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First Snow Paddling with JKK Multisport Supernova Kayak

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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?

6th Annual Missouri River Race – MR340 2011

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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

Cross Training – Mowing My Backyard

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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.

Colorado River 2011 Race in Glenwood Canyon Dominated by Stand-up-Paddlers

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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?

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