The learning curve will be something I’ll have to undertake because it’s far less stable on flat water then my Loon.
I already capsized, but found reentry in flat water is a breeze with this boat. WAY easier to turn over, when it in and also when outside it. But getting back in was REAL easy compared to the Loon. I could get over the stern behind the cockpit quite easily. Keeping it balanced as I get back in is like walking on an edge, but I’ll learn. It’s fun, even failing with this Kayak, and I will be in it at every opportunity. As much as my time off from my shop will allow. As soon as I get a skirt I want to learn to roll like an otter.
I went to the water for about 1 hour with it today. Very “rocky” side to side compared to what I am used to. I tipped it upside down and found I can reenter very easily.
Only about 5-8 MPH wind today, so the chop on the lake was very small and not something to “deal with”, like it can be when the swells drop and buck.
I feel like I am balancing myself when I am paddling, but it’s coming to me. I can’t seem to make it go forward without some lean one way of the other, but I also didn’t find the lean to make a lot of difference either. I was told a lean would make the boat veer off, and maybe it would if I went all the way across the lake, but going only 200 to 300 yards of so, it tracks in a very straight line for me. I fixed my eye on a clump of brush on the bank and when I go there my bow was no more than about 6" from it.
So with a sea Kayak is having a lean in it to be expected? Or do I just need to be more careful in how I sit in it?
If I shifted my rear over about 1" the kayak would then lean to the other side.
I did dump myself trying to lean and turn. I leaned and turned----over. But getting back in this boat is really easy. I LIKE that a lot.
Edging the kayak to turn is the opposite of leaning into the turn on a bike. You raise your knee on the side you are turning toward raising the hull, and shift your weight to the opposite hip. You really don’t want to lean with your upper body. That can put you into the water in an instant. To edge is to tilt the kayak with a knee and your body below the waist, but your upper body remains straight over the center of the kayak. Think swivel hips with a straight torso.
Now there are times when a lean and a brace is what you want to do like when in the surf the boat becomes sideways. Then you lean into the wave, and brace with the paddle in the wave.
You edge the kayak to turn more easily, especially in a kayak that has no rocker. However, it is not necessary. Just makes a wider turn if you don’t edge the boat.
It depends on your sense of balance and the boat, but a remount from the rear can be much more difficult in rough conditions. It’s best to practice other self rescues as well.
There are articles in this site about edging a kayak under the LEARN top line menu. Here is a link to one and probably are more. How to Turn a Kayak | Paddling.com
That Chatham 16 - as I said for a smaller paddler. Doesn’t go straight as easily as the 17 but handles OK once someone learns better now to paddle. You have not mentioned your wife in a bit - but the Chatham 16 would likely be a good fit for her. She is not going to have much fun trying to keep up with the Chatham 17 in a Loon.
Anna is getting more into sailing a very small sail boat and that’s what she’s saving up for. I have a much more dedicated interest in paddling Kayaks. But when we go out together we both paddle our Old Town Loon 106s so we have identical boats. She will not have trouble keeping up with me. I have a bit of trouble keeping up with her. She’s tall at 5’ 11" and had long arms and legs and she uses a longer paddle too. I am heavy enough that in white caps I needed a spray skirt to keep from collect more water in my loon that I want to carry. She didn’t. The last trip we bucked stiff wind in, we got to an island and I pumped out about 2 gallons of water from my loon and she had about 1/2 a coffee cup in hers.
She’s tall and thin and weighs 160 I am short and thick and I weight 190. Apparently my extra 30 pounds is enough to make my bow dig through the waves on occasion, and she skips over them. In longer legs of our trips (between 1.5 and 4 miles) I am the one behind her. When she has a sail boat I will REALLY be behind her, at least if the wind is not forcing her to cover 4X to 6X times more water to get to the same place. Tacking into wind can make you do that at times.
If Anna wants to get a faster kayak I will suggest the Chatham 16. I bet she’s love it. But I know that will be behind her 1st sail boat and that boat is going to take her and I together about 1 year to buy. We are “working country folks” and don’t earl a ton of money. So we are careful about what we buy, and we want to buy things we’ll own forever.
For now if she were to take a Loon out, and I were to take the Chatham out with her, I’d bet she’s still beat me to the other side of the lake because I will be spending some time doing reentry’s until I get the hang of the new boat. It’s WAY above my skill level for now, and that’s exactly what I wanted to buy. I can build the skills and grown into it instead growing out of it in a year or so. (That was actually a joke, because Anna doesn’t actually leave me. She stays with me until I am back in and paddling… but she could if she wanted to. )
So no worries about me out-running Anna any time soon.
I like being with her, so as I grow more skilled in the Chatham 17 I will gladly leave it home and paddle the Loon when Anna’s with me. If I ever get the Eddyline Fathom I may see if Anna want to take over the Chatham. Of for that matter if she took to the Eddyline I may just let her and keep the Necky.
What eve we buy we will try to make them lifetime investments.
Celia that vid is really good. I saw it about 2 months before we got the 2 Old Town Kayaks and I remembered a lot of what he said and Anna and I did some drills using his tips on out first time out.
I like that guy and wish I could meet him and shake his hand.
Thanks for posting. It was good to watch it all again.
