go slalom

The cargo ships dock alongside the conveyor that takes the coal to the power plant.

This conveyor is about 2km long built on huge pylons in the sea making a great tunnel for us to play in.


Today, with the sea a bit rough, and a southerly wind, playing under the conveyor and among the pylons was a good adrenalin boost.


The pylons are studded with barnacles, not a good place to capsize and get rubbed against.


Oh yes, I agree with Silbs
,you need to push yourself in order to progress, to go beyond your limits and to get out of your comfort zone.
Next week I will be in Cornwall, will have a couple of days with Jeff Allen in completely different conditions. I'm sure it will be a challenge as the Atlantic is a bit different to the Med. Stay tuned for an update

avitals new kayak, almost

Avital is putting the finishing touches on her new kayak,


last week we joined the hull and deck and now there are some odd jobs left to do. the joint has to be finished with fiberglass tape over the outside seam,


maybe a last layer of epoxy and then a couple of coats of varnish, the seat and foot rests have to be installed and the deck lines need to go on.

I think that's about it,


OH yes, I almost forgot the Champagne , vital for launch day, scheduled for the beginning of August. Go Avital go.

Blondes have more fun

There was a surprise waiting for me this morning when I got to the club. I knew that the sea was a bit wild, it started yesterday and continued today, what fun. But then I met our guest kayaker, Reinhild, a young blond girl from Norway who is studing religion in Israel and took a day off to come and paddle with us.So I spent the next hour and a half playing in the waves with Hadas and Rags, as she is known by her friends. The sea was fantastic, large waves, roiling water coming from all directions and hardly anyone out there. As we were preparing to put out some passers by asked me if we were crazy, absolutely I replied to their laughing expressions. I guess to a non kayaker it looks like a crazy thing to do, going out in such a wild sea in such a fragile looking vessel.
As the photos show, we had a great time and Rags couldnt stop grinning and smiling all the time. Now I`ve been invited to go kayaking in Bergen, Norway. Who can refuse such an invite.

wow those waves are huge....are they?

Ok, the forecast is for 1.5m waves, so what does that mean to a kayaker, sitting almost at sea level. Just how big is a 1.5m wave coming right at you. They always look huge.
Here's something I found on a website that gives a pretty good understanding.
To quote Gordon Browns Rule, If you have a distant horizon waves are less than 1m. If your horizon is the crest of the wave in front of you then they are more than 1m.
Or put it like this, if you loose sight of just your partners boat when they are in the trough, the waves are 1 foot, or about 1/3m. If you loose sight of your partners shoulders and just their head is visible above the crest of the wave then they are 2 feet, or about 2/3m.
Here's a photo video of the waves today, note how the kayak and the kayaker both disappear in the waves, IE, the waves are over 1m, and in some cases they were 2m high

by the light of the moon

We went for a moonlight paddle last night, just 5 of us.


It`s a bit different at night, everything is black , and the sounds are all magnified . the white water breaking on the reef shimmers and you have to rely on your senses more than your sight.
The sea was calm with a slight swell and a light breeze, we went north towards Cesarea, past the amphitheatre where there was a concert going on, but couldnt hear anything properly as the theater faces away from the sea.



For all of us it was a first time out at night but for sure it wont be the last.




Photos are more difficult to get at night .

swept away

Look what I found pretending to be driftwood today, the ultimate aid to the sweep roll.And then look what we did with it.I guess you`d never find this piece of equipment on the deck of an Eskimo seal hunters kayak.



And then about calories again, today Regev showed up with this bit of equipment.



He told me that as well as a GPS, which can tell him exactly where he is, it can also tell him how fast he is paddling and what his energy consumption is among other things.



By the way he told me that the METS calculation is pretty accurate , he checked it against his gadget and was quite impressed.So if you want to get Hi Tek you can give him a call because he knows someone who can get if for you at a good price.

body weight times mets times time

So if you want to know how hard you work when kayaking, you multiply your body weight in kg by 5 for moderate leisurly paddling or up to 10 for racing, times the hours you spend paddling.
If you followed the links in the last post you could come across some interesting information. The multiple of 5 or 10 is based on a study of almost every activity humans do, work, sport or just existing, and its called METS, to do with metabolism.
The highest mets I found were 16.5 for cross country sking, uphill on hard snow, 15 for running up stairs, or speed skating, and 12 for canoe rowing competition. Easy paddling rates the same energy consumption as hunting, mowing the lawn, cleaning gutters or excavating the garage. Interestingly active vigourous sexual activity only rates 1.5.
There is no entry for kayak surfing but I would guess it rates about 9 or 10 when you have to paddle out through the surf, but take into account that you are not working all the time, its intense for a short time , then a wait for the right wave, then intense again and then back out . I know that after a session in the waves I always have a great appetite and a need to sleep.
Such was the surf today and yesterday.