Stuart Trueman

Stuart has been a very very good friend here at NKA for along time know and its just not because he paddles an Expedition and now a Solo but because he is one of the best guys around

Stuart IS the leading Australian paddler here in Australia and when it get's bad out there you want him on your team.I can vouch for that have a read of this http://nadgeekayaks.com.au/articles/i-dont-want-to-die.htmland you will know what I mean

NKA are very proud to sponsor Stuart on his round Australia trip and have supplied him with a discounted NADGEE SOLO  which should keep him going with no troubles

Here is Stuarts review of NKA kayaks

 

 

Nadgee ‘Expedition’ & ‘Solo’ Sea Kayaks.

 

By Stuart Trueman

 

Nadgee ‘Solo’ & ‘Expedition’ kayaks are designed and built for the ocean by active Expedition Sea Kayakers.

This reflects not only in the design and build but in the attention to detail which demonstrates the experience and ingenuity of those involved.

 

These are quick, ocean going kayaks that track well and respond quickly. They are easily turned with a tilt of the kayak with the good secondary stability giving a secure feeling as you lean it over.

They can be handled without skeg or rudder but, as with all kayaks, both will help in some conditions.

To paddle a kayak designed to be paddled without a rudder or skeg will give you a better understanding of the connection between you, the kayak and the ocean. This allows you to develop your skills and become a better kayaker.

 

Some kayaks will be faster, some turn tighter, some track better and some be more stable. Very few kayaks will be as fast and turn as well, then track well while being as stable as a Nadgee ‘Solo’ or ‘Expedition’.

 

I’ve heard that kayak compartments can’t be made 100% water proof. Well that’s just not true; I have a 8 year old Nadgee that has never leaked in any hatch. I don’t bother putting my sleeping bag in a dry bag. At the end of the day it’s always as dry as it went in.

Custom fit bulkheads ensure the for’d compartment has as much capacity as possible and the added advantage of limited cockpit volume allowing less water in that you have to pump out.

 

If your knowledge of fibre glassing is as limited as mine you’ll be temped to assume all kayaks are built equal. I may not know the best way to build a kayak but I do know that when all that’s keeping you alive is your kit make bloody sure its not second rate. The build quality of these kayaks is exceptional and with even a rudimentary knowledge of a kayak build you can’t fail but be impressed.

 

Finding a suitable kayak is a journey each kayaker makes. I’d suggest you paddle a few before buying. But if you’re intending to paddle the ocean you would be doing your self a favour by trying out a Nadgee ‘Solo’ or ‘Expedition’.

 

It’s hard to imagine the limits of this kayak; it has the capability to take you where you want to go.

 

Mark Broadley from Tasmania

Mark is an experienced paddler I met when I attended the Tasmanian seakayak clubs get together last year.He instructs and guides trips with roaring 40's so he has a good understanding of kayaks 

Mark is a light weight paddler and is probably at the lower end of the Nadgee's weight range at 65kg but loves now loves his NKA SOLO  sea kayak

"Hi Laurence, thought I would touch base about my Nadgee and thank you for the work you did on her. It’s taken me a little while to adjust to the new boat but I love her. She has proved to be a great sea worthy boat now having had her out in some reasonable seas.  She is very quick downwind with or without the rudder. The rudder is working fine, I have just put in a mast step so we’ll see if the rudder is strong enough for sailing.

Something you may already know, for someone of my light weight (65kg),  the unladen carbon fibre Nadgee does get pushed around by the wind a little. Its only noticeable in quite strong headwinds and then putting the rudder down solves the problem.  I reckon it’s just that combination of me being very light and the carbon fibre is so light that causes her to ride quite high in the water.  I haven’t tried it, but a few kgs of weight in it will probably resolve it.

This is a standout boat for good technique. I have only recently realised what the really good guys are doing with forward paddle stroke, but I realise that it does require the legs more together and a good leg drive which gives a slight edge on each stroke. The Nadgee allows me to do this and when it’s a bit rougher I can  also tuck my knees into the corners of the boat for better edge control. The boat has really brought on my technique on a few different levels.  She is a great boat to roll.  She draws a lot of favourable comment wherever I go in her"

Nadgee Bombora By Paul Loker

The Magnificent Expedition by Mick Ellis

Here is a Review by a good bloke with a fair bit of like experience on the water and off

Review by Mick Ellis

Hi Lawrence, First of all, thanks very much for your help and hospitality, I enjoyed my time with you and learned a lot. Your area there with all the great beaches and the mountains nearby is fantastic. When I left you I headed up Batemans Bay way for a good couple of days and had some interesting paddles, even on the way up to Canberra, on the Clyd

Nadgee Solo – first impressions.

