My new boat and a “Carpe Diem” moment. After the national marathon champs in Ballarat earlier this year I looked around at the guys who had beaten me and apart from the obvious work they had done on their fitness it was apparent they were all paddling marathon weight carbon boats (8kg). Upon scrutineering my boat it came in at 13kg. So, determined to go better at the next championships I started looking around for a new boat to take to Canberra. I did a lot of research on what boats were available in Australia and probably more importantly Perth. Even though there are some nice boats available in the Eastern States they didn’t have any boats in WA that I could paddle to get an idea on whether they would be suitable for my marathon plans. So I came back to what I knew. I really liked my current boat. While it couldn’t match sprint boats in a drag race it was stable and well-mannered in the chop and had plenty of space for my wide hips. So I approached the Australian Importer Kevin White from Canoes online and asked if Knysna could make a Carbon Marathon spec boat? So after Kevin went to Knysna he established while Knysna do make these boats they do so in limited numbers as their bread and butter is boats built for river racing and they also make ocean skis. They agreed to build one but wouldn’t be tied to a particular weight. There was also some concern about how to get the boat to Australia undamaged. I was given the choice of white gel coat, or white gel coat, this was the only way they would have a go at making the boat marathon weight. So I ordered the first Carbon Marathon weight boat to be brought into Australia understanding that it would wall within a weight range of 8-9kg.. WA paddlers buy a lot of boats from South Africa, our location across the Indian Ocean from them makes getting them here pretty straight forward. The production costs in South Africa are quite low so skis and kayaks built there have a price advantage over almost all other manufacturers. Initially I ordered the boat with peddle steering as that was what I had used in the past, but upon reflection I decided to give tiller bar a crack, thinking that if I ever decide to give International competition a go, I would be most likely hiring a boat with tiller steering. The other major difference between my river boat and the new boat would be that it had an under stern rudder as opposed to a trailing rudder. These turned out to be inspired decisions as I later found out that tiller bar steering and under stern rudder were lighter options. So having ordered the boat in early June I started what was to be a very patient wait. I continued to train in my ski and eventually picked up an old Vajda Supersonic for $500 as a training boat, which has turned out to be a cracker boat. While it is a 12kg fibreglass boat it goes really well and because I picked it up cheap I haven’t been afraid to use it in some recent adventure racing where the boat is likely to cop come knocks. It has a trailing rudder too which makes it handy for river races where submerged logs and rocks are likely hazards. Every few weeks Kevin would call me with updates like The boat has been built and is now curing The boat has now been gel coated The boat has been assembled, here are a few pics Now the pics he sent me on my phone were a bit blurry but the boat looked good and I was satisfied it was getting there. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the pics on my computer screen that I saw the boat was on a set of scales, what did the boat weigh? 7.9kg yeehaaa! I was stoked with that. Having gotten all excited at the prospect of getting this boat then the real wait started. Getting the boat to WA would take a lot longer to ensure it was brought here in a manner that ensured it wasn’t damaged in transit. So 3 months after it was built and 4 months after a ordered it, it arrived last Saturday, and I got the call from Kevin, you can come and pick it up. I was in my car like a shot and up to his place in no time. Kevin was pretty proud of what he had got in for me and I was pretty chuffed when I lifted it for the first time. I’ve lifted other peoples marathon weight boats before and had that “No Way” or “Wow” reaction, but when you pick up the boat and know that it’s yours, it’s a feeling of, “this is going to be so cool to paddle”. Kevin asked whether I was going to race it tomorrow? As it was our season opening Marathon series race on Sunday. I had already decided well prior to then that as I had to get used to the tiller bar steering, the under stern rudder and what I had heard may be a more “corky” feel to the boat I would train in it for a couple of months and aim to race it at the State 10km champs in December. I headed home to a social function I had to attend, but the whole time there I was thinking about the new boat and when I could get onto the water. So after appeasing the wife that I had done my social duties for the day I headed off to our Sprint regatta centre (Champion Lakes) where I knew I would see a true indication of what the boat could do with no currents about. The boat setup was pretty straight forward; the seat adjustment only took