Winter paddling in 3 new kayaks

Winter is here with beautiful light and low temperatures. It has put a stop to my river swimming, but not our regular paddling.Lately I've been sticking around home, and has only gone paddling on the local waters. And there are 3 new kayaks to test. Let me introduce them:

The 10 kilo rolling kayak

Started just a few weeks ago as a challenge. This is one of my regular rolling kayaks sized for a medium/big size guy like myself. It is 515 cm. long and has a max beam of 49 cm. The challenge was to cut down the weight to below 10 kilo.

The shape is a normal south Greenland style kayak with a pretty square cross section and some extra rocker. It is incredibly easy to roll. Both simple and advanced rolling is not the great challenge.

And yes... the weight stayed low. It has got it's final coats of varnish now and still weighs only 9,3 kilo. Jannie easily carried it for a distance the other day for our test ride. It was fairly fast and made little or no bow wake. It naturally turns very easily. For touring I will definitely add a skeg. Today I had finally rut the last deck ropes on, and the scale said 9,5!!!

The racing baidarka
This kayak has been described on this blog earlier. Only that now I've had the chance to test it more.

It is 540 cm. long and 45 cm. wide. It weighs 14 kilo. I have added a racing seat and a sea sock for safety. My first impression was fast and unstable. Now that I'm getting more used to it, the stability seems better. But not a kayak to go fishing with!

My test rides have been short, like 3-4 km. I have managed average speed around 9 km/hour. Top speed of 14. But that doesn't really say much, since I'm badly out of shape, and have no training with racing kayaks at all. Jon David Jenssen came by this weekend and borrowed the kayak. Even though he's not an Olympic champion, he has far more skill in kayak racing than I have. He pushed it even faster, of course, and took it with him home for further testing.

I almost forget the most important thing: This kayak looks amazingly beautiful!

The surf and rock hopping kayak

Last but not least... My friend Anund keeps asking me to come paddling. Last time we did, I found out he meant rock hopping and surfing. And I'd love to go. Now I find the regular baidarkas to be excellent kayaks for demanding paddling like that. However, I keep thinking that they can be even better if they are a bit shorter. a bit wider and with a bit more rocker.

I finally had some extra time to build me one of these. It is 470 cm. long, max beam of 57 cm. and weighs 15 kilo. I have equipped it with a fixed sea sock, deck lines, and a hatch. It looks beautiful and preforms great. The cruising speed is very good, but it doesn't have much to offer in a race :). It feels very good. Super stable and turns very easily. I'm looking forward to take it out to the sea - maybe tomorrow!