Earlier this evening I took the Panache out for a paddling. Just before launching I met three older persons, stopped for a chat and got many superlatives on the kayak.
On my way out I had the wind, 5-6 m/s, against me. The lake isn´t so big so the waves can´t rise so much, the water gets very choppy instead. With the Panache its no problem, she didn´t get wet on deck until I reached the turning point. There I turned with the wind and got some surf, atleast if I leaned over so I got the waves a little diagonally from the back. The long five km´s was covered in about 20 minutes.
I stopped by when I came to the boat club(motorboats) and promised to come and expose stripbuilt kayaks in an event there in august.
Nearby the boatclub there is a cafeteria/bar and there I supplied me with an icecream and a glass of vine. I had to hurry up cause the sky went very very dark, thunderclouds on the way. It begun to blow hard, the waves sprayed and I got the wind right on my face. Maybe up to 12-13 m/s.
On my way back I had to seek lee for a while when the thunderclouds passed. Its no good idea to be far from shore when thunder passes right over you.
The rest of the way back home was hard paddling with a little surf the last 300 meters.
I must say that the Panache is a very nice kayak to take out in these conditions. I enjoyed her and the whole paddling very much. She appears to like hard winds and waves and she is very easy to manouver and to get up in high speed.