I came, I saw . . .
Published December 30, 2007 | 
Veni, vidi, veci
Veni, vidi, veci
(The moon above was yellow)
Music all around her
In my arms I found her
(I was a lucky fellow)
- the gaylords
There is a nice video piece on Freya Hoffmeister on TV3 New Zealand. You can read the article and watch the video here. The guy in the clip above of course is Paul Caffyn who was the first to circumnavigate the South Island by sea kayak. One little bit of interest is how the clips on the stern of her NDK Explorer broke on a hard landing recently. In fact she lost a paddle that day as well. You may remember I had a similar situation with my Rockpool when I was dropped on to a rock shelf. Luckily I was able to fiddle a repair. Freya’s answer was to just glass the stern right onto the center section. Of course it’s not often that those clips face these sorts of landings, (mine was akin to dropping off a truck) but it’s probobly worth looking at those clips a bit more. For my part I will always carry spare latches & screws in any future long trips. Anyway, Go Freya!
By the way, my favorite take on the "Veni, Vidi, Veci" quote was from Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. . . "We came, We saw, We Kicked it’s As*!!!"
*video capture from News3 video.
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3 Responses to I came, I saw . . .
Freya’s stern clips bent when she was looped backward by a large dumper and the stern forcefully impacted the sea bottom. It’s tough to say what would have happened to bolts or a one-piece in that same situation. A fully-loaded (or flooded) kayak is ripe for serious damage should you start pile-driving the sea floor. At least in the case of bolts, the stern section would likely not have completely separated which is what happened to Freya. That must have made for some interesting kayak handling! It’s worth noting that Freya is using an older design that does not have male/female mating surfaces between the sections. The newer Explorer sectionals have male/female “parts”.
Freya was able to effect a temporary repair by hammering the clips with a large rock. Days later, she added some glass to the rear joint to help ensure that it (hopefully) lasts the remainder of the trip. She will cut it apart when finished, for transport.
While it might be worth pondering if the stern section failure prevented more serious structural damage from occurring (consider what happened to Chris Duff’s one-piece kayak in NZ), IMO, a 3-piece offers convenience and flexibility, but will always be weaker than a 1-piece.
Ver good points made by Greg Stamer. I am glad that FReya herself did not get hurt in the dumper wave. You make an interesting point a bout the three piecer and general weakness. Indeed, true. Although one would not strike the bottom on a long crossing–such as you and Ms. Hoffmeister accomplished in the Arctic–one always has to keep oin mind that anything potentially loose, anything “attached” rather than one piece, could fail. Unlikely, but possibly a liability.
Sort of like a hatch lid. It always strikes me as interesting, concerning, and whatever other word one attaches to it, that something as simple as a dry hatch cover can be the difference between floating and sinking, between life and death. A rubber hatch cover. Canoecopia 2007 Danny Mongno (Impex, Werner) made this very clear in Commando Kayaking pool demo, when he took of a hatch cover for fun and sunk the Impex. Memorable
I was supposed to be elsewhere for a week, but flights crossed and cancelled, and I ended up with a very pleasant trip, Greg, to Orlando. I believe you paddle in the greater Orlando area. I was not able to paddle on this trip, but was impressed by all the water basically everywhere in Orlando. Very noticeable when coming in by plane. A nice area, and of course, the weather was 80F plus all week long (hence the reason I chose central FL for that week)–I know it chills out starting now.
Paddle on
Hey Greg,
Yeah that is a good point too. I’d thought about that in my case too. If the clips had not given way that energy would have had to go somewhere. Most likely damaging the kayak. I guess you could call that a benefit.