scamlin

@scamlin Liz: If I remember, that's Gene Cosley's Nordkapp which had a kevlar deck and hull, so I'm guessing that while some fibres are snapped, most will have just flexed. From the photos, the cracks are well behind the bulkhead and easily accessible from the cockpit--so a repair like that is very doable. I should know. My story goes back to 1997 on Peaks Island. It was fading dusk at The Landing where our group was deep in contemplation with Mr. Bergh about the lessons of the week. It is possible more than one craft brew was involved. Suddenly, we noticed the ferry arriving from Portland. Knowing I had a long drive back to MA, Tom gave me a quick ride up to Luther Street to retrieve my car, with my 1990 vintage kevlar Arluk III on the roof rack...securely tied down bow and stern. While the Peaks Island ferry take cars, it doesn't take long to load so I knew I was tight on time. It's quick trip to the wharf, but when I arrived it looked like all the cars were onboard except mine. I was eager to make it so headed down the ramp with some urgency, perhaps too much. Floodlights on the dark ramp played havoc with depth perception, a bad mix of glare, shadows and tunnel vision. The bad news was that there was a cable across the bottom of the ramp about mid-bowline--which I discovered only after the bow of my boat dipped down to touch the hood. The good news was that this fortuitous omen prompted me to apply the brakes, which along with the cable prevented me from going over the edge to the rocks 15+ feet below the now-retracted ramp. When I got out to inspect my boat and then looked down, I realised how close to disaster I came. A cracked kayak would have been the least of my worries. If I remember correctly, the dock attendant offered an incisive assessment of my intelligence and some pointed advice . If I also remember, Tom was relatively measured and supportive, no doubt due to his deep commitment to experiential learning. He offered to repair the boat, so we offloaded it to his racks and went back to The Landing for a subdued debrief while waiting for the late ferry. A couple of weeks later, I went up to retrieve the Arluk III. The layup had cracked on the sides like yours, but the deck and bottom were fine. So the patches were relatively small in size and if I remember included only one layer of kevlar cloth on the inside. The idea was to maintain the fairly flexible layup. Good as gold and never gave me any problems--though it is true it has lived under the cottage in Ipswich for the past 20 years once Tom sold me the Explorer. So, Liz, unless there is a wider de-lamination either side of the cracks, there is a good chance it's a simple repair. I believe Valley used a baked epoxy layup, so your Nordkapp may be stiffer than the admittedly low-tech early Necky build (the keel is stiffened by a glassed-in 1/2" wooden dowel). So it is possible your Nordkapp didn't flex like mine and has more cracks or de-lamination. In in any case, it will be easier to fix than trying to match the colour of the gelcoat . The English Oak over our deck is just now leafing out, the fantails and silvereyes are making a racket, and I turned my herb garden under on Sunday, so maybe we'll get the kayaks in the water soon. After a brief return to lock down in August, COVID levels are stepping down and we're close to eliminating community transmission again here in New Zealand. So hoping summer will be pretty relaxed socially. We did miss our New England summer, friends and family this year. Despite the 2020ness of it all, it's home. Ngā Mihi . Mā Te Wā. Scott

Below is a link to a video just posted on our local KASK (Kiwi Association of Sea Kayakers) newsletter. It's actually a couple of Canadian guides (you can tell by lack of rudders) who are experimenting how to observe the 2 metre distance while performing assisted rescues. You can debate the validity of the techniques, but might be an interesting challenge to test.

Paul: Filters are over-rated. Cheers, Scott

Christopher: That was Richard Najarian. I think we did it at least two years in a row, maybe three. And Brian brought brought down half his shop tools from N.H. Cheers, Scott

Rob: The eastern shore of Rutherford Island down to Shipley Point makes for a nice Maine coast paddle and a bit of rock garden play especially if you include the islets and ledges down to Thrumcap Island. Whether it's protected or not depends on the wind. We paddled out of East Boothbay, across to the Gut at the top of Rutherford and down--retracing the route on the way back. There is a current at the Gut so check the tides. For a more protected route, the western shore of Rutherford includes Christmas Cove which is picturesque and much more protected. The wester shore itself can be nice but expect some current as it's the Damriscotta River and can be lively in a southerly against the tide. Ebb tides run a bit above 1 knot. Happy paddling, Scott

