Danish Design
The other night I went to a lecture on danish kayak history given by Bjørn Johansen and Ernst Christiansen.
Bjørn is carrying forward the legacy of deceased Jørgen Samson, who designed most of the kayaks build by Struer Kayaks. Bjørn is the designer of my Escape along with the Coastrunner and the Coastline trainers. Swedish Erik Arnstrøm recently wrote an article on Bjørn[in swedish].
Ernst is one of the major kayak dealers in the country, and have been active in the sport for a lifetime. He’s the force behind getting Bjørn’s designs into production not to mention some other ideas like this recently build K4 Trainer.
In this blog I’ve often referred to some of the kayaks I paddle as K1 Trainers. I’ve not been consistent, but often I’ve in fact referred to a special class of kayaks we refer to as turkajakker ~ touring kayaks. The Norwegians and Swedes refer to them as tour racers. This is unrelated to the “touring kayaks” in other countries.
This is a class of touring/fitness/racing kayaks defined by Samson, which is optimized and highly suitable for paddling in near coastal waters in Scandinavia. The Escape is a touring kayak pushing but not breaking the requirements of the rules. Quicker kayaks will have to race in the ICF class. Samson’s Tracer is an example of a kayak which barely doesn’t pass the tour requirements. To me these two kayaks lingers around the sweet spot of costal kayaks. I was not surprised to find that Bjørn likewise is a fan of the Tracer.
Touring kayaks class in Silkeborg two weeks ago.
If anything defines the classic danish kayak culture, its probably the development of this large range of touring and racing kayaks, which provides a smooth learning path from a beginner’s kayak to an full blood ICF racer.
Now it doesn’t take much insight in sociological mechanisms to imagine how the explosion like popularity of the sea kayak has been regarded with skepticism by parts of the old K1 community. Likewise parts of the sea kayak community has quickly turned its back on the traditional danish kayak culture. But that’s a different story.
Completely unrelated: Nelo just posted a link to this youtube video of the danish top race paddlers training. Kayak music videos are always fun.
Bjørn entered my virtual race several times last year paddling his Escape and numerous Struer kayaks. He won the point competition.
http://www.fit2paddle.com/virtualrace/
Years ago, in 1989 I spent a couple of months at Risø Lab where I believe Bjørn works,
but, at that time, I was just a folding kayaker and was too busy with my work anyway. Now, I would be more interested in kayaks than computers and numerical models.
Thanks for the info Marek. Dang, the old man is still very fast.
I’m a German paddler from Frankfurt/Main and I also have an Escape. I would like to know about the Danish touring kayak (or Sweden/Norwegian tour racer) specification, but I didn’t find anything about it in English. Do you have some link (in English) or may be even give some summary here? Is it about the minimal width (>= 51 cm?) (like the old racer specification) and/or weight (and length = 520 cm?)?
In another article you mentioned that you weren’t sure any more if it was a good choice for you to get an Escape, but rather have bought a Tracer. Could you briefly explain what has made you change your mind?
Hi Christian
The Escape is designed to be classified as a turkajak[danish] according to the definition in the rules for marathon racing(part B section d II) in the laws of the Danish Canoe Federation: http://kano-kajak.dk//dkf/Site%20dokumenter/Download-pdf/love.pdf
I think Bjørn Johansson told me that it was Jørgen Samson that defined the requirements for this class. They are rather more technical than ICFs rules.
K1 turkajak:
Minimal weight: 12kg
Maximal length: 520cm
Minimal beam: 51cm
Minimal waterline beam: 47cm
No concave lines (longitudinal and transversal) in the hull and the top except for the cockpit itself.
Maximal allowed curvature in the waterline is not allowed to exceed a radius of curvature of 660cm. A larger curvature is not allowed in the mid-ship defined as anything more than 50cm away from the bow and the stern.
Note 1: The waterline is defined as being 10 cm above the bottom of the hull.
Note 2: The requirements for the beam must be fulfilled at least 200cm from the rearmost point of the kayak.
