PatE Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Took the “new girl” on her maiden voyage yesterday, joined by Karen D. and Natalie out of Conomo Point in Essex. She is really pretty! White on white (Aquanaut), and the rail blue trim really jumps out! Tom fitted her with a foamed bulkhead, so no footpegs which I love. Karen and Nat were wonderful about indulging my babying her to avoid scrapes and scratches! Of course, Tom Bergh’s advice was to take her out and “hole” her right off and get it over with. I shudder at the thought! The conditions were rather windy, often with us being in a cross wind. She weathercocked to the point that I felt like I was struggling more than I should be to get her not to turn down-wind. I had the skeg fully deployed. I ordered the Pro-lite layup and she is very lightweight and sits pretty high on the water. At Nat’s suggestion, we stopped and I took what little gear I had from the stern bulkhead and put it in the bow along with several containers of water. This seemed to help and I think a little more weight would’ve been even better. We met up with some other NSPN’rs at the take-out and Bill recommended I try playing with how much skeg I use to find the sweet spot for the conditions. We had a great paddle; the day was perfect weather-wise. We stopped for lunch and walked along the beach marveling at how far we could see. I had remembered to pack myself a nice lunch, a delicious turkey sandwich…which I left sitting on the steps at my house! BUT, I found this great little place at Conomo Point that serves up ready-made lunches with service and a smile! Thanks Walter for sacrificing your roast beef sandwich for me! I owe ya one! So, all-in-all, it was a good paddle. I am eager to get her out again…and again, and again…. And get her to “behave” properly for me so I don’t have to re-name her to “Aqua-naughty”! Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccarlson Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Hi Pat, Yeah, if you were being turned downwind, then you did have too much skeg down. With weather cocking, the boat will turn up into the wind with no skeg deployed. As you gradually drop the skeg, you'll find a point at which the boat tracks straight. As you drop the skeg even further, the boat will lee cock or turn downwind. You'll develop a feel for it after a few miles in the cockpit! Basically, the skeg acts to prevent the stern from being blown downwind. Have fun with the aquanaughty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatM Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Nice paddling with you Pat. Sorry that between us we don't have enough height to get your boat car-topped with less bumping. Time to upgrade to higher step stools. Apparently, you decided to keep our knuckle stroke under wraps :-). Great Bay next week? I'll check the tides. Nat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatE Posted August 27, 2004 Author Share Posted August 27, 2004 Haha, surely we could make a joke somewhere out of this..."How many height-challenged women does it take to load a kayak?" Ehhh, I got nuthin'! I'll need to belly up to a bar with a few beers to come up with a snappy comeback, I guess... Thanks for the help. I was surely working with all thumbs yesterday. I lost my Mojo! Oh yeah, and the "knuckle stroke"; this could be a new cosmetic thing, how to make your hands baby-smooth...knuckle your boat 50' over nice soft sand bars. I swear my hands were smoother after that! Look out Nivea; Move over Oil of Olay... Great Bay sounds good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatE Posted August 27, 2004 Author Share Posted August 27, 2004 Carl, Yeah, just thinking about it makes sense, that the skeg fully down was holding the stern but the bow would continue to turn downwind. That's why it helped a bit adding the weight in the bow. Had I raised the skeg some I probably would've been set pretty well after that. In other words, "Doh"! Practice, practice, practice...I still love her, despite a less than perfect first journey! It'll only grow better over time! Thanks for the advice! Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanR Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 >Carl, Yeah, just thinking about it makes sense, that the >skeg fully down was holding the stern but the bow would >continue to turn downwind. That's why it helped a bit >adding the weight in the bow. Had I raised the skeg some I >probably would've been set pretty well after that. In other >words, "Doh"! Practice, practice, practice...I still love >her, despite a less than perfect first journey! It'll only >grow better over time! >Thanks for the advice! >Pat Keep at it, you will certainly enjoy the aquanaut. My wife and I have had ours since early may and we have no complaints, a great boat... Dan Aquanaut, Traffic Yellow over white Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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