[Paddlewise] Bunch of Stuff

Paddlewisers,





More on breaking fiberglass: Last weekend a friend told me that he damaged the
hull of his Falcon 18 again while playing in the surf on a sandy beach. By the
way, his nick name is now "Hull Cracker" and we call his kayak "Eggshell." The
kayak is a nice design, but the lay-up seems too light.





More on failing skegs: During the recent skeg reliability discussion on this
list, the Kajak Sport skeg system received some good comments. Well, after
some surf launches and landings today, a friend's Kajak Sport skeg jammed up
and the cable in the hatch area is bowing when the rod-mounted knob is pulled
back to try to deploy the skeg. Fortunately, this kayak is not skeg dependant.
By the way, I still think Kajak Sport has some of the best quality kayaks and
skegs on the market.





Dangerous high cockpit coamings: While playing in the surf today, a friend had
to punch a fast dumping four-footer, and despite hitting the wave in the
tucked forward position, he was knocked back flat on the back deck.
Afterwards, he complained about back pain from hitting the rear of the
coaming, which is rather high on his kayak.





Plastic, plastic, plastic: After being without a plastic kayak for a year now,
it is so nice to have one again. I really missed being able to bang into and
slide over rocks with impunity. Free at last, free at last! By the way, the
plastic kayak is a Current Designs Squamish, which I bought for banging around
on day paddles. It's a zippy mini sea kayak.





Cool combat roll: While I was playing in the surf today, I broached on a
dumping four-footer as it was breaking on me. Despite leaning and bracing
horizontally (all the way on my side) into the wave, I was high enough on the
dumper that it knocked me back over in the opposite direction. While tumbling
in the mess, I felt a strong pull on the right blade of my paddle, so to
prevent injury, I let go of the paddle with my right hand and hung on tight
with my left as the paddle swung in an arc. Then I set up with both hands on
the paddle and popped up.








Duane Strosaker


www.rollordrown.com


Southern California


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