Updated Tuesday, December 09, 2008 3:59 PM
Plans kayak - Black Pearl, €140
images | information | lines | particulars | history
Black Pearl is a long, low and narrow kayak of east Greenland ancestry – extremely easily handled, instantly reacting to shift of weight, leaning etc, and with enough secondary stability to support leaned turns, balance brace and such. It is very easily rolled. The initial stability is low but with the reassuring secondary stability it is not out of reach even for a novice (at least one with some patience and perseverance). Wetted surface and friction is very small, which together with low weight gives a splendid acceleration – a couple of strokes to top speed. In spite of the maneuverability Black Pearl has a good directional stability and is not noticeably affected by wind. Room for gear is minimal – it takes more than a little ingenuity for extended touring in Black Pearl.
Like the original, is built to fit the owner – when ordering the plans I will ask for your length, weight, arm span, hip width and shoe size to produce a set of plans perfectly suited to you. That is why Black Pearl is a little more expensive than my other designs.
Black Pearl is designed on the Hunter hull – but smaller. Where Hunter is a compromise - some touring, some play – Black Pearl is a 100% play and roll kayak.
Visual qualities are important – I spend a lot of time tweaking lines and surfaces into a harmonious blend. Jay Babina, American artist and designer (Outer Island Kayaks), wrote this on the Qajaqusa forum after having seen and tried the Black Pearl: "There's a lot of nice looking kayaks out there and there's some nice paddling kayaks, but this boat is truly a real beautiful kayak in many ways. What make a kayak really outstanding is the subtilities that add up to an overall effect or visual statement. The overhang of the bow and gentle curve of the stern and even the way the skeg is molded is truly a nice piece of art work and has an overall sensability of design and proportions. This is truly a great looking design which includes the craftsmanship on Scott's particular boat as well. It's my first time seeing it live and I was quite impressed. How it paddles – that's up to you."
Jay Babina
And from John March: "One of these days, I'll get around to putting up a review, but as the paddler of the second BP Dan built, I just want to say that it not only looks beautiful, it paddles beautifully. Until the BP, I paddled a Pintail in surf, so that is my reference point. I have never been in a more reassuring boat than the BP in lumpy water. Way more fun than the Pintail. Whatever I wanted it to do, the BP did with grace and relatively little effort. It isn't stability but responsiveness that is remarkable. Even after I blew off the aft Beckson hatch when dumped on by a six foot wave and had some water sloshing around back there, it still paddled reasonably well. And did I mention all the compliments – "looks like it belongs in MOMA" etc....
John"
The Pearl is generally easy to build, with the flat panels between chines, flat aft deck and gently curved fore deck, simple deck plates instead of elaborate wooden hatches and a limited amount of deck hardware – and most builders finish under 100 hours. Apart from the intended use the Black Pearl plans have also been used as a starting point for at least two traditional SOF:s, one Tom Yost-folder and one S&G kayak – conversions that are easy to do, though not described on the plans.
Images - Black Pearl
More on Black Pearl
Black Pearl is based on the east Greenland kayaks from the late 20th century - narrower, lower, with more overhangs and a straighter sheer, less deadrise and more flare than the western types. These were overall faster (particularly against the wind) and maneuvered better. With less initial stability it was a demanding craft. In eastern Greenland seal was hunted from kayak until until a couple of decades ago and the tradition is unbroken.
My take on this is a kayak lacking most characteristic qualities – meaning a kayak that is not stable nor unstable, not directionally stable nor maneuverable, not fast nor slow - but a kayak subtly following the paddlers intentions. No "kayak feel" between the paddler and the sea, no built in safety margin that saves the erring paddler and little mass to compromise fast maneuvering – a very reliable kayak.
Black Pearl is long, following Greenlandic tradition with three times the height of the paddler. The waterline length is relatively short with sloping stems – resulting in good maneuverability in low speed and good directional stability i higher speeds, when bow and stern waves climb the stems. Top speed is good for a Greenland kayak but do not match the full ended archipelago kayaks like Nomad or Najad.