Hmmm. What boat is it? Cockpit esp. the knee braces desin (only one left) as well as hatch straps and plastic pad-eyes reminds of a Necky Arluk III, but they had a sharp peak in the deck. Valley Nordkapp had the skinny nose, but cockpit was not this large. Current Design Solstice did not taper this much to the bow, and the knee braces were longer. Any guesses? Scott

Cathy: Your summary is the normal explanation and one I've offered many times. I do, however, remember a British coach on Peaks Island many years ago suggesting it was more complicated: the shorter water length of a edged boat definitely makes it easier to turn--so the force of the sweep stroke on the outside of the turn would have a turning effect regardless of the direction of the edging. He had us try it both ways: a sweep stroke with edging on both sides. I remember the results were ambiguous: while it felt more awkward to edge towards the turn while sweeping on the other side, the boat still turned almost as well. On the other hand, many of us unconsciously and seamlessly make course corrections under way by edging in the conventional way to avoid corrective sweep strokes. So which is the bigger factor: edging or the short water line? I still edge on the outside, but concluded that it's more complicated than the conventional explanation--like much about kayaks moving through water. Cheers, Scott

Joseph: The tool that might meet your need is a plastic welding gun--small hot air gun with tips that you can feed plastic rod through to do the repair. For example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1500W-Hot-Air-Torch-Plastic-Welding-Gun-Welder-Pistol-Speed-Nozzle-Roller-/252813580652?hash=item3adcdd196c:g:vw0AAOSw4A5YyKOS Many others on the market. Good luck. Scott

Agree with Suz: stackers are the easiest--and likely cheapest. When needed I put three full size boats on edge on a 48" Yakima bar with one stacker offset one third of the way to one side. Two boats against the stacker, and the third one spoons with the center boat--may need some strategic bits of padding if you are fussy about the finish on your boat. No saddles or J-racks to get in the way of loading the center boat. Three boats are about the limit: most racks have a factory limit of 150 lbs--and that doesn't include the wind load Suz mentions which is likely to be a bit more than the auto manufacturer plans on you having up top. Cheers, Scott

Al: When we were in Shetland in 2004, our rental car had no racks so we improvised a solution that did not require buying new gear. We had brought regular gray foam saddles: we placed directly on top of the roof and ran a long strap over the boat and through the inside of the car side-to-side. No need to fix them to the roof: the closed doors kept the straps in place. After a learning event at speed, however, we found it necessary to take a turn around the deck line with the strap fore and aft to maintain the boat's directional stability e.g. keep it from skating askew in the wind. We also took a turn around the rails on the vehicle that had them to keep the strap in place, but the vehicle without rails didn't seem to have issues. Worked a charm for two boats per vehicle over the two weeks we were there--and we did a fair amount of driving, albeit not at high speeds given typical Shetland roads. There was one problem: the day that two of our party elected to put into a sandy beach in Bay of Scousburgh near Loch Spigge and remain there due to Force 5 winds. After crossing the tombolo at St. Ninian's Isle and paddling north to the put in, we retrieved them but didn't get quite all the sand off the hulls before hoisting the boats onto our inprovised racks. Beach sand under the foam cradles proved to be an effective abrasive so the roof had a shiny patch when we returned them to the rental agency. You could have the same issue with any solution such as the Malone inflatables. Cheers, Scott

Maybe NSPN should start a new interest group modeled on the Estonians.....would be a good year to give it a try. Scott

You could try contacting the Association to see if they would accommodate you out of season--not unreasonable given your low footprint. Can't hurt to ask.

