Quickblade paddle (Proton) and JKK Supernova kayak during winter paddling on Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins, shot with GoPro Hero camera mounted on a kayak front deck. January 29, 2012.

After a couple of weeks of test paddling on Beaver Pond and Horsetooth Reservoir including some windy winter condition JKK Supernova kayak was added to my paddling fleet.

First thing I had to do was to customize a cockpit. A narrow hanging seat was removed and seat hangers trimmed off from the cockpit coaming. Then, the Guerney’s bumfortable foam seat was permanently installed. The same operation I performed on my Thunderbolt kayak years ago. I still may need to work to wedge that seat to a better angle. And, I have some other customizations in my mind.

Supernova is a strong candidate for the next year Missouri River 340 race with a goal to finish self supported below 50 hours. Well, I am still not sure if I really want to paddle that long race in a kayak, but paddling Sea Wind canoe again will be just too easy. I have the entire winter and many trips on the South Platte River to figure that out.

Related posts:
3 Pictures from November Paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir
3 Kayaks: JKK Supernova, WSBS Thunderbolt-X and Sisson Nucleus 100
First Snow Paddling with JKK Multisport Supernova Kayak
JKK Supernova, a Multisport Racing Sea Kayak from New Zealand – Review by Jeremy Rodgers
How to Choose a Boat for an Ultra Marathon Race? The Case of Missouri River 340
Outfitting Thunderbolt Racing Kayak – Sliding or Guerney Gears Bumfortable Seat?

I am still testing Jeremy’s JKK Supernova, a racing sea kayak from New Zealand. I did a couple of 5-7 mile runs on the Horsetooth Reservoir in a winter scenery including pretty windy conditions. Paddling was much drier than it would in my Thunderbolt kayak. The Supernova feels much more comfortable with my bumfortable foam seat. However, for a better comfort, I would have to trim the seat hangers as I did in my Thunderbolt.

I shot a few pictures of the Supernova together with Thundebolt-X kayak designed by Doug Bushnell from West Side Boat Shop. Supernova appears to be a few inches shorter than Thunderbolt, but much wider, and has much higher volume. Thunderbolt cockpit is placed more forward than in Supernova. I am going to measure these kayaks by myself. Data listed by manufactures are not very accurate.

Next, I added Sisson Nucleus 100, a multisport kayak from New Zealand, to the picture for a reference. I like that Grahame Sisson is specifying the sizes of cockpit opening for his kayaks.

These three kayaks have very different cockpits:
- Sisson Nucleus: a very roomy cockpit with a small opening (shorter than Supernova), but quite wide, tiller bar steering
- Thunderbolt: a long open cockpit, tiller bar steering,
- JKK Supernova: a roomy cockpit, but a very narrow opening, sea kayak fit, pedal steering

I had a chance to do some test paddling with Jeremy Rodger’s JKK Supernova kayak. It happen just after first snow storm in Fort Collins, so I had a pretty scenic paddling on Beaver Pond in the Arapaho Bend Natural Area. I am trying to compare this kayak to my Thunderbolt-X from West Side Boat Shop from a perspective of a long distance self supported paddling and racing.

JKK Supernova is a multisport kayak from New Zealand – the same length as my WSBS Thunderbolt (21′), 1″ wider beam (19″), but a much bigger volume and a lot of cargo space with bulkheads and hatches. It is a racing sea kayak. Jeremy wrote a review of the Supernova for my blog a few years ago.

First impressions of the Supernova: fast, stable, quite responsive, much more maneuverable than Thunderbolt.

The Supernova cockpit is pretty small and tight. It is really narrow!. The cockpit opening is only about 14.75″ wide while I have 16″ in my Thunderbolt kayak, and a generous 17″ in Sisson Nucleus 100 which has the same beam as the Supernova. So, the owners of wide hips beware.

Related posts:
How to Choose a Boat for an Ultra Marathon Race? The Case of Missouri River 340
Valley Kayaks Rapier 20 and WSBS X-par Missile: Can I Fit My Butt into a Narrow Racing Kayak?
Outfitting Thunderbolt Racing Kayak – Sliding or Guerney Gears Bumfortable Seat?

160 paddlers in 118 boats started yesterday the 6th Annual Missouri River Race 340. The race was postponed this due to flooding from the original date in July to October.

The MR340 is an endurance paddling race across the state of Missouri – 340 miles nonstop from Kansas City to St Charles with 88 hours time limit. I paddled in the first five races using 4 different boats, but always solo. Unfortunately, I couldn’t travel to Missouri this year in October. Last year, the race was also delayed because of flooding, but only by 1 month.

Well, I am paddling my local lakes in northern Colorado and I already started my countdown to the 2012 MR340.

Related posts:
Paddling and Hydrating during 2010 MR340 Race
Self Shuttle by Amtrak during Missouri River 340 Race
120 Pictures from the Missouri River 340 Race
3 Years of the Missouri River 340 Race series:
Bryan Hopkins, West Hansen, Christina Glauner, Chuck and Di McHenry, Katie Pfefferkorn
My Experience in Three Famous Ultra Marathon Paddling Races

Yesterday, I used my GPS with heart monitor (Garmin Forerunner 305) when mowing my backyard. The grass was pretty tall. It was probably a month since last mowing. Of course, I had to scoop after my two dogs first. So, it was a lot of walking and carrying stuff around.

My GPS results. Time: 1:40h, distance: 1.8 mile, calories: 789. So, it was a pretty good exercise. It looked equivalent to a 1 hour workout in my Thunderbolt kayak a day before. Perhaps, it was not so good cross training for paddling, but still necessary and it was more fun with GPS.

