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I had the new Skim Distance out for a short paddle today. The colours of the boat are beautiful, but the weather was a bit dark and cloudy. That’ll be better in Sicily and Sardinia 🙂
Each time I try the Distance, I’m surprised how manoeuvrable it is, in spite of its considerable length.
Looking good!
Me or the boat?
The Boat Of course!!!
Beautiful Boat René. and the colours are Great.
Congratulations.
Borras.
Hi René
Following the discussion on “sea&surf” I would like to comment here:
To my opinion the leecocking is a big disadvantage of this kayak because, once you are in conditions where it occurs, it can be very demanding to paddle the course you want.
But since you have got the Distance now, I think you should go on with it and paddle your circumnavigation because you can act pro-active now (in my testreport on http://www.zeekajak.info you can read under which conditions leecocking can occur):
– you know what the problem is, so you can prevent problems by not paddling a course where you expect the problems.
– you can load your kayak fitting a certain course: may be you can load more weight in the front-compartment, thus preventing leecocking. Having done so just be carefull not to paddle downwind with too much load in front
– On the other hand: you are doing a circumnavigation meaning the coast is always nearby giving probably escapes once you have a problem. And aware of the problem you could choose not to paddle on a certain day when there are no escapes to the coast possible and conditions worse.
I would wait for safe conditions when a big distance should be paddled at open sea from one island to the other.
Besides from this issue the distance is a kayak with good stability, performing well in big waves and with very much loadcapacity; characteristics which can be valuable on a trip like yours.
Just calculate your chances, keeping leecocking in your mind.
Have a good and safe trip.
René
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