July 4 weekend in 1993, I borrowed my sister's old Lincoln canoe, and decided to take my new girl friend camping on an island in Maine. Had done some canoeing in the big lakes in eastern Maine, but never on the ocean. I really had no plan: someone in Portland suggested launching at the Cousins Island bridge, and someone at the put in suggested camping at a nearby island in Casco Bay. So we launched and when i could no longer turn the boat into the wind, we landed on the nearest downwind island, pulled the boat and our gear up a 12' cliff and--true confessions--pirate camped for three days under a spreading oak tree with wild roses all around until the wind died down. That last day, July 4, we circumnavigated Cheabague on the way to the take out and as we rounded the eastern end, a young woman in a red kayak glided across the shallows and past us. Pure magic to my eyes and I said to myself, I gotta do that. Still in graduate school at that point, no money, so the dream was deferred but Beth gave me John Dowd's Sea Kayaking: A Manual for Long Distance Touring for Christmas that year, thinking it might be fun to take a half day trip someday. A dozen books, one obsession and about three years later in March 1997, I bought a copy of Tasmin's Atlantic Coastal Kayak, and following John Dowd's west coast advice found a used Necky Arluk III listed in CT. After raiding four or five ATM machines, I drove down with the cash to pick up my new boat. The next day, I just had to try it out in blue jeans on a local pond where the ice had recently gone out and somehow did not capsize. Beth and I took our first lesson from Ann Carroll who ran Far Horizons, a kayak outfitter and B&B on the Harraseeket River in South Freeport. She put me in Derek Hutchinson's personal boat, a Gulfstream in British Racing Green with his name painted in yellow just below the cockpit rim. Derek stored his US boats with the Carrolls who had trained with him. I think I capsized it about 200 yards off the dock and thus began my first lesson in rescues. After that, I was shopping for a paddle jacket at REI in Reading, and got talking to the salesperson (Bob ??? who used to guide or operate a kayak business on the north shore). When he heard of my eagerness to learn, said there was only one place to go: Peaks Island. A week or two later, June 1997, we were two out of four on Peaks Island for one of Tom Bergh's early season Fast Track classes. It was one of the years he did not have use of the big boathouse after another spat with the owner, so we did the class at his kitchen table and off of a trailer. Four day later, my life had pretty much changed. Took countless classes there over the years and eventually ended up buying a couple of NDK boats off him to round out the fleet. One of them was a new yellow Romany that I had on my roofrack as I waited to pick up Beth from work in Harvard Square in summer 1998. A friendly woman approached to ask the make of the boat as i stood on the sidewalk. After the conversation with Erica Bernstein, she told me about this email group on the North Shore and suggested i go paddling with them. I honestly don't remember the first paddle with them, unless it was the one out of Riverhead Beach. The sea was running a bit in outer Marblehead Harbour and I remember being light-headed and a bit terrorized by the 4 or 5 foot swell. Big enough that when it broke over Chris Perkin's head on the Marblehead side and he capsized, then I first witnessed a combat roll. I also remember Bob Burnett's first trip leader training in 1999. The on water session was scheduled for Pavilion Beach on Great Neck but the forecast for that April day was gusts to 40 kts, so Bob wisely relocated the class to the Ipswich River on Topsfield Road. Jed, John Leonard, and other early members were in the class. We paddled up against the spring current, out of the winds, and perhaps into the history of the club.

David: Great review for the OR Hydroseal-Drycomp bag, but I checked Amazon for the product, not available. Checked OR's website, not longer made. (They do have some fancy compression dry bags with permeable fabric, yada, yada.) Guess you could replicate the original with a non-dry compression sack and a separate, appropriate sized drybag. Scott

Lorrie: Was on an extended trip when this was posted so apologies for the late reply. Brian suggested putting a float onto each blade of a spare paddle and lashing it to the aft deck. Can work but takes time, rigging and may not be secure. And I'd think it would be easily knocked askew in any kind of chop or wind waves. The way I've seen it used is simple: put the float-equipped paddle in the hands of the assisted paddler. Even a groggy paddler can keep the paddle more or less level and do low-effort bracing with the floats. Quick to deploy, easy to recover from waves knocking floats round, and keeps the paddler involved. Of course, if the paddler is really out of it and can't hold the paddle, you're back to the lashed approach or as Brian says, rafting up. Best, Scott

Jason: Noticed the date on the NPR story was April 2011. And the timeline for going on the market 3 years. Just sayin' Scott

Yep, this incident was the talk of the morning tea break at my client in Hamilton this morning. Seems it also contributed to an international incident: http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-man-kayak-on-car-new-zealand-1837057-Dec2014/ Scott

