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 ...

Picked up a paddle blank

As I live really close to Martin Nissen at greenlandpaddle.com, I decided to pay him a visit and purchase a paddle blank from him.
A bit more expensive than the spruce but a nice block of wood ready to take some beating.
Martin is a really nice chap with a passion for kayaking. We had a nice talk, I admired his paddles and he offered me a bunch of advice.
I feel the midsection is a bit too long but as I expect to do a take-apart I hope this will not be an issue.

Found a large crack and an even larger knot in my paddle materials

Yesterday I picked up some Sitka Spruce at a chap from my local qajaq club.
Today I noticed a very large knot in the middle of the piece going halfway through it and a large crack right next to it.
As it is in the middle of the piece I cannot work around it and my best option therefore will be to either do some lamination or just return it :(

Carving the Greenland Paddle by Matt Johnson

The video is available as a 70MB and a 211MB download, I only watched the 211MB.
It is based on the excellent guide by Chuck Holst and even if I thought his guide made everything reasonably clear, it was very beneficial to actually see it done.
I highly recommend this video to anyone doing there first GP based on the Holst guide.

Who said folding kayaks are expensive

Speaking of expensive I found an interesting new folder from TRAK Kayaks that offers adjustable shape !
The boat looks beautiful and the design are facinating but at a price of $5575 it is placed at the absolute top of the price range, add to that a company and a product that are totally unknown and unproven and I believe it will take a decent amount of favorable reviews and good marketing to sell that boat in any significant numbers.

Making a West Greenland Paddle by Chuck Holst

Making a West Greenland Paddle is short and precise but still gets all the way around including the benefits of a GP, various paddle styles, paddling technique, a bit of history and of cause how to actually build one.
The part describing the build process are very clear, the illustrations are good and it was reasonably easy even to a ten-thumbs-no-good-hobby-carpenter like me to understand.
The only part a bit vaque was the last part describing the Greenland paddling technique, a part I found had too little depth and detail to do any real difference.

Decided not to go for a CLC ferrule for my paddle

I received this reply to my technical request on the CLC carbon fiber ferrule:

- The ferrule are 14" long
- Inside diameter are 1-3/16"
- Outside diameter are 1-1/4"
- It is delivered without any instructions or adhesives
- Shipping fee for DK will be $25 which should be added to the cost of the ferrule

Once Danish taxes has been added the price tag will end up at around $80 which I find is too high, instead I might do the homebrewn yost ferrule or maybe something completely different.

Ordered a Feathercraft Wisper kayak

As the spring got closer I realized I was probably not going to get my planned Greenland Qajaq built. Considering the alternatives I found that my savings actually allowed me to realize an old dream of mine, purchasing a Feathercraft kayak.

What I wanted was a boat with excelent handling and performance, rollable but most importantly of all, lightweight and reasonably fast to assemble as well as disassemble.

Based on these criterias I decided the Feathercraft Wisper was the boat for me.

Considering the various options I decided to go for an all black kayak with the extra small bow hatch, an upgraded nylon/neoprene cover and a small cart for trolleying it through busy streets and train stations.
The most difficult dicission was if I should go for the lightweight or the normal skin, I ended up going for the normal as I found I would not want to sacrifice durabillity.

I decided to purchase it from an authorized dealer instead of a web shop as there really was not much to save and I would prefer to have the various benefits of a 'real' shop when spending this much money.

I went to Kano & Kajak Butikken and received brilliant service.
I ended up spending an hour there, discussing the various options, looking at the various details of the boat, trying the fit of the boat several times and as expected I ended up ordering one !
Now I just need to be patient for the 1-2 months it will take for the boat to arrive here in Denmark :/