I finished the basic striping of the hull and deck today, here you can see the double alongside my Petrel
The aft deck before cutting out the cockpit recess
And after cutting out the recess
Now I need a bit of help from kayak builders.
I want to lower the back of the cockpit in order to make layback rolling easier. This will necessitate lowering the back deck a bit,
any suggestions?
Heres a great surfing video from Saturday taken and produced by Yossie Wolfson one of our kayakers.
Yossie just bought a new panasonic lumix camera and the waves were cooperative for his video trial.
I get the same adrenaline rush watching as I did surfing, must have watched it 20 times already.
I have to keep the venue secret so as to avoid masses of surfers crowding out the spot, so after watching please destroy the copy.
Enjoy and hopefully we will be seeing a lot more from Yossie
Reefs are exposed in the low tide making rock hopping possible but if your timing is not right this is what happens
If you go on the seaward side of the reef there is a nice surprise
as the swell moves in and out its like being in a rock garden
but most paddlers dont know about it
if you are not careful you can end up swimming
In the latest edition of Ocean Paddler there are a couple of interesting articles including one by Jeff Allen describing the comfort zone and beyond. His point being that if you only stay in your comfort zone all the time then the trasnsition from comfort to panic can be very short, but if you continually challenge yourself then the transitional zone increases giving you more confidence and a wider range of paddling opportunities.
Our coast does not have the range that he has but there are ways to challenge oneself, for example rock hopping can be challenging and more so when the sea is less than calm. Also going out in rougher water can improve your skills.
This morning with the low tide uncovering the reef was perfect for the exercise, and as you can see in the photos its not as simple as you may think.
Go on, challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone, it will make you a better paddler.
So I didnt win anything in Joe`s competition, but I had ordered the camera mount about a week or so before and it arrived last Wednesday.
Just in time for the weekend paddling.
Some think the suction cup is not strong enough in rough water, and they may be right but thats what I have and am in the process of trying it out.
So far it hasnt come loose but there are other disadvantages.
If I place it where I can reach it on the front deck, it disturbes my paddling style, if its as far forward as possible I can`t get to it and use the controls, can`t clean the water off the lens and can`t adjust the camera angle
On the other hand its the only way I can think of to get photos and video of my surfing activities.
I would prefer it if there was another photographer out there with me but thats not happening just yet so this is the best I can do.
The last minute or so is in great surf, but the camera angle does not properly show the size of the waves .
Hope you enjoy it.
Things happen on the water, huge waves throw kayaks around and up and over but if its not captured on film its hard to describe .
And then getting the film right is also not that easy. I find that the deck mounted cameras , showing the paddler do not get the full view and loose something of the excitement of the moment.
Also the small waterperoof cameras have limited video capability, and you need to be in the worst position down surf in order to get the best footage.
Nevertheless we do the best we can and have a lot of fun in the process.
