First Impressions of Avocet

I have now tried my Avocet twice. First it was a rolling session. Then the next day was a modest outing in slightly windy conditions.

Rolling Session

I had a decent roll several years ago - just a roll on my strong side, unwilling to expose my bad shoulder on my other side. I lost this roll and have been trying to get it back over the last few years. The Avocet has very good thigh/knee pads. so I was somewhat hopeful. I have a rolling partner (who has an excellent roll). This spares me the wet exits from failed rolls. So, how did it go?

My first rolling session went poorly i.e. no success. I am keeping my head down longer, but my torso rotation is tragic. Matt was quite successful, rolls on both sides and a reenter and roll. The only small failure was a failed off-side roll, but he recovered with a good side roll, not requiring a wet exit.

An Outing - from 3rd Avenue Pier to Rocky Point and Back

I won't get much information from this outing. Perhaps I'll find how significant the weathercocking is. Recall that my CD Squamish does not weathercock in the weather conditions I paddle. And, is the speed slightly better than the Squamish? The Avocet should be slower than the Valley Etain (gone, traded for the Avocet). Those speed differences may not even be noticeable. So, how did it go?

The day was windier than expected, but nothing above ~7 knots. The boat weathercocks slightly, easily tuned out with the skeg. The back band isn't quite right for my ailing back and calls for some adjustment. I shortened my outing because of this discomfort ... before it became painful. I was not yet able to get a good reading on the kayak speed.

I will revisit these topics as time goes on.

Other

I've made three minor modifications to the Avocet, after the first outing described above.

• installed a Keel Eazy keel strip ... these have worked well for me in the past, considering the gentle conditions in which I paddle
• stuffed some minicell foam behind the seat back to enhance support for my injured back ... we'll see how well this works next time I paddle
• installed some bungees under the deck fore the coaming, where the manual bilge pump is stored