A new test ride

Finally, my baidarka is sanded down and painted 5 times, and the hull is really smooth now. I took a trip to the nearby archipelago of Vestfold. With the hull really smooth, I could easily padddle for 8-9 km. pr. hour without much effort. I noticed how the baidarka took the little choppy waves nicely. The bow lifting itself over the waves in a smooth and noiseless way.

The sea was otherwise calm, but there was a light breeze at the end of the day. I had been concerned whether i had placed myself too far behind in the kayak. I can see from this picture that the kayak is well balanced. I found the kayak quite neutral in sidewind, with a minimal tendency to weathercock - what luck - exactly what I wanted.

Today I also got a prototype of my new home-designed paddling jacket. Anne Berg from Brønnøysund has kindly offered her help with putting my ideas into a pattern. She had made me a great paddling jacket using leftovers from winnie-the-pooh curtains (It looked great - I should have taken a photo!). The fit was almost perfect, and we're very near making it from some good quality waterproof material. More about this later on the "equipment" page.