Dear Friends: I would be very interested in the comments to Michael Hoichman's post, particularly from Matt, Ralph D., and any longtime Khats users who paddle the open sea and do surf landings. The reason I say this is that I know Michael (finally, another Israeli on the list!!), he is a great paddler, rolls fantastically, and he has my respect (sorry Michael if this makes you blush...). Two summers ago on Lake Union Matt let me demo a Khats. At the time, I liked it a lot, but was not very skilled, and certainly could not roll. What do people have to say about the wave and rolling problems Michael encountered? The Khats has been my most coveted boat since I got my NDK Explorer, but Michael's assessment has got me to thinking... Josh At 12:52 14/10/01, Michael Hoichman wrote: >1. Slow (comparing to the greenlander-style boats). >2. Rolling: I needed to use quite aggressive high-brace at the end of the >roll. Comparing to NDK kayaks that can be rolled by slow sweep stroke, >sculling or even hands, it was disappointing. During the first roll the sea >sock accidentally pulled out of the kayak, the kayak was flooded (I didn't >take the air bags) and started sinking. Fortunately I was near the shore. >3. The sitting inside is very uncomfortable, the sea sock is probably the >only solution for the folding kayaks, but it is very inconvenient. >4. The surfing was bad: the kayak dangerously bended after taking a moderate >breaking wave (~1.5 meter): the bow was directed to the wave, I paddled back >until the wave braked on me. Yet, taking breaking waves aside was much >better. Anyway, I wouldn't risk to take more than 2 meters breaking wave in >this kayak. >5. The rudder accidentally opened and bended during surfing. >6. The stern hatch accidentally opened during surfing, and the water started >entering the kayak. >7. Any change in kayak load (even small amount of water) changed its >behavior. It could be difficult to predict its behavior in trips (where the >weight can be changed). >8. I was told that the kayak should be lifted by lifting both rear and front >sides simultaneously. I can hardly imagine how should I land with the kayak >during the trip (fully loaded). Should I ask 2 more people help me carrying >it to the beach? >9. Rescue: how exactly can you risqué a Khatsalano with help of another >kayak? You can't lift it, right? You have two choices: get the sea sock out >of the kayak and empty it, or use a pump. Remember that you really need a >risqué only in rough conditions where you can't exactly use the pump. Also >pulling a sea sock doesn't seem to be a good idea: the kayak will be flooded >with the first wave. > >Bottom line: it could be not bad for calm traveling (lakes, calm seas). >Especially because it is transportable. It is beautiful. I wouldn't wish to >myself to get stuck in it in rough, cold sea 5 kilometers from the beach. In >general I would definitely prefer paddling a simple ugly plastic Seayak (you >can rent it almost anywhere in the world), rather than a sophisticated >Khatsalano. ============================================================================== Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum, Research Fellow Tel: [972] 3-640-6448 Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and Fax: [972] 3-641-5802 African Studies Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978 Israel E-mail:teitelba_at_post.tau.ac.il www.dayan.org ============================================================================== *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Oct 14 2001 - 04:20:11 PDT
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