Thanks Lisa for the link to the earlier thread: I missed that one from June. Agree the cowgirl self-rescue is similar. The main difference is that in both the cowboy/cowgirl variations, the paddler lands first on his stomach as in the more standard cowboy rescue; the cowgirl variation involves a spin to plant his butt directly in the seat rather than straddle. In the kiwi version, the paddler goes directly to the seat without flopping on the stomach first. Another difference is hand placement: the kiwi paddler has both hands on the sides of the cockpit, with the onside hand near the front of the cockpit. I guess the near hand placement more forward creates the room to go directly to the butt plant, skipping the flop on the stomach. In the cowgirl, both hands are behind the cockpit and the paddler lands on the rear deck. Scott

Still here in New Zealand and paddling a bit: Beth and I camped this past long Labour Weekend with friends and members from two local clubs. Hope to do a write up at some point, but after cleaning boats we had tea with Gerry Maire, one of the godfathers of NZ K1 racing and a long time boat designer. I paddled a prototype of his new boat last year at a kayak symposium in Whangarei and it's now in production : the Star 14. He had one on his roofrack. It's a 14' all purpose boat designed for lakes, downriver travel and the sea. Excels in rough water, excellent for surfing and is surprisingly fast (I had an easy time keeping up with 17'+ boats). Reminds one of the west coast cult boat, the Broze brothers' Mariner Coaster. The cockpit is set up sort of like a surf ski cockpit with smaller pod insert intended to increase safety with less water volume in the case of a capsize and self bailing via a venturi drain. On his site for the boat, I was intrigued by a video of a self-rescue re-entry technique I had not seen before. Not sure how much depends on the boat and how much is just technique. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=324392957735086&set=vb.276982192476163&type=2&theater On quick inspection, there appears to be several key moves: 1. Strong kick to get shoulders above and over the cockpit. 2. On-side (left) elbow gets inboard of the cockpit rim before much weight is on it, thus putting the downward force closer to the centerline. 3. Soon after, the off-side (right) elbow pops up above (and possibly outside) the other cockpit rim, weighting it before all of the body weight hits. 4. Good timing/sequencing of the above to get the weight over the center of the boat before much weight loads the near side cockpit rim. A couple of more points on the boat: 1. The cockpit is considerably longer than a standard sea kayak, part of Gerry's racing heritage. This makes it easier to swing the feet and legs in, but does not appear to be essential for the rescue. 2. The beam is pretty standard, about 22," so does not appear to be a major factor in the stability of the boat. 3. The chines are full and rounded, providing high primary stability and good secondary stability, but not out of the ordinary. Can't wait to experiment this move on a standard sea kayak. Scott

Doug: Thanks for the correction about landing on the beach vs. walking the interior. Will look forward to landing next time up that way. Some online reference still repeat the injunction to stay away altogether. If you have a photo of the sign on the beach, would be grateful if you posted it. Found this write up on the history of the island on the online version of A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast, which I found enlightening: http://www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/r6.html?http%3A//www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/6.24Roque.html However, other listings on this site still repeat the warning not to land on shore on Roque and other islands in the area: http://www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/r6.html?http%3A//www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/6.24Roque.html Here is the relevant information on the beach itself (on the same site): http://www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/r6.html?http%3A//www.mainecoastguide.com/r6/6.24Roque.html Signs posted on the beach explain the owners’ wishes, and all visiting yachtsmen should respect them. In particular, avoid the southern end of Great Beach, which is reserved for the family, and refrain from walking inland beyond the beach. Cheers, Scott

Katherine: I believe that's Rouque Island, with a Q. It's indeed east of Jonesport and has a spectacular sweeping sand beach in the large south-facing cove. However, it is privately owned by a family and has an on-going wildlife research program. However, boaters including kayaks not welcome to land, so only observed from the water. Scott

