A peacefull trip down "Mølleåen"

It was kind of windy today and I thought the combination of 12 m/s offshore wind, 6 degrees celcius water and paddling alone was a bad cocktail, especially since I havent done much paddling for the last 6 months.

I therefore decided to give my new paddle a spin on a small stream called Mølleåen.


This also gave me a good chance to give the small Feathercraft cart a prober test, as I had to do alot of train riding and walking with it.
I even got the chance to test its second use, which is as a boat trailer, as there are alot of "overbæringer" on this route.
I dont know the English term for this but it basically involves getting out of the kayak and carrying it past a road to the next part of the stream.

I was not impressed by the cart as it is a bit flimsy, it is not great for trolleying the bag, it is in the way if you have to carry the bag and the sligthest bump makes it fall off when when using it as boat trailer.

Still it made my life a whole lot easyer, it would have been real bad without it.


The new paddle are great, the only grief are that it is a much wetter ride and that I havent got the take-apart thing done, which makes it a hassle to bring with the kayak in trains and such.

Greenland paddle done

I finally got my paddle done.

I never really liked sanding, but it was a great satisfaction sanding it down to a grit 500, seeing the grains gain depth and feeling the increasing smoothness of the surface.

When I started reparing the small scratches obtained by the rubbing of the paddle against the workshop table, I knew it was time to stop.

Tomorrow I will take it for a spin, I then need to finish it of with a minor sanding and some oil.

Rolling rib for the Wisper

Feathercraft finally made a rolling rib for the wisper.

I must get my hands on one of those ...

Found another review of the FC Wisper

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1624

Second trip

I had a fun trip to the beach with the wisper today.

I went with a few fellow paddlers from my local greenland qajaq club and we gathered quite a bit of attention from spectators.
The ones that didnt watch the greenland qajaqs roll, watched me struggling putting my folding kayak together.

Alot of questions were asked, not only during the assembly process, but also afterwards as I was paddling, everybody would ask about weight, assembly time, price and so on.
Not only the paddlers I met on the water asked these questions, also people from the shore would shout there questions to me.

I also had the chance to try out a greenland paddle for the first time and I really enjoyed it, I have to get that paddle done.

Maiden voyage

I picked up my new kayak today and took it for its first ride.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I could hardly wait for the shop to open, so I could pick it up and get it on the water.

I did the initial assembly at home in my living room and it was neither easy, fast or elegant.
The battle went on for between 1.5-2 hours before I had the final result, a beautiful black kayak.

I then went to the beach and did the assembly once again, this time it only took 35 minutes plus 10 minutes for changing clothes and packing the kayak.

I paddled around for 1,5 hours and I can only say that I am very pleased with it.
There are minor details that could be improved by Feathercraft though, one of them are the footrest that has to be adjusted to the right position on each assembly.

All in all I enjoyed getting back on the water and are looking forward to the many hours I will be spending in this kayak.

The disassembly took almost as long as the assembly, 35 minutes including changing clothes.

Unfortunately I didnt bring the camera, so I did not get any pictures on the water. I did however get a picture of my dog, testing the sea sock.

FC Wisper reviews

I am compiling a list of links to reviews of the Feathercraft Wisper:

• http://foldingkayaks.org/wisperreview1.shtml
• http://www.foldingkayak.com/reviews.htm
• http://foldingkayaks.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=606#606
• http://feathercraft.com/resources/docs/wisper-review-2006-ak.pdf
• http://www.feathercraft.com/resources/docs/wisper-review-2006-km-de.pdf
• http://foldingkayaks.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6905#6905
  (Translation of the german review, thanks Willi)
• http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1624
  

Spring has really got up to speed here and these last days of waiting are almost too much, I go to the beach every day now, just to look at the sea and feel the water temperature.

Countdown has started, in 37 hours I will pick up my kayak :)

Paddle progress

I am slowly moving forward on the paddle, hopefully I will start doing the tapering of the blades this evening.

I still hope to have it done by the time I get my new kayak, next week.

New wisper review

A new review of folding kayaks, including a wisper, is now up on feathercraft.com.

Actually its from last summer, but it only appeared recently on the website.
Unfortunately the review are from a german magazine, which means some of us will just have to hope a friendly translator shows up.

My Feathercraft Wisper has arrived !

What a great moment, five minutes ago Kano & Kajak Butikken called to tell me that my Feathercraft Wisper has arrived !

More to come as I go pick it up in a few days ...