I'm selling my Explorer HV and my wife is selling her Dirigo 140. After paddling the Explorer for a year now, I've
decided that I should have gotten a standard volume rather than the HV.
Here are some photos of the Explorer. Heath uses my old Tsunami now so we
no longer have a use for the Dirigo.
Here are some photos of the Dirigo.
If you are interested in either of these kayaks, email
thad@groundclutter.com.
UPDATE - Neither of these kayaks is still for sale.
May 18, 2008
There is a wealth of information in the
Paddling.net message boards. Much of it is
hidden in the archives and their search functionality is less than thorough. To better access the archived
information, I created my own
search engine. Take a look at the right hand
bar on this and every page of this blog for the search box. It is updated twice every hour and includes all posts
currently available. Enjoy!
May 15, 2008
To race or not? Is kayaking just fun, or is it a sport? Can it be both? This was my first kayak race and I was a
little nervous about how I would do. I've paddled 6+ miles many times before, but I've never really done any training
at all. I was worried that I'd have no endurance at all, but the issue was just that I was consistently slow. I
placed right in the middle of the pack. Not bad for a couch potato who's only been semi-seriously paddling about 14 months.
Is there such thing as a perfect racing kayak? Some say that a racing kayak must be long, skinny, and posses a rudder.
And it should come with a wing paddle. By those criteria, an NDK ExplorerHV is not a racing kayak. The wind was
blowing from the west so I had the wind abeam for almost all of the race. I never could find the right amount of skeg
for the conditions. Too much skeg and the current and wind blew me into the piers. To little, and the boat wakes and
wind sent me of in the other direction. Having a rudder would have been nice, but obviously not necessary.
The winner of the race, Matt Lewis, paddled a
Gulfstream.
Matt Carrier, the 4th place finisher also used a skeg boat.
Except for the surfski's, none of the usual racing kayaks entered this year. There were no QCC's or Epic's this year.
Despite a nasty blister popping around mile four, being significantly dehydrated, and generally out of shape, I had a
good time. I hope to at least pretend to train over the summer so I can be in better shape for the fall race.
May 10, 2008
A kayaker paddles towards the crowded beach. He weaves his way around swimming children, jet skis, and boats. He rides
a small wave up onto the sand between two of the many sunbathers. He undoes hit spray skirt and hops out of the kayak.
He sticks his paddle under the front bungees and opens the kayak's day hatch and pulls out a hacksaw. He then reaches
into the cockpit and rips out a piece of black foam. He lays the foam on sand and proceeds to use the hacksaw to trim
off about and inch from one end. He then puts the foam back and rips out another piece, trims and replaces it. He then
takes the saw and starts cutting small groove down the center of a piece of foam behind the seat. Satisfied that the
small groove will alleviate the pressure points on his spine, he places the hacksaw back in the drywell and pushes the
kayak out into the waves. He gets back into the kayak and paddles off.
I can only imagine how odd I must have looked to the people on the beach.
May 04, 2008
Watching Nigel Foster at the East Coast Kayak Festival was the highlight of the weekend. His ability to effortlessly
control a kayak and communicate how he does it is simply amazing. Rather than head off on a long paddle, I stayed close
to the dock and worked on putting in practice what I learned from Nigel.
My main focus was the bow rudder. I've always been one of those guys that has to just keep sweeping until the kayak is
pointed in the right direction. After a couple of hours of paddling between pier pilings, I now think I've got the hang
of the bow rudder. I still loose too much speed, but I can work on that.
This was also the first time I seriously edged my boat. I've done it before, but never under such controlled
circumstances. It turns out that I'm sliding around too much in the seat. I guess I'll need to add hip pads to go with
my new foam backrest.
April 27, 2008
I hate the iPhone. I really do. The UI is NOT the future. Apple seems to have a problem with me developing
software for myself without jumping through more hoops than lions at a circus. However, it may be exactly what I've been waiting
for.
Considering the rumors that the 3G iPhones will
have a built in GPS and Apple's patent
filings for the
workout
manager and TomTom-like navigation device, it seems like Apple really wants me to buy an iPhone. Ideally it would
have the following features:
- "Splash proof" - I don't expect a battery powered GPS to ever be really waterproof, but a little rain or splash
shouldn't ruin a $500 gadget. Apple, if you won't let me replace the battery, then you have no excuses.
- Audible reporting - I don't care how nice the screen is, when there's water and salt all over your sunglasses,
the sun is bearing down, and the screen isn't at just the right angle, the screen is unreadable. I want my GPS to
speak to me and let me know my average speed over the last 30/60/90/120 seconds. I want it to tell me when my
ground track drifts off the desired track by more than 5 degrees. I want it to tell me when how far I've paddled
every 1/4 mile.
- Integration with Google Maps/Earth - Native KML support. Realtime integration would be nice as well, but I'd want to
turn this off.
- SiRFstar III - For the GPS to be accurate for kayaking, it
needs to be very accurate.
April 23, 2008
I'm in Madison, WI on business and stopped by
Rutabaga. I ordered my spray skirt
and one of my paddles from them online, but this was my first trip to the store. Everyone there was very nice helpful.
If you are in the area, I highly recommend stopping by. The only disappointment was not seeing
Derrick.
April 23, 2008