Nadgee Solo – first impressions.

I was looking for a boat I could paddle just about anywhere on long expeditions: a fast boat, with plenty of storage space and a large hatch for bulky items. I wanted a rudder, and to be able to fit a sail to it. And I wanted it to be as tough and strong as possible. After much thinking, some internet research, and talking to people, I decided to investigate the designs built by Nadgee Kayaks. I liked the look of the boats, having seen a few on car roof racks, and I liked what I read about them, particularly the robust, no-compromise approach to manufacture, ensuring the strongest possible construction. I feel reasonably relaxed about the possibility of shark attack, but it would be a secure feeling to know that your boat stood a good chance of withstanding an exploratory bite from a large, hungry, toothy beast.

I have been kayaking on the ocean for quite a number of years now, from my first cautious forays out to sea in a Sevylor inflatable, then a tubby plastic fun boat, and then a second-hand Skerray, a real 5.1 metre sea kayak. After paddling it in all conditions and slowly getting the hang of the skeg: what it would do and what it wouldn’t, and fitting a foot pump, deck netting, and sail to it, I began to go off on expeditions on my own. Eventually I set off on my first major solo expedition – a trip south ending in Mallacoota, taking 16 days.

Halfway through the trip, I ran into the beginning of some wild weather, and one day the wind shifted around as I was paddling the heavily laden boat. It ended up behind me, blowing over my left shoulder and trying to turn the kayak up across the wind. Combined with the prevailing swell in the opposite direction, and some confused wind chop, it made paddling very difficult. In spite of whatever I tried with the skeg, every minute or so I would have to do a heavy steering stroke with my left arm to get back on course.  I had no choice but to keep going along a rocky coastline for some hours, and the next day my arm was very sore, the beginning of a painful episode of tennis elbow. I finished the trip, but it was a debilitating injury that took many months to recover from, and I was not keen to repeat it.

As well as realizing the limitations of the skeg, I wanted a faster boat. My old plastic Skerray was pretty heavy, and scuffed up after years of fun, scraping around in rocky bays: terrific for learning in, but now I wanted something faster when paddling into the wind and for surf landings, where the extra knot or two of speed makes a lot of difference when it comes to outrunning that large wave looming up out the back.

I found a fibreglass boat very cheap, and bought it to see if I could get along with the more fragile material. It was an Inuit Classic, without either skeg or rudder, but with chine construction and a more sculpted design that held course very well into and across the wind, and was quite fast, compared to the Skerray. I had a lot of fun fitting it out and learning about the beauty and simplicity of the design. It was indeed a classic, and I took the 4.7 metre boat on a 350 kilometre solo journey north, from south of Bermagui, finishing up in Jervis Bay. The boat performed very well, but once again I found the hardest situation to be when the wind was behind me, and I began to appreciate how much energy could be saved by having a rudder to adjust course without interrupting the paddling rhythm, and losing precious forward momentum, particularly important in choppy, confused water.

After ringing Lawrence at Nadgee kayaks and having a yarn, I went to have a look at the boats, and was very pleased to have a Nadgee Solo to try out for a few days. It was fitted with a wooden rudder, a Flat Earth sail rig, foot-operated bilge pump, and came with detachable wheels that cleverly slot into a built-in tube set in the boat behind the cockpit. The boat seemed light, strong and well thought out.  

It was August, and cold and windy; not ideal paddling weather, but just the conditions I wanted to put the boat through its paces. For my first paddle I decided to go out on Wallaga Lake, a large coastal lake north of Bermagui. There was a good 20 knot NE wind blowing straight in off the ocean. I launched the boat, and my first impression was that it felt a little bit twitchy. The boat was empty, and I hadn’t paddled for a while, and I realized that the secondary stability was fine; it felt very solid when I leaned one way or another, and I soon relaxed and settled down to enjoy the paddle. I quickly felt completely at home.

I took it up to cruising speed and was immediately impressed with its easy glide through the water and the way it handled, and once I found my balance, I felt relaxed about leaning into a turn. I deployed the rudder, which was pleasingly easy to do, and began to get the hang of it. It was the opposite set up to the last boat I had paddled with a rudder; to turn to starboard you pushed the port rudder pedal, but it made sense from a paddling perspective: it’s the same as you would with a paddle stroke.

The wind was blowing straight along a long open section of the lake, and I couldn’t resist raising the sail any longer. That was easy, with only two light cords running through cleats; the up-haul, that also controls the boom, and a down-haul. The wind caught the light sail and popped it straight up and we were off. I was in familiar territory – I had learned to sail dinghies on this lake and I knew it well, and sailed downwind, occasionally gibing intentionally to change course. Easy! The rudder controlled the boat very well without massive over-corrections. It felt very natural once I got the feel of it.

