Genius Blu

More time on the Blu. Knysna Racing Kayaks sent me an elliptical rudder to try. The rudder is virtually the same area as the original - but just has the elliptical shape.

On Sunday in Hout Bay we had my buddy Nick Pickard paddling with us in his Vault. We rode Nauticat's (big 88ton tourist catamaran) 4km from the harbour to Seal Island and back again, then went for a burn along the beach and back. The elliptical rudder improved handling on the steep wake wave. I did broach twice - but both times I was pushing the limits, the first time when I was trying not to paddle, but just coast on the wave; the second time when I was showing off, lifting the paddle in the air ala Oscar. Both times I was able to hook back onto the following wake wave - and ended up at the island three waves back from the boat.

When we got back to the harbour Nick and I had a dice on the calm water. I would normally expect Nick to pull away from me - but we accelerated all the way up to 15.2kph going flat out and we were still neck and neck when we stopped paddling.

Hout Bay - Genius Blu

(Looks pretty impressive cruising along at about 13.5kph!)

Dale and I paddled a very mellow Millers Run last night - the wind had died but there were still plenty of runs to be had.

The boat handles MUCH better with the elliptical rudder. If there's any increase in tippiness it's very marginal - and I'd recommend that they use the elliptical shape as standard.

I found that I was able to hold my line with less effort - not even a hint of broaching - and was also able to change direction more easily when chasing the next dip.

Have to say - I really like this boat. My criticisms of it include:

• Footplate a little flimsy
• Back of the bucket impacts the base of my spine
• Cutaway at the back of the bucket not big enough - can't lie back comfortably on the back deck, like you can with the Swordfish. It's sometimes useful to be able to do this when going down a steep wave to keep the nose up.

And I'd love to see cutaways on either side of the bucket at the catch ala Swordfish...

But all in all...

Two more downwind runs with the Genius Blu. First was on Wednesday (public holiday). 20km from Hout Bay to Camps Bay. The first 4km out to Seal Island was on Nauticat's wake. The wind picked up as we went along. The elliptical rudder seemed to make a big difference, much more positive control without being tippier.

It wasn't a particularly fast run because we stopped a couple of times.

Hout Bay to Camps Bay

Then yesterday I had the pleasure of a Millers Run in about 20-25kt of SE with small runs. The first third was small and messy, the second half was just sheer pleasure.

Of interest was the fact that I diced with a buddy who beat me by a minute last Millers Run before I had the elliptical rudder fitted... I battled with control and had one proper broach and a number of instances of missing runs because I couldn't position the boat (but for all that I was only a minute off my personal best).

This run I beat him by a minute so although the overall time was slower (conditions weren't as good), relatively speaking I improved by about two minutes...

Millers Run

Couple more Millers Runs on the boat tonight and tomorrow coming up... looking for a PB!

Then I'm going to have another crack at the Carbonology Zest. (Now have new rudders for it and will try to pad up the cockpit so I can sit comfortably in it.)

Thinking about selling my beloved Mako Elite... I just can't see myself spending enough time in it to get back to the stability that I had before i got into the intermediate boats that I've been paddling for the last two months. I love paddling in big water - and I don't see myself building confidence again in the boat. But what the heck, the intermediate boats are such fun - and I'm as fast if not faster anyway. (A PB tonight would certainly prove that.)

I'm so waiting for some innovative manufacturer to put a couple of their sponsored athletes into a medium stability boat.

So - no PB, but plenty of fun...

Yet another Millers run

Conditions were: Roman Rock (half way point) was reporting 28kt+; The sea was big and messy, making it difficult to put sequences together. You'd hare down a run and get swiped by chop coming sideways. The big waves were running fast, so if you weren't going fast (either by timing your transition from the previous wave, or by catching a smaller wind wave and accelerating onto the bigger swell as it came through) you'd end up wallowing on the back. The stability of these boats helps - you can get strong strokes in under almost all circumstances, enhancing your chances of making it onto the runs.

(Bloody good fun though. There is NOTHING like a honking downwind with the wind and sea raging all around you. My oath but I love this sport.)

As usual the first half was much slower than the section from Roman Rock to the finish.

In the conditions 48:10 wasn't bad for me, especially given that the first half took 26mins... Usually I have to get to the lighthouse by 23mins to get a good time.

So... this has been a good week, paddling Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri so far!