@Celia I completely agree with you. It’s a professional deformation and besides, I like to overanalyze things!
@willowleaf yes, actually, in my area both Advanced Elements and Gumotex (Innova) kayaks are available - my Swing is a very nice inflatable which I got on a discount. My biggest complaint is that it’s a boat you sit in, not one you wear like hardshell kayaks. I’d love a similarly capable boat which is a bit more comfortable for longer rides and one which I could connect with a bit more.
Living near the Adriatic you the OP probably knows better than I do but I remember years ago vacationing with some friends in Croatia and we were on the island of Lopar on the inland side. Anyway we were on the beach and all of a sudden everyone seemed panicked and packing up their stuff; before we knew it some kind of “tornado” arrived and started blowing everything every which way. We barely made it to the resort a couple blocks inland as watched with some anxiety from the windows as the wind was so strong it sounded like they were going to shatter. The owners told us something to the order that “everyone calls the Adriatic a lake but it turns on you quick”. You bet it did, that was one of the worst storms I had ever seen in my life!
@CA139 said:
Living near the Adriatic you the OP probably knows better than I do but I remember years ago vacationing with some friends in Croatia and we were on the island of Lopar on the inland side. Anyway we were on the beach and all of a sudden everyone seemed panicked and packing up their stuff; before we knew it some kind of “tornado” arrived and started blowing everything every which way. We barely made it to the resort a couple blocks inland as watched with some anxiety from the windows as the wind was so strong it sounded like they were going to shatter. The owners told us something to the order that “everyone calls the Adriatic a lake but it turns on you quick”. You bet it did, that was one of the worst storms I had ever seen in my life!
It’s a specific type of a hurricane which forms over the sea during summer storms. Without getting too deep into the specifics of local weather systems here, most really bad storms come from the west (over the sea) and those are luckily easily predictable. More often, summer storms form inland, over the landmass, and usually disperse before reaching the coastline. Those aren’t as bad (usually just rain) and are tougher to predict a few days in advance.
In any case, ending up in a hurricane in any kind of a boat means you’re pretty much screwed - so the best thing to do is closely follow the forecasts and know the local climate. The Adriatic is no joke sometimes, even though it’s no ocean, and tourists seem to think it’s always flat calm with barely a breeze.
@CA139 said:
Living near the Adriatic you the OP probably knows better than I do but I remember years ago vacationing with some friends in Croatia and we were on the island of Lopar on the inland side. Anyway we were on the beach and all of a sudden everyone seemed panicked and packing up their stuff; before we knew it some kind of “tornado” arrived and started blowing everything every which way. We barely made it to the resort a couple blocks inland as watched with some anxiety from the windows as the wind was so strong it sounded like they were going to shatter. The owners told us something to the order that “everyone calls the Adriatic a lake but it turns on you quick”. You bet it did, that was one of the worst storms I had ever seen in my life!
It’s a specific type of a hurricane which forms over the sea during summer storms. Without getting too deep into the specifics of local weather systems here, most really bad storms come from the west (over the sea) and those are luckily easily predictable. More often, summer storms form inland, over the landmass, and usually disperse before reaching the coastline. Those aren’t as bad (usually just rain) and are tougher to predict a few days in advance.
In any case, ending up in a hurricane in any kind of a boat means you’re pretty much screwed - so the best thing to do is closely follow the forecasts and know the local climate. The Adriatic is no joke sometimes, even though it’s no ocean, and tourists seem to think it’s always flat calm with barely a breeze.
Yes, we also visited Abruzzi in Italy once as well in the northern part of this region to visit this family we know from San Benedetto del Tronto and the same thing happened there. The way it was explained to me is that it was a cyclone or “tornado”. You do get some warning with black clouds and in both cases I think if I was on the water paddling I would have had enough warning to paddle to shore and take shelter but the conditions deteriorate very quickly. I don’t know where you’re from but I know on the Italian coast you cannot swim or legally paddle more than 200 yards from shore. Swimming they don’t let you get away with going past that but my understanding is that if you are wearing a life jacket when paddling like on a Kayak the enforcement becomes more lax though I think it can be region, weather and time of year dependent. Regardless the rapid unpredictability of these weather patterns belies the normally calm and flat nature of the Adriatic that all these people call “a lake”. After those two experiences I would be scared to go any farther than a few hundred yards from shore and never go out with much cloud cover in the sky, especially black.
That type of local “hurricane” can happen on freshwater inland seas too – I’ve experienced them twice on the western shore of Lake Michigan. One while I was living in Grand Rapids in the late 90’s was classified as a “straight line tornado” that knocked out power for over a week in parts of the city and uprooted massive trees as far as 50 miles inland.
Another a bit farther north that came up out of nowhere on what had been a lovely summer afternoon in 1993 turned the skies black and the waters into a raging cauldron – my cousin’s husband and 13 year old son were out swimming and body surfing when it hit and were caught in the maelstrom. Despite being strong swimmers and local to that beach they both drowned that day.
Sincress, too bad you can’t test paddle a Pakboat Quest since I think it would tick all or most of your boxes. My 135 (with 23" beam) is just as snug as my low volume hardshell kayaks – I really do “wear it” and can do a full balance brace in it. Eventually I hope to be able to roll it. The larger Quest 150 has a 24" beam but that is still more in line with most touring hardshells. With the deck on the Quests cockpit coaming can take a standard spray skirt. I have a Snapdragon that fits it nicely.
The seats are great in the Quests with the adjustable fabric lumbar backband (which allows torso rotation for efficient paddling) and the inflatable butt cushion that is designed to elevate your thighs slightly. Seat position fore and aft can also be altered to get the right placement for your weight in the boat. The seat assembly clips to the frame longerons.
I’ll have to check our past correspondence, but I think the guy from the Folding Kayaks forums who owns the vacation cottage in Macedonia has a Quest amongst his fleet of folders that he and his family use there…
@CA139 Luckily the locals know the weather, and yes, there is enough warning to get back to shore even if you’re on a boat miles from the coast (sailing or fishing). There are pretty scary images and videos on youtube (even as recently as the past few days!) of those cyclones. I live on the Istrian peninsula (northwest Croatia) and they’re somewhat common on the south part of the peninsula.
@willowleaf I’m glad you found your perfect kayak, mine is still waiting out there. Will probably travel north to test a few boats and buy one, eventually.
@string said:
Sincress, is English your first language? If not, you have outstanding command of it.
Croatian is my first language. Thank you - it’s a side effect of being an engineer, as well as a peculiar eloquence in technical terms which often comes in handy.