July 10, 2004

It's Red

Mark suggested I contact Appomattox River Company and see if they had one in stock. He mentioned to me they were very friendly and helpful.

I emailed their contact address and Tom responded back that they did have one in stock, but not in the Richmond Store. He also said if I wanted to try it he would move it up from the Tidewater store to the Richmond store - over an hour away!

I arranged to go down to Richmond on Saturday, opting to take highway 522 instead of I-95. What a great choice that was! Driving through the country instead of gridlocked on the interstate, I highly recommend this route if you are coming from west of D.C.

The store was easy to find, and when I sat in the kayak I knew this was my boat. And the price was certainly right at about $300+ less than the local asking price! So I paid the very nice people there and they carried the boat out to my car. By 1:30 I was back in Manassas and after checking on where the family was I headed out to Mason Neck State Park.

As luck would have it, Zak and Mark were there for a lesson, but blew it off just to play. I played myself with pushing the kayak to my limits, trying to find the extremes before I would capsize. It will take me a bit to get as comfortable in it as I am with the Sirocco.

Mark showed me a butterfly roll, and on the second attempt I managed to roll up. But the hand roll is still a bit away. At almost a foot longer and 2 inches more narrow than the Sirocco, the kayak felt easy to accelerate and I was anxious to take it on a trip. After wearing myself out with bracing and edging I loaded up for home.

The next day, I headed out to Sandy Point State Park. I really need to find a different place to go. By 8:00 the small craft launch parking lot is full, and no one is launching small craft! The parking spots have filled with people picnicking on the beach. At the small craft launch are kids swimming in the water. Imagine trying to beach a catamaran with kids in the water. Over the last 4 weeks it has just gotten under my skin about kayakers having to park a good distance away...

I dropped off the boat and left to go park the car, driving back out to the main road and over to the next parking lot. I almost made it back to the kayak when I realized I forgot my hat and had to go back for it.

Once I had the kayak ready to go I picked the boat up and carried it down the beach a little so as not to smack the small kids in the no swimming zone. After launching I dipped down in the water to cool off and headed down toward Magothy Creek after paddling outside of the swim area buoys. As I paddled on a boat came by well inside the buoys, and I tried to get their attention but they didn't hear me yelling at them.

Magothy Creek is a destination I knew as I've paddled down there a lot the last few weeks. In the following seas the boat seemed to fly. But the fuller bow will take me a bit to get used to. The Sirocco plowed through waves while the Explorer tends to rise up over them, making it a bit more bouncy.

I deployed the skeg just to make sure it worked, but immediately raised it back up because it simply wasn't needed. First boat I've owned that hasn't needed one (so far). In no time I made it down to the creek, and after a short exploratory tour down one side of the creek I headed back toward Sandy Point.

The wind wasn't blowing, but the swells from the boat wake was running between 1.5 - 2 feet. Occasionally the bow would bang down the back side of the wave with a splash. For most of the trip back I paddled in close to shore to be in the clapotis.

Over the last few months I've been playing with paddling straight-legged. Legs out straight instead of bent up touching the thigh braces. It seems to transfer more power from my stroke into the kayak and practicing in rougher water has done wonders for my balance. As I tried this in the Explorer, I quickly felt at home and by the time I reached Sandy Point I felt up to the level I had achieved in the Sirocco.

Edging the boat caused it to easily turn when I needed to correct course, although at nearly a foot longer than the Sirocco it turned a bit more slowly.

Back at the park I rolled a few times to cool off, and practiced my new butterfly roll. While playing a power boat cut through inside the swimming area buoys. Sigh.

Woody