Launch
Launch 1 - Penzance
The forecast was F4-6 W to NW and my wife suggested I launch on a calmer day as she had heard that it was going to blow gale force; so I had a look at at what all the local weather stations were recording. They gave a different story, something like 8 - 11 mph; so off I went to Mounts Bay where I knew there would be some shelter should it blow after all
When I got to Penzance it was all quite calm. I like paddling here where my canoe club is based. On the West Quay where there being a really nice clubhouse, and there is not much of a carry even at low tide.
Despite the ocean cockpit getting in was easy, no wriggle necessary. My knees were about right on the thigh braces but I though the seat could go forward, particularly for a shorter person (I am just over 6ft).
Primary stability was not as good as expected but secondary was good: you can lean as much as you want with confidence, and steered well this way. Tracking was good and I was surprised how little the bow moved from side to side with the paddle strokes and seemed to cruise happily at 3.7 kn.
Outside the harbour it was blowing F2-3 from my right as I paddled due south to the Gear Pole an isolated rock about a statute mile out. No sign of weather cocking.
Once round the pole I paddled north easterly (towards Long Rock) to see how the boat performed with the wind and chop well behind on the left quarter and a long swell of about 1ft on the other. As expected it yawed quite a bit when the swells came through but this was surprisingly manageable through leaned steering so that I was able to keep the boat moving; the GPS was now recording 4 - 4.2kn.
Turning east toward St Micheal's Mount the swell, which was wrapping around from the Atlantic (13.5 ft at the Seven Stones light ship) had increased to about 2 ft on the bigger sets by the time I reached Marazion.
This has the potential to be a good surf boat, tracking well on the spilling waves, fast maneuverable and secure. With a good stern rudder broaching was not a problem. It would be harder to surf I am sure on steeper waves but I was impressed.
The boat was comfortable in the clapotis off St Michaels Mount - which was framed in a rainbow. I turned a little way past so that I would have a good 2 NM paddle straight into the chop and breeze which had by now freshened to F4. Into this I was doing about 3.2 kn, but as the wind freshened over the next 40-50 minutes to F5 gusting 6 my speed progressively dropped to 2 kn in the gusts.
Although this was a dry boat which did cut through the waves it was prone to pitching into the chop, particularly when it would steepen as a swell came through. The main problem was the lack of control once the bow started oscillating, and would tend to drift off to leeward. In controlling this I could feel the inside of my thumb catching something sharp on the right gunwale - which I could not locate, and this kept happening.
On the way back I turned right for a while to see how the boat would handle perpendicular to the the stronger wind - still no weather cocking or the bow blowing off to leeward. On reaching the harbour I thought I could hear an ice cream van and then realized it was my phone, but the touch screen would not work. I do not know whether this was due to my cold salty hands or the blood which was issuing from my thumb. When I got through after landing and drying everything off, it was my wife wondering where I was.
On the whole I felt positive about the performance of the boat, but it was clear that I needed to look at the problem of control into a chop - Next Post.
With regard to the change of the weather it turned out that the forecast was right. If you look at the chart of wind-speed at Lands End you can see that I launched in a lull at about 11am; the wind was still rising when I landed at about 1pm.
The forecast was F4-6 W to NW and my wife suggested I launch on a calmer day as she had heard that it was going to blow gale force; so I had a look at at what all the local weather stations were recording. They gave a different story, something like 8 - 11 mph; so off I went to Mounts Bay where I knew there would be some shelter should it blow after all
When I got to Penzance it was all quite calm. I like paddling here where my canoe club is based. On the West Quay where there being a really nice clubhouse, and there is not much of a carry even at low tide.
Primary stability was not as good as expected but secondary was good: you can lean as much as you want with confidence, and steered well this way. Tracking was good and I was surprised how little the bow moved from side to side with the paddle strokes and seemed to cruise happily at 3.7 kn.
Outside the harbour it was blowing F2-3 from my right as I paddled due south to the Gear Pole an isolated rock about a statute mile out. No sign of weather cocking.
Once round the pole I paddled north easterly (towards Long Rock) to see how the boat performed with the wind and chop well behind on the left quarter and a long swell of about 1ft on the other. As expected it yawed quite a bit when the swells came through but this was surprisingly manageable through leaned steering so that I was able to keep the boat moving; the GPS was now recording 4 - 4.2kn.
Turning east toward St Micheal's Mount the swell, which was wrapping around from the Atlantic (13.5 ft at the Seven Stones light ship) had increased to about 2 ft on the bigger sets by the time I reached Marazion.
This has the potential to be a good surf boat, tracking well on the spilling waves, fast maneuverable and secure. With a good stern rudder broaching was not a problem. It would be harder to surf I am sure on steeper waves but I was impressed.
The boat was comfortable in the clapotis off St Michaels Mount - which was framed in a rainbow. I turned a little way past so that I would have a good 2 NM paddle straight into the chop and breeze which had by now freshened to F4. Into this I was doing about 3.2 kn, but as the wind freshened over the next 40-50 minutes to F5 gusting 6 my speed progressively dropped to 2 kn in the gusts.
Although this was a dry boat which did cut through the waves it was prone to pitching into the chop, particularly when it would steepen as a swell came through. The main problem was the lack of control once the bow started oscillating, and would tend to drift off to leeward. In controlling this I could feel the inside of my thumb catching something sharp on the right gunwale - which I could not locate, and this kept happening.
On the way back I turned right for a while to see how the boat would handle perpendicular to the the stronger wind - still no weather cocking or the bow blowing off to leeward. On reaching the harbour I thought I could hear an ice cream van and then realized it was my phone, but the touch screen would not work. I do not know whether this was due to my cold salty hands or the blood which was issuing from my thumb. When I got through after landing and drying everything off, it was my wife wondering where I was.
On the whole I felt positive about the performance of the boat, but it was clear that I needed to look at the problem of control into a chop - Next Post.
With regard to the change of the weather it turned out that the forecast was right. If you look at the chart of wind-speed at Lands End you can see that I launched in a lull at about 11am; the wind was still rising when I landed at about 1pm.
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