——
As for the Escape and the Tracer. I prefer the handling of the Escape but love the look of the Tracer. As my balance has been improving, I’ve been drifting towards more and more tippy designs.
Best regards Peter
Peter,
Your site is precisely what I am searching for now. I want to link to other kayak builders in other circumpolar Nations. I build skin-on-frame kayaks based on Eskimo designs. Your regulations for “no concave lines” preclude skinboats from your competition classes, but I am interested in you touring designs. The basic lines of your plastic boats provide useful starting points for real kayaks. I have noticed trends in some Nordic touring kayaks towards wider flatter stem-lines. This parallels my current designs which feature more secondary stability at stem and stern and tumblehome amidships. Your site is an asset to the world.
Dear Peter,
thank you for posting these specifications! I recently bought a used Tourboat which was sold to me as a Struer Arrow. But I noticed it was a ‘Surfer’ from ‘Struer Boats’. When I asked a Struer Kajaks about this model, they replied that ‘Struer Kajaks’ is not the same company as ‘Struer Boats’. I cannot find any information about this manufacturer, but I have the impression that the tracer is also from Struer Boats, as it does not show up on the Stuerkajak website …
Could you enlighten me on that issue?
Thank you very much, and best regards from Germany,
Arnim
Hi Arnim
You’re not the only one confused by the names of the two companies ‘Struer Boats’ and ‘Struer Kajak’.
For the record ‘Struer’ is the name of a small danish city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struer,_Denmark
‘Struer Kajak’ is actually located in Struer and produces the well known race and touring kayaks build in wood.
‘Struer Boats’ is a company located near my hometown Århus and they don’t have a homepage. They build the classic mostly Jørgen Samson designed kayaks in fiberglass(Tracer, Spica, Fenja and many more). They also build the new generation of touring kayaks(Coastrunner, Coastliner and the new Coastfighter) designed by Bjørn Johansen. I think the best way to contact them for information is through their kayak dealer Kajak Centrum: http://kajakcentrum.dk
As for your kayak ‘Surfer’ I believe it is a kayak derived from the Fenja – but i don’t have my notes at hand.
Best regards Peter
This is the story as I have heard it: To keep up with the requirements of the touring class, the line which first started with Fenja, had several renewals even if production of Fenja wasn’t discontinued. The Surfer thus replaced Fenja in the early eighties. It was an exceptionally good looking shape, not necessarily faster than Fenja, but more stable. It is easily recognizable by its curved stem and stern. It only lasted a couple of years before it was replaced by Raptus, which mostly distinguishes itself from it through the vertical stem and stern. I have a suspicion that it was done not only to stretch the waterline, but also to make it easier to manufacture. As we know, this was again replaced by the Skraptus and then the Spica.
Thank you Thoralf for this very interesting explanation.
Best regards Peter
Hi Peter,
I am after some information regarding the Danish Touring class K1. In Australia we have a Touring class kayak that is 4.57m long, this is it enough volume for paddlers over 80 kg. I have read your rules above, but can you explain the min radius of 660mm, how is this measured??
Thanks
Craig
Hi Craig
The curvature rule is explained in a drawing made by Jørgen Samson(who defined the touring class). Bjørn Johansen has a copy at his webpage: http://www.kayakdesign.org/div/tur/rules.html
Look at the bottom of the page. Some translation help:
“Måling af TK1 og TK2″ = “Measuring a touring k1 and touring k2″.
“Måleramme (mål i mm) fælles for TK1 og TK2″ = “Measure device (units in mm) for both TK1 and TK2″
“Godkendt” = “Approved”
“Ikke godkendt” = “Not approved”
Best regards Peter
very nice handwriting – thanks a lot!
Just saw this forum….I have a 1967 Jørgen Samson Rob Roy kayak. I was told the sister boat to this is in the Mystic Seaport Museum in Conneticut, USA. Does anyone have any info on this particular kayak. I have contacted ‘Struer Kajak’ and they were no help at all…Thank You, Regards