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.