Anholt
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.
I’m curious about your thoughts here about your Inuk! (You have maybe been trying the Epic 18x, with the new shape and the new rudder?) I can not say that I have mastered my Escape yet (changed from classic to wing now though! Fine feeling!), but the progress is making me think about “better” sea kayaks.
We have been taking about the Danish islands aswell, getting there from sweden then. Or even to Skagen. I really want to. But I do want to have my body without my usual little muscular problems for a longer while.
Peace!
Patric
Tjenar!
I’m still satisfied with the Inuk. In fact I still see it as the best touring sea kayak available.
However when I compare my setup with the one of Matthias Pankin and his modified Lettman Polar, I have a long way to go.
During the coming winter I’ll modify my Inuk and equipment(as much as I hate it, pockets in a PFD is useful at times) to become more bombproof and less racy. I’ll write an entry on some of my thoughts later.
I’ve only paddled the old Epic 18 for ten minutes some years ago on flat water, so I really can’t comment on it. It does look funny though!
I think the Danish Kattegat islands have a future as targets for Danish and Swedish westcoast paddlers(Swedish eastcoast paddlers have Gotska Sandön).
When I got to Anholt I was approached by an old German sailor, who told me that he and his son had paddled to Anholt 6 or 7 times in former years. The captain of the ferry had told him that they were the only ones.
In comparison Matthias estimated that around 200 paddlers had reached Helgoland!
Venlig hilsen Peter
Tjenare!
Ok, now I grab a bit of the set-up-direction for you and your Inuk. I guess that makes sence eventhough I don’t know enough of Lettman Polar or your detailed plan. (I’ll read more.)
A short one; “funny”?
Funny as in “hey that designer has lost his head” or as in “hey that boat is probably damn great for my kind of fun”?
The last one I guess&hope…
Fridens liljor,
Patric
Hi Patric
More like funny as in it’s a bit of a sci-fi design. It’s really a testimony to the fact that hydrodynamics isn’t simple(considering it’s a relative fast sea kayak).
It’s not completely unlike the Loki kayak: http://www.lokikayak.com
Venlig hilsen Peter
Peter, what modifications have you done to your Inuk? I remember that you changed seat, but what do you use now?
Seat: The Nelo seat from my FW2000. This makes my Inuk rather tippy but never to the point where I had problems – as long as I’m actively paddling. However both hands must pretty much be on the paddle all the time in waves. It breaks my heart to lower the seat. Still I think it’ll be necessary to make the Inuk more suited for the open sea.
Rudder attachment: Exchanged the rudder attachment and housing from Kirton’s original rather shitty solution: http://unold.dk/paddling/php/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=2
The result is so so.
Rudder control: Switched from a butterfly control to a T-bar control and added system to maintain the ‘stick’ in a fixed position without my feet having to be in the same position. Works good.
It’s no secret that behind my search for optimizing my sea kayak setup is the wish to improve my own lousy record for the ‘red white ribbon’(and who knows, perhaps have a go at Petri’s HBB record). However long ago I realized that the Inuk – racing setup or not is too much of a dead dog to use for such a trip.
Hi Peter,
Now that you seem to paddle 50 kms before breakfast, you should really consider growing a beard.
Perhaps you are aware of it, coincidentally to your comments on lowering the seat on the Inuk, there is a thread where John Willacy who owns a Nelo Inuk, wrote that Nelo was considering doing just so:
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27744
I would be happy to find they do.
Kudos for such an open crossing!
Hi Wenley
Different kayak activities demands different hair/beard styles. I need a full beard as a sea kayaker and a shaved skull as a racer…
Thanks for the pointer to the Inuk discussion. I should update my Inuk page with more current information.
Best regards Peter
Peter, I notice you paddle the NELO Inuk. I will be taking this boat on a 1500km expedition this summer in Newfoundland, Canada. Though I have yet to receive the boat from NELO, one of my sponsors for spraydecks is requesting the cockpit measurements. I cannot find these details online anywhere. Snapdragon Spraydecks does not have a listing for the boat, and my contact at NELO can only provide the interior measurements. Snapdragon requests the measurements from outside of the cockpit to the outside.
I was wondering if you knew these measurements so I could pass them on to Snapdragon. It was your blog and site and that helped me to discover the Inuk, after trading in my Rapier 18, I am very excited to receive my Inuk
Cheers, and thanks in advance
James Kelly
Hi James
I currently keep my Inuk stored at home so here are the numbers I measured 3 minutes ago.
Rim of cockpit length: 60cm
Rim of cockpit width: 49cm
Both numbers are outside measurements from lip to lip. While my Inuk is build by Kirton the cockpits are equal.
The spraydeck I use for my Inuk also fits the cockpit of the Valley Anas Acuta and the NF Vyneck.
Now the best of luck with your expedition. I still think the Inuk is the best point A to point B seakayak produced.
Best regards Peter
Hi sorry to interrupt, but Nelo claims that the Nelo has the following measurements. I have a contact at Nelo I could ask him if you can’t get ansvers yourself.
Athletes Kg Range: N/A
Boat Length: 5,5 m
Boat Kg Range: A1/22 – WWR/20 – E/16 Kg
Ideal For: Touring | Expedition | Racing
Stability Level: 3
Beam: 0,5 m
Cockpit: 0,7 x 0,4 m
Good trip
Christian Holmen
Hi
I use a Snapdragon Spraydeck size XXS for my Nelo Inuk.
