Arrow Zegul Dufa first test

When I woke up this morning the sea was completely flat and the rain fell from the sky. Not good conditions for a Dufa premiar. But anyway here droped in some curios people but no one was very keen on paddling. Well later the sun arriwed and also a very good wind 9-12 m/s, lucky for me otherwise i havent went out for a ride in the sea. Wind from north give a great sea to test in. First impression of Dufa, safe. Its a very calm boat and when you lean her she nicelly follow you to a super high endstability. Dufa is short and 56 cm wide, its no a fast boat with this kind of hull. This is a boat that people will love when they go a course, a bit like P&H Scorpio actually. Well out in the waves.

Paddle seakayak for me in this messy but not huge waves is very relaxing, normally i sit in a Carbonology Vault surfski and its a big different in focus. So I paddled out against the waves without putting to much energy, the bow dive a bit in the sharper waves, a bit to much actually. I feel allready now that this isnt a playkayak but in some parts it is. It turns on a dime when you edge her and she is compeletely safe in sideshops and white foam. Dufa is a very predictable kayak. I paddled out for a km to get a nice long run in to Tropical Beach wich is a place that creates demanding conditions with hard current and impact waves, very funny.

Dufa gave me good time to take photos in surf. Nice!

Out there I turn around the boat and she feels so safe so i place the camera om the spraydeck so i can pick it up fast to shoot. Some strokes and i miss first wave, I give the Dufa a little more power in the next wave and of she goes. Dufa surfs very well, I have full controll and time to take photos in surf, the waves is not very big and thats pretty impressing. Though the bow dives to much and instead of linking (paddle over to the next wave) she slows me down a bit. With the much faster Bara i could link waves like in a surfski, I have done that also in a Romany wich is also a slower type of boat. As a surfskipaddler you know how important it is with the lift of the bow in the right time.

Nice rocky sea.

Conclusion, so what to say about the Dufa its playfull in a certain manner but on the other hand its not. You can have fun with the Dufa in waves but in my opinion this boat is for people who wants a stable safe boat that is easy to manouver for tourpaddling.

Plus:

• Very comfy seat/cockpit.
• Dufa have room for big persons
• Feels safe perfect for people who dont paddle every week
• High end stability.
• Pretty high first stability
• Blade skeg, skeg adjustor placed perfect
• Low backdeck
• Low backdeck and high cockpit make the Dufa vey easy to roll, great for rolling begginers.
• Very nice quality

Minus:

• If you are big, take a look at Bara instead.
• Nose drops a bit (this will not be noticed in normall paddling)

Raed more: http://webshop.aterra.se/kajaker/havskajaker/glasfiber-carbon/