"Tabasco" the Folbot Cooper, on Sydney Harbour at last
It’s embarrassing to admit this, but last week I forgot that my BD Nanook was still on the roof of my car as I drove into the garage. Imagine my anguished cry as I heard the smashing, tearing sounds as I drove my kayak into the garage-door. Fortunately, other than a few scratches, the kayak was ok. The car itself was also ok. My expensive roof-racks however, could only be described as “smashed”.
The benefit of having a Folbot folding kayak however is that roof-racks aren’t required. I’d already repaired the damage I did to “Tabasco” in Alaska, so packed her back into her backpack, placed her in the car, and off I went.
Now today was also about acquiring a Greenland paddle and testing it some more for both speed and ease of use. With the help of a GPS unit I took off and put the Folbot and the paddle through their paces, and was again suprised by the results.
Greenland paddle and skin-on-frame kayak. How Inuit!
With a very relaxed paddle-stroke, I was cruising at a little more than 6km/hr. Considering my composite BD Nanook is even faster, there is easily going to be enough cruising speed for my upcoming 111km paddle on the Hawkesbury. But more importantly was the continued fun I was having with the paddle. With one hand over the end of a blade, you can use it like an extended canoe paddle, and with the length of the paddle a few strokes like this almost fire the kayak out of the water! By using the full length of the paddle, sweeps and steering strokes offer enormous responsiveness. I could swap between paddling low-angle, high-angle and canoe-paddling whenever I felt like it without losing any cruising speed at all. In fact the more I used it, the more I fell in love with this thing.
Loving the greenland/folbot combo!
So now the final test will be the euro vs the Greenland in my BD Nanook, with the GPS to test for cruising speed. Somehow I think the fun of the Greenland is going to win it anyway. 😉
Youch to the garage incident!
Do you notice less stress on shoulders and such with the Greenland paddle?
Hi Sean, I’ll drop DVD with Greg Stammer’s comments about using a GP in to SHK before next weekend. It’s a Nigel Foster production and you’ll have to skip thru the DVD to find Greg’s segment. I hope you find it useful. Adrian
Hi James. Yep, far less stress on the shoulders. Today I trialled both the GP and the carbon-fibre Euro, whilst running the GPS to measure performance. The Euro was approx 0.5-1.0km/hr faster than the Greenland, but it was really tiring for the effort. The Greenland is a litte slower but so much easier to paddle and paddle and paddle! I am, without a doubt, in love with the GP. I never want to use a Euro again. 😛
Thanks Adrian, very much looking forward to it. I also blame you for my inclination to go Rock-Gardening now days, I keep getting drawn to cliffs and rockie outcrops, and it is ALL your fault! 😉
Ah, the famous Greenland/Folbot combo … so when are you coming to visit? ; )
Chris
When I win a million dollars on the Lotto Chris. 😛
Seriously, would LOVE to come visit you in Greenland….
Sean,
DVD with Greg Stammer Greenland Paddle instruction is waiting for you at SHK.
Old salty
Cheers Old Salty, much appreciated! 🙂