about 1 minute each time I had to incrementally adjust it forward or back. So after about 20 minutes of paddle, adjust, paddle adjust, I set off down the course with my HR strap and Garmin giving me a base line to work off. There was a gentle 10 knot breeze blowing down the course and as I headed off with it I looked down at my speed and thought, hmmm, maybe there is some current here as that speed can’t be right, its going quite quick for the effort. So after a few hundred metres I turned around and to my amazement I was seeing the same numbers going the other way. I was getting excited but kept telling myself, it’s just adrenaline, and on race day it won’t be that much quicker than your old boat was. The other big thing I had to contend with was the tiller bar steering. Now in the past I had paddled a demo boat with tiller bar steering but with a trailing rudder. I found myself wandering from one side of the river to the other, I really couldn’t see myself being able to control the boat in a race, but today, I found the tiller bar only needed to be nudged to correct my course and the steering was a lot more direct, I guess the difference between under stern and trailing. I practised some zig zagging in and out of the lane buoys and found I was able to continue my pressure on the footplate and rotation while steering, something that I had found a draw back with peddles. With peddles I would lose leg drive while I was concentrating on using the peddles. I was excited by the prospect of now losing that power now. Towards the end of my setup paddle I was starting to think I may just be able to race this boat tomorrow. I knew that the steering would still be a learning journey but I was blown away by the speed the boat had and figured I could negate any losses the steering may present with boat speed. The other mitigating factor was that the race is only 11km, our race season builds distances over the season towards full distance at our State champs and longer races before the Avon Descent. As the weather was forecast to be stormy on the Sunday I decided to wait until the morning to see what the weather was doing before deciding. On getting up on Sunday a cold front had just moved through and it was actually quite still. I decided to take the new boat, “Carpe Diem” was the call of the moment. Despite the poor weather we had close to 100 starters and to make things really interesting in Division One, Ramon Andersson (WAIS Sprint Coach) and a handful of his colleagues/athletes including internationals Todd Brewer (K1 200m) and Steve Bird (K2 200m) made an appearance. Knowing how hectic the start would be, I found a position out wide of the 16 paddlers on the grid, not wishing to let my lack of steering skill ruin anyone else’s start. I got off to a clean start and started to move across to the 8 or so paddlers who had formed a V in the middle of the river. A couple of times I caught myself pressing with my toes on the footplate when trying to adjust my line only to realise too late that I didn’t have peddles causing me to fall in behind a boat off the wash or go out wide. The first 1 km was a struggle as I found myself in dirty water, but then decided to head out wide to clean water and find my rhythm. This worked well and after a couple of km, the field had sorted itself into several small groups and I found myself with my nationals K2 partner Mark Lawson and another young marathon paddler. The race from there was a case of sharing leads and avoiding the side and back of the boats I was on the wash of. Passing powerboat wash gave me more grief than normal with the tiller bar and a few times I dropped off the wash when forgetting to use the tiller bar to correct my line, preferring to pull off the wash and avoid taking the lead paddler paddle out then working my way back up. I was much more comfortable when taking the lead and not having to worry about steering so much but that doesn’t make for a very smart race to lead the whole way My Garmin watch had managed to rotate on the deck so I couldnt see the watch face most of the race so I had no idea what speed we were doing, but I felt good and knew that the guys I was with were very fit so I must have been doing okay. In the sprint to the line I ended up close to the bank and as the wash stood up in the shallower water I found the boat being steered closer to the bank and didn’t adjust in time letting the other boats get away from me. But I wasn’t upset at that mistake, I was pretty chuffed to have had a competitive race in the new boat and not caused any serious issues for others along the way. It wasn’t until I had pulled in and looked at my watch that I got really excited. We had managed to cover the course in an average speed of 13km/hr. A huge PB for me, have previously only managed 12.8, so I was grinning from ear to ear for the rest of the day. The investment in this boat has definitely been worth it and while I still have a lot to learn about steering it, I have plenty of time up my sleeve to master it before next year. Cheers, Brett.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:19:12 +0000
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