

The luxury life of the modern day sea kayaker. Checking the wind forecast while lying in my bivy bag.

I spend a shitty night on the beach struggling to keep both the mosquitoes and the rain out of my bivy bag. I got three perfectly fine tents at home but for some reason I often end up taking some minimalistic shelter only to regret it later.

Getting the kayak on board the small ferry was no problem though and I wasn’t even charge for bringing a kayak.

I’ve uploaded a few more photos at my sea kayak club’s homepage.

Erik Arnström recently wrote a very good review[Swedish] of the Sipre Katabatic Master. The review was good in the sense that it was a comprehensive review. Not good in the sense of Sea Kayakers Magazine, who apparently only review good kayaks…

Last night I finally got a chance to paddle the Katabatic Master myself. Now I will not repeat Erik’s review as I agree with him – only I didn’t have waves and can’t comment on the efficiency(or lack of the same) of the rudder in surf. I do have a few things to add though.

I’m 1.94m tall and had no problems fitting in the kayak. However my knees were nowhere near below the deck when paddling in normal style with the legs together. Switching into a frogs’ leg position I could get my knees below the deck but this position is clearly wrong in a sea racer with a Tiller-bar control.

I had to move the seat pretty far back which means the rather high rear cockpit rim makes lying on the rear deck during a roll impossible. As a result I missed two standard rolls and took a swim. Later I successfully made two forward rolls but it wasn’t easy. I’d say handrolling the Inuk is way easier than forward rolling the Katabatic with a wing.

There ends my interest in the Katabatic Master. It’s a great kayak and it got almost everything right. But there’s no way I’ll solo take this kayak to the open sea and then I might as well just use the Shadow instead.

Why is it producers of sea racers can’t figure out to lower the damn rear coaming of the cockpit and put in an ocean style cockpit?
I recently tested a friend’s Epic V10L surfski which has the same stability as the Katabatic Master. Now when I read accounts of surf ski competitions, it sounds like falling of the ski and reentering is standard procedure. Shouldn’t capsizing and rolling a sea racer be just as easy?

For a long time I’ve thought of building my own racer or modifying an existing design. The American paddler Susanita got her racer with ocean style cockpit that way. Well for a start I’ll email Nelo and Sipre and ask for their opinion.

Sunday it was again time for the 18 km race around the island Thurø organized by the kayak club in Svendborg.
While this race is really designed for the K1-trainer class there is also smaller classes for ICF K1s and sea kayaks.

I had monitored the wind forecast all week as I had to decide whether to go with the Shadow or the Supersonic. Sunday morning I thought the wind looked fine and decided to go with the Supersonic while Morten took his Vanquish.

Well the wind was light alright but the narrow sound outside the kayak club was a boiling inferno with a strong current and endless lines of pestering motor and sailing boats generating waves. Unlike the regular windblown waves at home on the lake this was chaos.

The hosting kayak club.

I believe I wasn’t the only one feeling shit scared as we paddled across the sound to the starting line. Then and there it struck me how completely stupid it was that my Supersonic maiden voyage in the ocean was to be in context of a race.

As for the race itself there’s not much to write on. My brain was for the entire race running in overload mode concentrating on staying in balance. I later heard of numerous capsizes but I only observed one fellow swimming.

One of the hardened race veterans from our club classified the water as the toughest he had ever raced in an ICF racer. We later agreed that completing the race without capsizing wasn’t the least of our kayak accomplishments to date.

Some of the strongest marathon paddlers in the country started in our class and we placed accordingly low. Morten did beat me with 30 seconds though, which made for one hell of an annoying conversation on the trip home!

Was it a mistake to race in the Supersonic? Well I could easily have paddled faster in the Shadow. I was 4 min quicker last year while I’m in a much better shape this year. Still now two days after the race I’m still walking around with a silly smile enjoying the fact that I didn’t capsize.

The Flatwater World Championship is starting in just a couple of days in Duisburg Germany. Much is at stake as the championship is the main event for qualifying for the Olympics next year.
Now while this is important for the athletes, this is also super important for the involved national federations and their programs.

The elite program of the Danish Canoe Federation is partly financed by Team Danmark the national institute for developing elite athletes. For a small federation, this money is important for maintaining the network of training centers around the country.

However for the federation be eligible to this support, it has to demonstrate that its ability to win medals(World/European championship) and/or qualify for the Olympics.
The competition in the Olympic flatwater disciplines is fierce though and after a rather disastrous European championship it’s hard to be optimistic on behalf of the Danish national team paddlers.

Anne Lolk and Mette Barfod marathon racing

The K2 Women 500m discipline is currently our biggest hope for an Olympic qualification. These two girls became marathon world champions last year but have been struggling to convert their success to flatwater sprinting. Let’s hope for a breakthrough in Germany.