Nigel and I got together on the weekend to repair the K2. There were a few little holes that wanted patching, the cockpit conning had some chunks missing from it, but most severe damage was where the cable for the rudder was slicing through the boat each time a turn was made. I got hold of some fibreglass from work and with assurances that fibreglassing was really easy was pretty confident that me and my mate could do this.
I have taken photos of the before, work in progress, and hopefully will get some nice finished shots of the craft when it is all sprayed up to perfection. Because I can’t upload them at the moment I am going to ask you to imagine the before and after.
Before Imagine a dusty old scout boat which has generally been looked after, a couple of faded stickers here and there, rusty rudder gear and a couple of holes that could turn ugly if not attended to asap.
After Now you need to imagine a boat that has had all the stickers and the rusty cables removed, has been sanded where there was to be a repair, then had fibreglass inexpertly applied everywhere. There are runs of resin, and a spiders web of rock solid glass especially around the tricky fiddly bit at the cockpit conning.
I think I am making it out to be worse than it is actually. The bit I am most proud of is where the rudder cables will exit the boat, we have bonded in some trick metal eyelets that resemble F1 exhaust ports, and although we have made a bit of a mess in some areas it will tidy up nicely when we have to flat it during the prep for spraying. All in all a success I think. I need to source about 14 metres of replacement cable, and a few other little gromits that I don’t know the name of (I am hoping to be able to show it to a bloke in a hardware shop who will smile and tell me he has hundreds) and then we are good to go.
Bank holiday Monday was a chance to run off a bit of a hangover that had appeared as a direct result of the successful glassfibreing. The sun was shining, I was feeling fit, so I set off for 7.4 miles around town. Everything was good I felt fit my feet were blister free, I was even able to thrown down a couple of sustained fast running to elevate my heart rate whenever I came to a bit of an incline. I don’t think I have felt so fit or happy with my running yet and it was a good feeling. Unfortunately I wore the same shirt I wore for the Ironbridge half, and I developed joggers nipple again which made life a bit uncomfortable but apart from that it was good.
I must have been daydreaming or something as I came to the final mile or so because I suddenly became aware that I was getting overtaken by another jogger. It’s not a problem, he was clearly a fit guy and my ego was already preparing the excuses for why he was able to pass me with such ease (joggers nipple, already covered 6 miles etc.) but the thing was my competitive streak then kicked in. His pace was manageable and I held the gap between us. I was actually pretty happy that I had enough left in the tank to pick up the pace again. Crossing the main roundabout before I get home he had a break in the traffic, I did not and I waited for maybe 30 seconds jogging on the spot while my unknowing pace setter stretched the gap. Underway again and I was running really hard to close the distance and for maybe half a mile I was this side of full blown sprint speed.
I never did catch up with him. By the time I arrived at the turning for my house he was still a few hundred metres away. The sprint finish did zap me though, and once I was off the main road I paused to get my breath back and to let the stars in front of my eyes go away. I walked the final stretch stopping the clock 67 minutes after setting off.
7.22 miles in 67 minutes is an average speed of 6.62 mph. Not bad, and has pegged the speed from my previous (shorter) run which was 6.63mph.
Showing posts with label The boat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The boat. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Monday, 9 March 2009
First paddle
The training for the DW took a massive and important leap forward this weekend. We not only collected the boat but also managed to take it out for a test drive.
Saturday we drove up to Warwick to collect the boat that I had won on ebay from the 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts. It was in pretty good condition having been stored inside for the duration of it’s time with them. Everything seemed in order, overstern rudder worked, and pretty much all of the dents and holes had been well repaired.
On Friday I called in a favour or two and had a 7ft long cradle made up to carry the boat home with, but loading the boat onto the roof proved a trial, with my straps being too short to fasten it down. I had to get creative and in the end my knot work learned in the scouts 10+ years ago was holding the boat to the roof. The drive home proved quite a trauma with gusting winds snatching the 21ft long boat like a sail. The boat made it home in one piece and all was well in the world.
Sunday morning I collected Nigel and we headed off to Ironbridge to test the boat out. It was the first time either of us had been in a 2 man boat, it was also Nigel’s First time in a slender racing boat and we both knew that a swim in the river was on the cards.
After some initial problems floating the boat we were underway. My role in the front was pace setter and driver, all Nigel had to do was keep his strokes in time with mine.
Steering was proving to be a steep learning curve for me. In my normal kayak I can turn on the spot with a couple of strong strokes on one side, or maybe a back stroke, or even by leaning over. The 21ft long racing boat does not respond to paddle input really and steering is achieved with a rudder the size of half a dinner plate. The rudder is controlled with a joystick type affair with my feet and it took some getting used to, essentially move it to the left, steer left. With a boat this long it took a few boat lengths before input with the rudder took effect so I wasn’t sure if it was working so I was waggling it to the left and to the right in increasingly severe angles. I am going to take full responsibility for the first dunking we had as I had the rudder hard over and the severe angle just caught us out.
After we had emptied the boat and re floated we set off again, with more cautious use of the rudder and both Nigel and I relaxing a bit the boat became less tippy and we were able to get some good speed.
Turning round was a worry for me as I couldn’t envisage how to do it, but with the rudder hard over and me applying a low brace, while Nigel paddled on one side we managed quite easily. Returning back to where we launched we paused for a moment to talk through what we had learned so far, and I boldly declared that we had mastered this staying afloat malarkey. Within a couple of strokes of setting off for a second charge upriver we were dumped unceremoniously into the water again. Second dunking we have no idea what happened, I can only assume our cockyness was our undoing.
Undeterred we emptied the boat and tried again. This time the lessons we had learned were all starting to make sense and we successfully made it back to the bank for a dry departure. It did take us too long to manoeuvre close to the bank and this is something we are going to have to practice a lot if we are going to successfully manage the portages.