I sailed around for a while and was having a lot of fun, but decided I should drop the sail and do some more paddling, and started to fiddle with the cords when a large gust hit the boat and cracked the sail out – and I was over in the rather cool winter water. I was dressed appropriately however, and I got set, grabbed the blade of the paddle and rolled straight up – no problem. My first roll in the boat, without even thinking about it. I retrieved my floating beanie, got out my storm cag, and was soon under way again. After a very enjoyable couple of hours, I paddled it back to the car in the fading light and went home, looking forward to a longer paddle the next day.

It was again windy, this time 20 to 25 knots, gusting up to 30 from the NW, and backing around to the west as the day wore on. After checking out the conditions on the ocean, I decided to go out on Wallaga Lake again. For the first hour or so I played around in the mouth of the lake as small waves came rolling in on the rising tide. I explored how the boat handled the 2 to 3 foot waves, with and without the rudder, in the very gusty conditions. The boat tracked very well without the rudder, getting up a good speed without wanting to turn broadside on to the wave. I could easily control my speed by shifting my weight back and forward, and could see that it handled excellently. The nose would begin to dig in as it picked up speed, but then came up well and I didn’t feel it would suddenly ‘endo’, or get out of control.  Fairly experienced in the surf, I felt immediately relaxed and confident that this boat would do very well in just about any conditions, if I gave it the correct assistance with my weight, and bracing and steering strokes.

I then headed up into the main body of the lake, sailing when I could, and learning to turn up into the wind to drop the sail. After a few goes, this became easy to do. I was continually impressed by how well it sailed. Even when I had to pull up the rudder in some shallow water it tracked quite well, and with the rudder deployed, it sailed extremely easily and directly, making little leeway. It reached across the wind well, and in big gusts shot off at an exciting rate of knots while still being controllable. I spent over 4 hours sitting in the boat, and felt completely comfortable. The seat was very good and easily adjusted, and I was the most comfortable I had ever felt in a sea kayak. Although I had stuffed quite a few things into the netting under the deck, I could shift my legs to brace effortlessly, with several options of position; and I could easily get to the foot-operated bilge-pump handle. I felt sure I could paddle this boat long distances, for many hours, in complete comfort.  

The next day, I had a few hours before unfortunately having to take the boat back. The wind had eased, and I felt confident that I knew the boat well enough now to take it out to sea. I went to my favourite beach with easy access, and loaded approximately 25 kilos into the day hatch. Conditions were pretty calm, and I headed off for a fast paddle along the coast, feeling confident to go through white water close to bomboras, and rebounding swell from the rocky shoreline. The boat felt fast and surefooted, holding its course well, and very stable with the extra weight in it. Packed correctly, I decided, it would take a good load, adequate for any expedition, and still perform excellently.

As a speed test, I paddled from one eastern-most tip of a large bay to the next in a straight line, which I later measured on the map as three and a half kilometres. At a relaxed but consistent pace this took me exactly half an hour, so I estimated I easily maintained a speed of seven kilometres an hour, by the time the tail wind and the small swell I was paddling into cancelled each other out.

After a very pleasant and comfortable couple of hours paddling, I came back to my departure point, and my final test on the water was to be a few rolls. This was pleasingly effortless, as the boat rolled over underwater without hesitation, and I easily popped back up without effort or force on the paddle. Due to the rather chilly water temperature, I only rolled it a few times, but I felt that I could take the boat to sea, confident I could roll reliably and predictably when required. After rolling, the boat was still virtually bone dry, and I never had cause to use the pump during the three paddles.

After I surfed it back in, I attached the wheels, with the boat still loaded, and wheeled it up from the water onto some soft sand to see how easy it was. I would have trouble wheeling a fully laden boat any distance through soft sand or mud, but it was certainly far easier than dragging or carrying it. It is a very simple system to set up and pull down, and would be a great advantage on an expedition, or just a Sunday paddle. I often feel very nervous about my boat overnight while on trips, and sometimes have dragged it long distances up beaches to stake it out on the sand so I could relax during big swells or gales. Being able to quickly deploy the wheels would be a welcome saving of energy at the end of a long day’s paddle.

I was more than impressed with the Nadgee Solo. It kept surpassing my expectations, and the attention to detail and clever design of all the components left little, if anything, to be desired. The quality of the finish and appearance were also as good as anything I have seen.

I don’t own a Nadgee Solo, – not yet, – but hopefully it won’t be long before I do.

– Dinesh Moylan