I took the Pirogue out for its second trial today.
Glassy sea. No wind worthy of the mention. Outgoing tide.
Great conditions for paddling your own canoe (especially if you -- ie: I -- need to negotiate a learning curve).
To my surprize both the captain and his ship performed better than expected.
The craft paddles very well and I get more speed and greater distance per stroke than I did from my old plastic kayak -- The Flying Crutchman. I covered a good distance offshore seemingly in navigational comfort.
After dipping my oar for a few kilometres I stood up, picked up my bamboo pole and started polling over the shallows.
Effortless motion. ( I do love poling so. ) I was ski-ing on water.
Once you get a feel for the pitch of the craft -- and the way the weight shifts -- the balancing you have to master begins to register and poling is a nice change from paddling.
Although I may have my seat a tad too high I value the role my buttocks play in the balancing act I need to negotiate as part of my paddling efforts. In fact, I suspect that I may be able to sail this pirogue without recourse to an outrigger by using weight shifting skills alone.
That will be a challenge for later in the week:sailing.
I could also do with a longer paddle blade given my height above the water line.
Nonetheless, an outrigger it shall have. I am pondering my design options. An outrigger will make paddling and sailing that much less threatened by capsize-ment.