I was pleased with the session in the boat, it wasn’t very long but a lot was learned. Nigel surprised me with how instinctively he was paddling, even when I made it hard for him to keep in time by dropping a second stroke on the same side (a naughty habit from my playboat I am going to have to drop). Having always relied on my own abilities in a boat I didn’t know how we would work as a team but I now know that I can trust Nigel 100%.
The boat is now off the road for a little while, there are some minor repairs to the fibreglass that need to be looked at and the rudder could do with a bit of a service but she should be re-launched better than ever just after the Easter holidays.
In the afternoon we went ice skating. This sport, on reflection, is not something I should be doing with a half marathon coming up and kayak training that must be pursued. The boots have near crippled my ankles, and a bad fall has damaged my left hand and wrist, where even changing gear in the car is now painful.
And then because there aren’t enough endurance events in my calendar this year, I have entered myself into the Great North Swim which is a 1 mile swim across Lake Windermere in September.
Saturday we drove up to Warwick to collect the boat that I had won on ebay from the 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts. It was in pretty good condition having been stored inside for the duration of it’s time with them. Everything seemed in order, overstern rudder worked, and pretty much all of the dents and holes had been well repaired.
On Friday I called in a favour or two and had a 7ft long cradle made up to carry the boat home with, but loading the boat onto the roof proved a trial, with my straps being too short to fasten it down. I had to get creative and in the end my knot work learned in the scouts 10+ years ago was holding the boat to the roof. The drive home proved quite a trauma with gusting winds snatching the 21ft long boat like a sail. The boat made it home in one piece and all was well in the world.
Sunday morning I collected Nigel and we headed off to Ironbridge to test the boat out. It was the first time either of us had been in a 2 man boat, it was also Nigel’s First time in a slender racing boat and we both knew that a swim in the river was on the cards.
After some initial problems floating the boat we were underway. My role in the front was pace setter and driver, all Nigel had to do was keep his strokes in time with mine.
Steering was proving to be a steep learning curve for me. In my normal kayak I can turn on the spot with a couple of strong strokes on one side, or maybe a back stroke, or even by leaning over. The 21ft long racing boat does not respond to paddle input really and steering is achieved with a rudder the size of half a dinner plate. The rudder is controlled with a joystick type affair with my feet and it took some getting used to, essentially move it to the left, steer left. With a boat this long it took a few boat lengths before input with the rudder took effect so I wasn’t sure if it was working so I was waggling it to the left and to the right in increasingly severe angles. I am going to take full responsibility for the first dunking we had as I had the rudder hard over and the severe angle just caught us out.
After we had emptied the boat and re floated we set off again, with more cautious use of the rudder and both Nigel and I relaxing a bit the boat became less tippy and we were able to get some good speed.
Turning round was a worry for me as I couldn’t envisage how to do it, but with the rudder hard over and me applying a low brace, while Nigel paddled on one side we managed quite easily. Returning back to where we launched we paused for a moment to talk through what we had learned so far, and I boldly declared that we had mastered this staying afloat malarkey. Within a couple of strokes of setting off for a second charge upriver we were dumped unceremoniously into the water again. Second dunking we have no idea what happened, I can only assume our cockyness was our undoing.
Undeterred we emptied the boat and tried again. This time the lessons we had learned were all starting to make sense and we successfully made it back to the bank for a dry departure. It did take us too long to manoeuvre close to the bank and this is something we are going to have to practice a lot if we are going to successfully manage the portages.
I was pleased with the session in the boat, it wasn’t very long but a lot was learned. Nigel surprised me with how instinctively he was paddling, even when I made it hard for him to keep in time by dropping a second stroke on the same side (a naughty habit from my playboat I am going to have to drop). Having always relied on my own abilities in a boat I didn’t know how we would work as a team but I now know that I can trust Nigel 100%.
The boat is now off the road for a little while, there are some minor repairs to the fibreglass that need to be looked at and the rudder could do with a bit of a service but she should be re-launched better than ever just after the Easter holidays.
In the afternoon we went ice skating. This sport, on reflection, is not something I should be doing with a half marathon coming up and kayak training that must be pursued. The boots have near crippled my ankles, and a bad fall has damaged my left hand and wrist, where even changing gear in the car is now painful.
And then because there aren’t enough endurance events in my calendar this year, I have entered myself into the Great North Swim which is a 1 mile swim across Lake Windermere in September.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
The K2.
Great news to report today. I have sourced through the power of eBay, a k2 racing kayak. I have to be honest I don’t know much about it, looking at it’s dimensions and the profile of it’s hull it will be a tippy craft and I know full well that I am going to be spending some time getting to know the flavour of the river Severn while training in it.The boat is also a little tatty looking at the moment, though it has been stored inside and looks in pretty good knick. Skilled application of some fibreglass around the cockpit and a lick of paint should make this boat look half decent.
I’m planning on collecting the boat on the weekend so will know more about it’s condition and amount of work that will be needed to be sea worthy then.
And then onto other news. One of those races I entered myself into this year, the Ironbridge half marathon, emailed me on the weekend to tell me that my race number was 176.
I had sort of forgotten about this race what with the Great North Run and all that eclipsing this 13 miler. A couple of things have dawned on me since receiving that email though. The main one being that it is a 13 mile race in 18 days, and so far I have not exactly done much in the way of marathon training. In fact, I have only been running twice and the combined mileage is a meagre 11 miles.
I remember a friend of mine training every day for months before he did a half marathon, and after all that training he still complained that it was a tough event.
Well there isn’t much I can do about it now, I will have to get what training in that I can and hope that it is enough.
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