clear blue water and an old anchor

Crocs are good paddling shoes , they float too

built for speed

Into the blue

Perfect reflections

SUPs all look the same from afar

but up close you can see the differences

looking for the old anchor off the beach at Cesearea

you dont have to get out of your kayak to take a picture

heres the old anchor just lying on the ocean floor

Dawn patrol

Sunrise found a few of us out on the water in a variety of kayaks waiting for the annual Triathlon to begin with the swimmers

First off were the youngest

they made quite a splash as they raced into the water for their swim

We watched and helped as needed from the comfort of our kayaks

As the sea was nice and calm, just right for a swimming race no one got into any difficulty

It was quite a sight to see all those fish in the water

Meanwhile back at home my Matunuck is taking shape, just finished glassing the whole kayak this weekend

Building the Matunuck surf kayak

Izzy has just finished painting his Matunuck

This has been a very difficult project for me. It started a few years ago when I first tried to build the Matunuck and failed. The bonfire was spectacular.
Now I am on my way to success and have learned a few lessons along the way.
If possible its better to buy a kit with all the panels already cut out , this gives you a perfect starting point and excellent accuracy. Just transferring the  plans from paper to plywood introduces a small margin of error, then cutting them out introduces another small error so that in the end you loose some perfection. The process is pretty forgiving but lack of accuracy becomes difficulty in stitching later on and with this kayak joining the hull and deck is a major project in itself. The bending of the bow and the tension produced makes the work quite challenging and if you have a few inaccurate bits it becomes near impossible.
This is the major difficulty, once overcome the rest is pretty straight forward.
At present there are 5 of us all building this boat. Izzy has just about finished and has done a great job with the painting, Guy is also in the final stages and I have just began the fiberglass after joining the deck and hull. Itai has finished the assembly of the hull and deck and now is starting to join them together. Fiber reinforced packing tape is not available here and the local products just dont have the holding power needed so we resort to straps, ropes and I even used wire for stitching.Meir is still joining the cutouts.
One advantage of communal building is the fact that we can share and help each other as needed.
Soon we will all be out on the water.
Watch this space for more details.

Matunuck Debut

 Izzy brought his  matunuck surf kayak for a trial run this morning

As Izzy is  a bit bigger than most his kayak is 20% larger than  the original

It takes a while to get to know the new kayak and learning to surf is also a challenge

At least we had a bit of a wave for the trial

It looks like Izzy is going to get it pretty soon.
this has given me a push to get going on finishing my kayak too.Well done Izzy it looks like a great kayak.

the light at the end of the tunnel

Outside my room there is a poinciana tree which is now in full bloom  with a wonderful red flower. this makes a great view every morning when I open the window

Guy has been flying along to finish his Matunuck  surf kayak and is now putting on the finishing touches. Its looking pretty good

As for me, I am also managing to progress , albeit a bit slower. I have managed to join the deck and hull so far. Its not been easy as the bending and tensioning is very difficult, but once its done you have a fine shaped surf kayak just waiting to get out there in the waves.There is still a way to go but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know its not an oncoming train.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO

matunuck progress report

The deck as seen after closing all the seams and fiberglassing, now ready for joining to hull

The hull waiting to get joined to the deck

I am close to the stage that I failed at last time round.I had made a couple of mistakes then, for example I glassed the outside prematurely before joining the parts, this made them more rigid and not able to flex to join together, thus cracking under the pressure.This time I read the manual more carefully and am working a bit slower as well. Also Guy and Izzy are a few steps ahead and give me progress reports all he time, thus identifying problems and finding solutions making my build a bit easier.I plan to join the parts this weekend.

Meanwhile we continue kayaking as usual , the weather is still hot hot hot and the seawater temp is getting a bit cooler coming down from 31c into the high 20`s. 

We still give lessons to newcomers

Here`s Anat enjoying her surfski, this is an amazing kayak, perfect for surfing swells and  going downwind, but it does take a bit of practice to get good at it, and it brings out the competitiveness  in most of our kayakers.