I am not really a fun of mowing or taking care of the lawn. I prefer to work in my garden. Hopefully, it was the last or almost the last mowing this year. But, I will keep paddling. My other cross training activities these days include inline skating and biking (mostly on bike trail in Fort Collins and between Timnath and Greeley) and kettlebell workouts.

Yesterday, I paddled the Colorado River Race in the Glenwood Canyon – 10 miles on the Colorado River from Dotsero to Hanging Lake Area. The race is organized by Jerry Nyre from Canoe Colorado. At the same time it was also Regional Open Canoe Downriver Championships and Wildwater Race setup by Nate Lord.

I missed a couple of previous races. Last year at that time I was paddling in postponed Missouri River 340 race. This year the MR340 was canceled due to flooding. So, I took my Sea Wind canoe to the Colorado River instead.

The weather was beautiful and water level pretty high at 2400 cfs. The race was dominated by stand-up paddlers (SUP). There were about dozen of them. Certainly SUP is getting popular in Colorado. There were also two tandem canoes, two solo canoes (including my Sea Wind), a wild water racing kayak (Jeremy Rodgers), Huki surfski and one recreational kayak. I could miss somebody.

I took some pictures with Pentax Optio W30 at the start and a few at the finish. It was the staggered start. SUPs went first.

I finished the race in 1:21h more than 1 minute behind Nate. It was a great workout for me. I managed to keep a pretty even heart rate (142-146) over the entire race. See the race results below pictures.

Do I need to switch to SUP if I want to do some paddle racing in Colorado?

June 6, 2011 – another biking and packrafting trip on the South Platte River. This time I run the lower St Vrain Creek and the South Platte River to Milliken (hwy 60). This section along high cliffs of the Wildcat Mound is perhaps the nicest part of the river below Denver.

I made some improvement to my packing and used the same shoes for both biking and packrafting. My new Keen Newport sandals worked pretty well except of few cases of walking through loose gravel on the South Platte.

Biking leg

8.56 miles, 0:48h. From highway 60 bridge I rode my bike on CR46 (sections of dirt and pavement, and even a bike path near new developments, very light traffic), and then CR19 (pavement, light traffic). While the South Platte is a flatwater river here, riding over the Wildcat Mound is not so flat.

Transition

~20 minutes. I chained my bike to a rail of CR19.5 bridge and launch my packraft on the St Vrain under the bridge. It was quite muddy after recent high water and mosquitoes were hungry.

Packrafting leg

7.66 miles, 2:12h, 3.3mph average speed, with max 6.2mph. The St Vrain had still high water (~200cfs), but the South Platte run really dry. Floating downriver was pretty slow, especially along the Wildcat Mound. I had to walk several times. After first couple of miles the situation improved until the Union Ditch Dam which was diverting a lot of water. The last section (0.6 miles) between the dam and the hwy 60 bridge was very shallow. The barb wire fence next to the bridge has been fixed making launching or getting out of the river much more difficult.

Wildlife

White tail deer, beavers, hawk and other birds. I completed my trip with a close encounter with a fox hunting in my driveway.

In my last visit to the South Platte River I used Alpacka Yukon packraft combined with inline skating between Kersey and Kuner. The river has a good flow again after heavy rains, so I did another packrafting trip (May 22, 2011) – a classic run from Evans to Kersey. This time I used my mountain bike for a shuttle.

Biking leg

9.11 miles from Kersey bridge to Evans Riverside Park, 50 minutes. It was a typical car shuttle route. The road from the river bridge to Kersey is narrow and with high traffic, the highway 34 is also very busy but has a wide shoulder lane, the rest of the course had almost no traffic. The folded packraft traveled on bike racks and all other stuff including my big camera and tripod went to backpack. It got quite heavy!

Transition

10:17 minutes. Inflating the Alpacka Yukon packraft. I left my bike at Evans.

Paddling leg

9.13 miles downriver to Kersey, 2:30 hours with a long photography stop at the first dam. Cruising speed: 5.5-6 mph with the river flow ~2200 cfs. I could easily float over the first dam. The second portage was more difficult because of dense weeds.

Wildlife

Eagles are gone, now it is a pelican time on the South Platte in addition to resident geese and ducks. Beavers were very noisy and had a good time in a small pond next to the Kersey bridge.

Kuner, CO, April 16, 2011. Alpacka Yukon packraft in a backpack together with a life jacket, chota boots, Epic take apart paddle, water, and some other essentials, together about 24lb.

It took me about 40 minutes to ride 5.5 miles on inline skates to Kersey. I chose back roads (county roads 61 and 388) on the left shore of the South Platte River – light traffic and smooth asphalt. I was riding on the left side facing the traffic ready to jump to shoulder if necessary. Everybody gave me plenty of room including big farm trucks. The main road along the South Platte, highway 34, has a wide shoulder, but covered with sand and gravel. My route was almost avoiding the very busy county road 37 leading from Kersey to the river.

There was a lot of wild turkey around Kuner.

Kersey. Time to change gears. It took me only 5 minutes to inflate my packraft with an inflation bag. However, I used next 15 or 20 minutes to attach my backpack and launch the packraft. I need a better system …

The South Platte River was running very low during last month, but it got more water after a recent day of rain and snow. I caught a decreasing flow of 400 cfs at Kersey. My cruising speed downriver was between 4.5 and 5 mph, so after just 1 hour and 20 minutes I returned back to Kuner.

The river leg was quite relaxing while the road part was much more difficult and exhausting. I started too late (~10am) when it was getting pretty hot on the road and I didn’t have a hydration system accessible when skating. I have still original wheels on my new skates (K2 Mach 100) which are pretty soft. My old skates with smaller, but harder racing wheels are faster. So, there is some room for improvements in my road transport. I would like to extend my range up to 20 miles.