Gwilym's Adventure Blog

So I have owned the Hammer for a few weeks now and to be honest, I have yet to set up the foam padding kit etc in my boat (mainly due to laziness) but it is plenty comfortable as it is so so worries there. Following on from my initial review , I have used it for the a week  on Mull for my own personal paddling and work. I completed a 21km lap of Iona in around 3hrs so the boat is no slouch though does need more effort to keep it cruising. The first half into wind an waves was an effort (as it would be with most boats) but it was head down, skeg down and get onto it. Around the west side of the island I eventually got wind and waves behind me and had some surfing action. It is possible to surf with the skeg down and this means the Hammer is not so loose on the waves and keeps tracking with less effort. Or, skeg up and play the wave with great manoeuvrability. Personally I prefer skeg up and to use weight and edge as my methods of steering. Later in the week I used the bo...

Ready to launch  Heading out to Berry Head   A bit lumpy on the South side Bit of caving   Compulsory selfie (as no one with me) On Saturday I picked up my new kayak from AS Watersports . Today I headed east to Brixham to go paddling. I only had a few hours to play with so I took the Hammer out round Berry Head looking for some swell. I found some but not quite as much as I hoped for so settled for some rock hopping instead. I only had time to paddle on the canal before buying so I hoped I had made the right decision. Made from the Pyranha WW plastic this is a tough boat but fortunately not as heavy as I expected. I have never had so much fun getting into a sea kayak. Basically I put it down on a steep bit of beach, got in and seal launched with no worries about damaging the hull. A bit of playing off the beach just to check it's handling I realised it can flat spin and turn on edge. Great, should be fun. The Hammer handles...