The First Kayak Race

Today, I entered my first race, the Tom's River Canoe & Kayak Race, after launching the S&G Night Heron yesterday (I do need a name for it, don't I?). I had not registered ahead of time, because I was not certain I would finish the kayak early enough, but they were so nice to allow me to register onsite.

Kayaks above 18 feet qualify in the Unlimited class. Mine is 18 feet exactly (I ought to measure it again just to be safe) and they almost put me in the same class as the Surf Ski guys. That would have been a quick burial as these are definitely faster paddlers and boats. The starters ended up putting me into the novice class and there I had a chance.

However, aside from not having spent a minute training, paddling for an hour in a 6-mile race brought out some issues. Can you tell from the below video (I had my video crew with me)?



First thing I noticed was that the paddle is far too long. Also, almost everyone I was competing with was using a Wing paddle. That may be another thing I should consider.

During the race I noticed that if I pushed the boat, it was throwing a wake. Looking at the above video and yesterday's pictures, it appears as if the bow of the boat is too far out of the water. My seat is all the way back and I may simply have to move it forward to lower the bow and create a finer entry.

That incidentally may also take care of two other problems:

1. The tendency to turn (which is helped by the longer than necessary paddle). A longer waterline should make the boat less turnable.
2. The rope handle in the back dragging in the water. I probably should cut the rope a bit closer anyway.

Another thing to figure out is the seat height. Mine is about an inch off the floor. Just a padof microfoam really. It is comfortable (I didn't notice it during the hour-long race.) and the low height makes the boat feel more stable. However, a low seat may make the stroke less effective. In ICF kayaks seats seem to be 9"-10" off the floor. I have not seen this in person, but read about it. Given how unstable those kayaks are, there must be a really good reason for raising the seat this much.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering: I came in dead last in my first race. Let's see how I'm doing the rest of the summer.

Kayak Launch

Finally! The Kayak has been launched.

Some news are awaited so long that when they arrive we are almost embarrassed to make the announcement. Which is why this post is a short one.

In September 2007 I took a course from Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks the Wooden Boat School in beautiful Maine to build the Stitch & Glue Night Heron.

You walk out of the course with the hull assembled and one fill coat on the bottom of the boat. What's left sounds like little work: three fill coats on top and bottom, three coats of varnish on top and bottom, hatches, deck rigging, end pours, foot paddles, seat assembly, and finally grab loops.

Well, that little work added up to another 40 hours of work and took me all of a year and a half to get around completing. Partially because I ran into slight issues, such as water getting enclosed when pouring the end pours, and my own dust experience when varnishing (Why did I have to experience it myself, when I had already read about it? Well, now I know not to varnish dusty pieces in the middle of putting on the final coat. - Genius!).

Well, here it is, a new S&G Night Heron (at Shepherd Lake):


It handles quite well and is reasonable fast. Of course, my other kayak is what is now called a Klepper Aerius Classic I 450. That is a fast boat for it's length and width, but certainly can't keep up with an 18'x20" sea kayak:


I tested our three pairs of paddles and discovered that the best one for now (tomorrow's race) is the longer Werner pair, but it is really longer than needed.


Yuki and I did a bunch of test runs, which were well recorded by Yuki's mother, then packed up and went home.