Kayak Sea Trial

I found some water to put the kayak into today. It was just a small puddle really - but you can almost see it from space with a very good zoom lens.

I was about midway between "Snapper Creek" and "Black Point Landfill". I launched from the Charles Deering Estate, which is part of Miami-Dade Department of Parks. It is a cool house, on a nice chunk of land - but it is a totally CRAPPY place to launch a boat. The "ramp" leads to a floating dock that has two 90 degree turns before you get to the water. It is not possible to launch from the dock without lifting the boat over your head. Kind of like Mr. Canoe Head - Canada's greatest aluminum head crime fighter. Mr. Canoehead became a crime fighter after he was struck by lightning while carrying a canoe. The bolt welded the canoe to his head forever. The Frantics were Canada's Monty Python

So I had to put the boat OVER a seawall, then drag it across a whole lot of washed up sea weed and into the shallow water. I was knee deep in muck launching. Next time I will launch from the causeway on Key Biscayne, the beaches there would make for an easy launch.

Anyway, the thing handles GREAT. Under oars it is a fairly stable sit on top kayak. The keel helps it track straight. If the wind blows you off track too much, the rudder can be set to compensate - but under oars the rudder is not really supposed to steer the boat. The rudder is only intended to keep the boat tracking in a straight line under oars.

The really cool part is the mirage drive. This thing totally kicks major ass. The fins flapping under the boat means you do not need the oars at all. And you can really get some speed with the mirage drive. Once you are in water deep enough to deploy the daggerboard the boat is very stable. Under the mirage drive, the boat is also super quiet. It just glides through the water. No splish-splash of the oars constantly going in and out of the water.

And the rudder really shines under the mirage drive. With my left hand I can control the heading of the boat, while my legs make the thing move. Unlike when under oars, the only way to control your heading (direction) when using the mirage drive is with the rudder.

The sail kit works fair. Under a light wind it is OK, but the boat is simply not wide enough to be a real sailboat. I almost flipped it a few times under sail power. Even with the daggerboard down, and the mirage drive fins extended, I still had to lean away from the sail to keep the boat upright. I need to build some outriggers if I want to use the sail kit more often.

There was also one more thing missing today, so I went back to Home Depot to buy some more PVC. I had to make a holder for something I got a while ago, but never found a use for.