In the November 2002 issue of Atlantic Coastal Kayaker, Ken Fink wrote an article "Benefits of a Shorter Paddle." In it, he argued that most paddlers use a paddle that is too long. He pointed out that a paddle is essentially a lever, with the lower hand acting as the fulcrum. Assuming the hands are about the same distance apart regardless of paddle length, a shorter paddle changes the ratio of the length above and below the lower hand. Thus a shorter paddle gives you more mechanical advantage (leverage), resulting in a more powerful stroke. I'm working from memory, but believe he argued that more leverage led to better speed overall. I'm even thinking he argued for a more rapid stroke cycle as being more efficient, much like bike racers have a high cadence. Nigel Dennis makes more or less the same point in his article--shorter paddle = more powerful stroke, even if it has other tradeoffs. Of course, some would argue that the more we approach a full wing style, vertical stroke, with the power coming from torso rotation transferred to the blade via relatively fixed arm and hand position, the less the paddle shaft is acting as a lever--the key concept in Ken Fink's approach. Even in a wing stroke, there is some leverage effect, albeit less than a classic low angle stroke. As a newbie in 1997, a retailer handed me a 220 cm Werner Camano which then had a relatively long, narrow blade. I paddled it low angle style with the then standard wrist rotation. I replaced it a few years later with 215 cm Lendals with relatively large blades (original Kinetic, Mystic and Nordkapp) and migrated to a high-angle, wing-like stroke. While I still have some 215 cm shafts paddles, I paddle almost exclusively with 210s. I'm hardly a powerful paddler, but the commbination of short shaft and large blades gives me a lot of leverage = power, acceleration and minimal injury. Of course, every paddler has different needs and experiences. Over the years, I've seen many newer or smaller paddlers struggle to keep up with the pod and often observe they cannot move the blade through the water with conviction...because the paddle is too long. Ken Fink's experience is that most paddlers, regardless of size and height, will paddle faster with more ease, with a shorter paddle. If I remember correctly, he suggested that 210 cm was a good starting point for most paddlers. Cheers, Scott

I had the same issue of the knot at the skeg blade binding in the skeg box. The line is nylon, so I just heated it with a match and when it melted, just squashed it flush with the blade using a putty knife. That was several years ago and it's worked fine since. Cheers, Scott

If anyone is in the market for an island refuge with historic values, the feds are selling three area lighthouses. Can't beat the views.... http://realestatesales.gov/gsaauctions/aucpbsindx/ Scott

Like Paul, I use a 48" Yakima bar and one vertical Yakima stacker. The first two boats are Explorer/Explorer or Explorer/Romany on edges, so they fit nicely either side, both hull to the vertical bar with the upper flat section of the hull flat on the bar. Since the third boat is usually a plastic Valley Avocet and has a round hull, the hull doesn't nestle very well against the deck of the center boat. So I put it on edge deck to deck with the center boat, bow to stern so the cockpit peak of each boat fits into the cockpit space of the other. If you slightly offset the boats, the bow and stern tips cross past each other nicely. I sometimes slip bits of foam between the boats, but since the Avocet is plastic, I often don't bother. I put the vertical bar quite near the driver end of the horizontal bar: first to make it easier to throw the boat up and second so I can fit the third boat on if I need to. Since that locates the edge of the boat on the rack fitting, I cut down one of those gray foam cradles (like Lisa posted) to fit between the vertical bar and the end of the horizontal bar. The upward slant of the cut down cradle tips the boat towards the vertical bar, so it rests in place until I can get a strap on it. For the horizontal bar on the other side, I use the Yakima padded tube they sell for surf boards--which can catch the bottom edge of both the second and third boats. I don't bother to cushion the vertical bar since the NDK boats are laying flat: only damage is some black marks which wash off. Using this method, there is room to instead put the third boat hull or deck down beside the center boat-- which I have done when the third boat is glass--using a second Yakima tube or a foam cradle. On occasion, I've squeezed four boats on edge on the 48" bar--both with a second vertical bar and by simply lashing the fourth boat outside the third boat, tucked at the very end of bar on the passenger side. One thing to remember is that most factory rails are rated somewhere around 150 lbs max load. Which means three boats are usually pushing or exceeding that limit--and a fourth boat is definitely over the rated limit. The real risk is not weight bending the bars, but the wind loading on the boats at highway speed or in cross winds. Ask some of our club members who know from experience. Scott