So, after 41 hours of building time, distributed over ca 15 sessions in two months, it is finally time to launch my new rolling kayak! Will my initial calculations of volume hold, or have I built a submarine? My goal for this project was to build a kayak that would help me learn the more difficult rolls, such as the elbow roll, and I was aimimg for a freeboard close to 15 mm behind the cockpit -- in other words, the margin of error is small...

To my great joy and relief, the kayak turns out to lie just as planned in the water. The freeboard is a just few mm more than 15 mm -- perfect... (as long as one doesn't mind getting a wet bum when sitting on the aft deck when entering/exiting the kayak!) A full layback is painless, and will almost submerge the stern.

Obviously, this kayak is very easy to roll. OK, forward rolls are not drastically easier to perform, but all layback rolls feel like cheating. Layback handrolls are suddenly a piece of cake in both directions, sweeping the hand isn't even required -- just put the arm out in a brace and hip flick. I've had a lot of trouble hitting the spine roll in my other kayaks. In this kayak I hit it on my first try. Balance bracing with or without a paddle is a breeze.

OK, so this was more or less expected, or at least it was what motivated me to start this project. Mission accomplished. A pleasant surprise was that this kayak actually paddles well: it's easily driven, turns happily (which is good because it doesn't respond to edging that well due to the narrow beam and low freeboard), tracks well, is hardly affected by winds, and it's surprisingly comfortable. Admittedly, the cargo space is limited to a couple of bananas and something to drink, but then again this was never meant to carry load.

Tomorrow is "Sea Kayak Day" here, a 30 km tour of Stockholm's inner city waters with a group of kayaking enthusiasts. A perfect maiden voyage for this kayak, and I think I should wait until after that before making any further comments on comfort or speed!

Length: 5 m

Beam: 48 cm

Depth-to-sheer: 13.5 cm

Weight: 11.5 kg

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