Regards
Flemming Høeg
Hej Peter,
Really enjoyed reading your web pages. I am a 60 + paddler who bought a Nelo Inuk WWR this year. I love it even though more tippy than my old Baidarka. Took the saw after a week and deleted the old seat and have mounted the Zedtech rotating seat with the help of the Zedtech bottom plate. Managed to lower the rotating seat one cm with some fixing. This seat really improves my paddling, more comfortable and improves the leg work. I know this discussion is old but I want to share this good experience. The rotating seat from Magnus Sievenbrant has two cavities where the hard parts of your aft part is which really help.
Best regards
Magnus
Hej Magnus
Now that is very interesting. If you could link to or email a photo of your setup, I think many of us would be very interested.
As for the sea itself, I think it’s this one: http://www.paddelkraft.se/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=32
Looks like a lot of support for a wide area.
Best regards Peter
Hej Peter,
Yes, that is the seat I have. Will try to take a photo in a few days and email it./Magnus
How can I send pictures? Don´t I need your email address?/Magnus
Yes please mail to peter (at) unold.dk
Hi Peter
I have been asking around about these seats. It seems there is more to be gained in a stable boat than in a pure racing kayak. Here is a link showing a Viper 51 with some comments.http://www.fastkayak.com/neloviper51.html
Regards Philip
Hi all
The photos below are courtesy of Magnus Olin, showing the rotation(swirvel) seat installed in his Inuk. I wish Nelo(or Kirton) would make that baseplate standard for all their Inuks and get rid of the standard sea kayak ‘hanging seat’ system. The baseplate is much more flexible.
Must be the same seat as the one installed in the Viper 51 that Philip links to(interesting dealer btw!).
/Best regards Peter
New rotating seat for kayaks.
Hello! I am Serhiy Hamaliy, a coach of kayak flatwater sprint from Ukraine. I would like to present a new rotating seat for sprint kayaks, which is made by me. This rotating seat is much better than the analogues. A ball bearing that decreases the friction force manifold and shock absorber that damps the inertia that appears when turning are applied in this construction.
The new rotating seat has successfully undergone the practical tests. I started selling them last year and there are already the adult and junior winners of the Ukrainian Championships who used this seat. This seat is perfect for the trainings and competitions on K-1, K-2, K-4, and also for the use at the training equipment. It is considerably easier to do all the difficult elements of the kayak flatwater sprint technique with this seat, and it increases the efficiency of a sportsman’s action. Adaptation to this new seat takes 3-4 trainings.
The sizes of the seat are standard and fit all the types of the modern sprint kayaks: “Nelo”, “Plastex”, “Vajda” etc.
I make the seats of two types:
1. Fiberglass, steel ball bearing, weight 1.2 kg. — price 80(EUR), 120(USD);
with the soft coating — 88(EUR), 132(USD).
2. Fiberglass, stainless steel ball bearing and all metallic details, weight 1.1 kg – price 120(EUR), 180(USD); with the soft coating – 128(EUR), 192(USD).
Delivery charge: less than 15 days – 20(EUR), 30(USD),
All rights reserved. Patent UA 75143.
I guarantee the quality and the honesty.
e-mail: turns@ list.ru
please can you give me more details on your rotating seat, is it better than a fixed seat , would it be good for 200m racing and can you use it in a k2 or k4 if other the others are using fixed seats ?
I look forward to hearing from you
regards David
Most paddlers use the usual immovable seats, but rotating seats become more and more popular.
Nowadays the simple model of the rotating seat is popular. In such models plastic laying between the friction parts is used.
The drawbacks of this model are the intense frictional force when turning around and fast deterioration of the parts.
The difference of flatwater.info rotating seats construction from the analogues is that the ball bearing is used in it, which reduces the frictional force. There is also the shock absorber, which reduces the inertia in the top part when turning around. The shock absorber is the only part to be changed after deterioration. It is sometimes necessary to wipe and lubricate the ball bearing – and it will work forever.
This seat is perfect for trainings and competitions in K-1, K-2, K-4 at any distances. It can also be used in the ergo-meters. It simplifies the carrying out of different difficult technical elements of the kayak flat-water sprint and rises the paddler’s coefficient of efficiency. During the kayak flatwater sprint on the new rotating seat the kayak board wavering is decreased, which reduces the water resistance.
It takes 3-4 days to get used to this seat and the better is paddler’s technique in kayak flatwater sprint the faster he gets used.
When using the rotating seat the paddlers passes energy only by the boat rest, which requires essential power of legs.
There are two groups of sportsman, who use the new seat. The first group is those, who permanently use it when training and competing. The second group is those, who use the new rotating slide only during the trainings and on the ergo-meters, but during the competitions they use the usual stationary seats.
It is sensible to use the new seat in K-2 and K-4 only if all the paddlers in the team seat on these seats.
The up growth of contention in the modern kayak flatwater sprint makes it necessary to look for the new technical possibilities for improvement of the behavioural data. I suppose that at first young and talented kayakers will use this seat. But within the time it will become popular even among the veterans of this most wonderful sport!