As many of you know in the Netherlands we can get RVS (rust free steal) Frames to get your deck up (which prevents dripping of water through the zipper). I got them and they work great. However for all those who think they are a little bit expensive (RVS isn’t cheap) or can’t get RVS Frames Rob Schoonens send an e-mail with a great alternative, this is what he wrote:

Klik voor groter beeld

Buy a pvc tube and a few pvc bends and some PVC glue. Heat the tubes and bent them. Saw them to the right fit and presto.
Superlight and strong.
I fit them between the main- and decktubes. They don’t bother you or hurt your knees.

Well big, after one year I decided to take the AE Frame apart for some maintenance. I took the inner-works out and from that the inner tubes to check if everything was dry and clean. I am not very big in maintaining the kayak so I was surprised to find that there was only a few drops of water because I did not cleaned the kayak after my last trip a few days ago which was in rainy conditions.

So if you keep it pretty dry (keep in mind that entering with wet water-shoes does not mean keeping the kayak dry) you can manage by only taking a cloth through the kayak as long as you push it really good under the inner-works.

There is one little maintenance planned and that is a treatment to keep the deck a little better water-resistant.

I finally located a shop (http://www.luftkajak.dk/) that sells the AE Lumbar seat in Europe. While searching I learned there was a new model, 2010. The shop only has the old model, so I’ll have to wait again.

If you are looking for an AE Lumbar seat, you can choose to do one of the following:

• Buy the old model, make sure to pay a little less because it is the old model
• Wait for the 2010 model

I made a little image so thay you can see the difference.

A little city with a great historical value is Brielle. On Google Earth it’s easy to see where the old defence walls where and that water was a big part of defending the city. One would think a city that can be reached by water and is visited by a lot of watersport enthusiast would open up the surrounding waters for small boats to visit and go around the defence line. NOT. It such a shame.

Back to yakking. The Brielse meer (meer means lake, in this case an old part of the Dutch riverdelta which has been closed off) is great for watersports. You will see all kinds of watersports on sunny days. Luckily it was grey and rainy the day I went. Meaning I did not have to put up with a lot of other sports while yakking. The big plus is that you will find a free parking where you can let your kayak into the water. From the startingpoint I went to Brielle first as it was early and this way I would not have to cope with all little boats getting out of the harbour. Even without the defence line Brielle is a beautiful city to visit. After my visit to Brielle I went to the end of the Brielse meer and then back again.

Route

Somehow I managed to loose the seat of my AE Frame. No problem as I already decided to replace it with the new AE Lumbar Seat. Their is only one problem. I cannot get it in the Netherlands… I did made some kind of solution to keep on paddling but I need to adjust it every 15 minutes and that’s no fun with a spraydeck. I still wonder why I can get news in minutes from across the globe but it takes months to introduce new products in Europe.

The beauty of yakking and living in the Netherlands is that you can pick a place at random and you will find a place nearby a beautiful route that does not need a lot of preparation (no dangerous routes, just beautiful routes enjoying nature and landscapes) . That is not how I found this route, I found it at ontrack.nl. Because I had only a few hours to spend I choose to shorten the track by doing Groot-Ammers – Goudriaan and back. The name of the route was ‘A round of Stork’. So the only thing I really cared about was if I would see a Stork. Luckily I did. I also saw a beautiful Storks nest on top of a church. I did not have my camera with me however (when I have a camera with me it will cost an addition 30% of the time) but I will return for the full track with camera. Then I will ad photo’s and the full route description.

But this is a beautiful route if you want to see the landscapes painted by Dutch masters centuries ago. You will see different windmills, sites with farms and little towns, churches and of course cows and a lot of (meadow) birds.

If you want to yak this track (or the full one from ontrack); a little tip for people who have seen enough windmills and want to shorten their track with about 5KM:
At the spot where the Ammerskade (road) ends (it becomes a hikepath and for cars goes futher as the Brandwijksedijk) you can park your car auto and go into the water there. There will be fishermen often, but ask them if you can pass and they will let you.

Route as done by me:
Route

During a short holiday in Dwergte (Germany – stayed in Landal Dwergter Sand) I was able to go for two paddles. When I studied Google Earth I noticed the big lake close to Dwergte called the Thulsfelder-Stausee and I hoped to paddle that lake, but it was forbidden. You can walk around it, you can bike around it, you can swim in it (North and East) but paddle….. So I searched for alternatives and found the Hunte and the Aue.

Hunte (Germany)
The paddle at the Hunte was my first for this season and what a start it was. I paddled 30 KM (or almost 19 miles). The route you can show below the article only shows the regular route from Astrup to the old harbor in Oldenburg. I did not want to bore you with my little adventure looking at the bigger part of the Hunte with the commercial ships. The most beautiful part of the river is closed between the first of April and the 15th of June to protect its nature and wildlife. So I had to start in Astrup where it’s allowed. This did result in me having to paddle the last 15KM stream upwards. But it was a beautiful paddle so definitely worth it. During the paddle you will see water rats, sheep and a lot of meadow birds.
There is an information chart in German for the Hunte (click here for PDF).

Aue (Germany)
Two days after the paddle on the Hunte I went to paddle on the Aue. I choose it because when driving next to it I saw a kayak deck. The deck is near Godensholt and I turned around near Westerscheps making this a 15 kilometer (or 9 miles) paddle. De Aue has low and high water and it is a threat to see the difference between it (even on a short paddle like this). The scenery isn’t much different than the Hunte. Meadow birds, water rats and instead of sheep you get horses and an old Windmill and some new ones as well.

The area where I stayed is really beautiful and it makes for great paddling and bicycle trips.
If you stay at Dwergter Sand do not order your bread with the shop but drive into Molbergen. Beside the Lidle store there is this really great bakery.

Route Hunte

Route Aue

Now the snow is finally disappearing it’s time to look forward. Hopefully weather will be nice enough in March to go out. In 2010 I will at least go kayaking at:

Bieschbos (Zuid-Holland and Noord-Brabant parts)
De Dommel (to or from Eindhoven)
De Linge (part of it)
Thülsfelder-stausee (Germany)
Die Hunte (Germany)

It was Sep 2009 when I learned about the new AE models Frame Sport and AirFusion. The AE Frame Sport is a new and lighter version of the AE Frame. Or easier to carry. The AirFusion is something different. AE took the best from folding kayaks and inflatable kayaks and combined them. The endproduct is more easy to assemble then a regular folding kayak and has better performance than an inflatable model. Luckely some people in the US allready took the AirFusion out and wrote a review.

In the second week of September I was able to paddle twice. On the first day a 22KM paddle in Giethoorn and de Wieden and the second day along with my wife in de Weerribben. The second paddle was about 11KM (we went of the route which is 9KM, I marked the normal route on my map). This second paddle was shorter because it’s been a long time (16 years) since my wife has paddled. Also she was in a rental kayak which was 4meters long and had a big skeg. That isn’t really handy if you have to go in small creeks and do a lot of steering. Luckely she managed fine. I was in my AE Frame. We did not exchange kayaks because a hardshell is lighter paddling.

Giethoorn / de Wieden:
To get an impression look at the route I made at the bottom of this post. I used pretty straight lines… Lazy me, but it will do.

De Weerribben:
To get an impression look at the route I made at the bottom of this post. I used pretty straight lines… Lazy me, but it will do.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea about these routes:

De route Giethoorn/De Wieden:

De route Kalenberg/De Weerribben