Travels with Paddles

a sea kayaking journal

Axel Schoevers (Photo: A. de Krook) Name:
Axel Schoevers
Location:
Rijswijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Perseverance

De Volharding on the Bergsche Maas, Netherlands, 2011
Jan asked me if I could assist him on the "Rondje Bommelerwaard" trip for Peddelpraat. This trip used to be advertised as a training-run for the (now defunct because of 'red tape') 140 km GRIMA (Great River Marathon) down the river Rhine from the German Border to Rotterdam.

Apparently his enthusiastic promotion in the club magazine for this 70 km long-distance trip on inland waters did not entice many. At 07:15 we set off with four...

For me this would be the first trip for a long time with these 'kilometer eaters'. Jan (with a buddy) regularly paddles 'weekend trips' in one day; i.e. around Texel. How would I cope, not having been 'tested' for a long time on these kind of distances and sustained paddling speeds.

After a busy indoor week with lots of issues to solve and lots of time behind the computer would I be in any shape to do this today? After half an hour I already knew that I made the right decision. I cannot remember going on a paddle and regretting it, whatever 'mental exhaustion' I would be in.

The first half of the trip is on the Bergsche Maas against a weak river current. The second half of the trip is with the current on the faster flowing river Waal. The trip statistics and GPS track shows that this trip is only 65 km! So that much smaller distance ;-) should attract more paddlers next year!

The trip took us a bit over 10:15 hours of which 8:15 hours paddling time. On this gorgeous day I think we were a bit lazy with three breaks totaling two hours. At 17:30 we were back. At least I feel comfortable (and pleasantly tired now) to join these guys and gal on another long distance trip.

P.S. The historic vessel on the picture that we encountered was named "De Volharding". A better motto than "Perseverance" one cannot find for long(er) distance paddling.

3 comments:

Hubert said...

Flinke trip hoor, vind de helft al ver ;)
Is wel bekend terrein voor me, woon in de regio.
Bij de sluis gestart zo te zien?
Weinig verkeer op de waal of hadden jullie gewoon zo'n moordend tempo? Goed doorgepeddeld in ieder geval...
Moet ik nog even voor trainen.

Hubert

Axel said...

Normaal verkeer op de Waal dus zeer regelmatig omkijken! Op de Maas was het wel rustig met slechts af en toe beroepsvaart. Op de Maas een gemiddelde van 3.8 knopen en op de Waal 4,5 knopen; vaargemiddelde hele dag 4 knopen. Mijn GPS stond op zeemijlen per uur... Tja wat is een moordend tempo? Gewoon regelmatig varen en langzaam opbouwen en vaartechniek kan altijd verbeteren dat het nog makkelijker afgaat en zonder blessures.

Hubert said...

Die snelheid haak ik ook wel, maar dan op max. 20/25km. Genoeg op te bouwen dus. En de techniek is ook niet 100% volgens mij, dus als ik een keer vooraf wat tijd kan plannen wil ik daar wel naar laten kijken.

Misschien wel leuk, afgelopen woensdag kwam ik hetzelfde stoombootje tegen op de afgedamde maas http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5188/5636042168_f499f28c26_b.jpg