The narrow waterline means a tippy kayak. Total beam is hip width plus four fingers for a rolling kayak or eight fingers for at touring kayak: approx 46-52 cm. My own Black Pearl is 555 cm x 48 cm and 22 cm high in front of the cockpit (I am 185 cm long, weights 80 kg and have shoes size 43). Initial stability is therefore low and a novice or someone used to wide commercial kayaks will have a nervous first trip. But with a good secondary it is easy to get used to the movements – and in waves there is a pleasant surprise: waves does not affect a tippy kayak as it does a stable one. Surfing, Black Pearl settles in its own wave system and becomes stable and easily handled.
Black Pearl maneuvers superbly. The almost flat bottom (5° deadrise), the hard chines and the short waterline length means that the kayak is easy to turn and reacts instantly to leans and weight shifts. The low deck takes some getting used to, but after a while there are some benefits – the comfort of needing no tight padding against the knees, hips, back etc and working with the knees as a additional power source for the strokes.
The deck aft is very low and flat to fascilitate layback rolls.
To chose Black Pearl you should be a reasonably experienced paddler and interested in developing skills in rolling, kayak acrobatics, exploring rock gardens, day touring etc. A novice with ambitions, patience and perseverance might use Black Pearl as a crash course to advanced paddling.
Lines - Black Pearl
Particulars - Black Pearl
| Length: | total/lwl: 550* +/- 10% |
| Beam: | total/lwl: 48 cm +/- 10% |
| Draft: | 10-11 cm |
| Cockpit: | 50 x 39 cm* |
| Height: | in front of/behind the cockpit 23/13 +/- 10% cm |
| Weight: | 13 kg |
| Load capacity: | 100-120 kg - 190-210 liter |
| Calculated speed: | 8,8 - 10.5 km/** |
| PC: | 0,54 |
| Wetted surface: | 1,69 m² |
| Calculated drag: | (4 knop) 1,48 kp - (5 knop) 3,07 kp |
| Stability: | (80 kg) low - (max load) low |
| Intended use: | Rolling and advanced paddling. Day tours and exercise. |
Dimensions are adjusted to suit the builder - the same way as a greenland SOF (skin-on-frame) is.
** The speed numbers are based on mathematical standard formulas (175 lb paddler + 30 lb carco weight) and corrected from the kayaks actual performance om trials, on tours and in races.
(The plans are personally adjusted for the builders size, since the kayak is small enough to depend on a perfect fit.)
I can also offer complete kits and professionally built and finished canoes. Please contact me for prices and terms.
The plans
Two sheets contains the nescessary information to build the kayak.
Black Pearl - background and history
The east Greenland kayak found its form later than the west Greenland types, but late in the 20th century it began to gain popularity around the coast. Compared to older types it was narrower, lower, with more overhangs and a straighter sheer, less deadrise and more flare. It was overall faster (particularly against the wind) and it maneuvered better. With less initial stability it was a demanding craft. In eastern Greenland seal was hunted from kayak until until a couple of decades ago and the tradition is unbroken.
Black Pearl is loosely based on the east Greenland kayaks, mainly the one depicted in the American Museum of Natural History (fig 208 i "the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America"). While not a replica – strip instead of SOF for a start – I have strived for an overall feel in handling that is close to the original.
I painted the prototype black – after a line of bright finished kayaks – for three reasons: the contemporary Greenland kayaks used for the rolling contest sometimes are black, during building I saw the little Japanese carbon fibre kayak Qaanaaq and because I wanted to accentuate the small size of the kayak (dark colors makes things look smaller). An amusing coincidence was that one week after my first trial tour Bill Withcomb launched his plywood kayak, with almost the same dimensions, also painted black. We even published photos (both unaware of the other) of our kayaks with black pets in the cockpit: a black cat in mine and Bill´s dark colored dog in his.
