058-061 t&t zegul 520.indd - Expedition Kayaks

GEARTESTTRIEDANDTESTEDZegul 520CompositeSea KayakRRP: €1999More information:www.zegulmarine.comIt’s undeniable that the Zegul 520 sea kayak wehave in for testing, in its race car red, and withits sleek, narrow body and pronounced fineends andhard chines is a sexy-looking boat. Sinceit arrived a CK Towers we’ve had it out on thewater at every opportunity and are now able togive a little more than the rather superficialsummary above of this composite performancesea kayak.The Zegul brand is owned and operated by thelong-established European manufacturer TaheKayaks, from Sweden. Designer Johan Wirsénlaunched the brand in 2004, and since then hasdeveloped a sizable range of kayaks all targeted atthe more advanced, ‘hardcore’ sea paddler.“The very functional rocker combinedwith the raised ends on the bow onthe stern, the hard chines and sharp‘V’ hull make for an incrediblymanoeuvrable and fast boat...”This is something that is very clearly apparent whengetting into the Zegul 520. The primary stability isextremely slight, and to a beginner this boat wouldfeel uncomfortably tippy. To the more experiencedthough, or a paddler coming from a whitewater orslalom background, this isn’t a problem at all: thesecondary stability is excellent, and the 520 will sitvery happily on an extreme edge, and becomes verystable when doing so.One thing to note, though, is that if you’replanning on taking one of these for a demo, makesure you have a suitably watertight neoprene spraydeck.The hard chines, which give the 520 secondarystability at a very advanced angle combined with thenarrow body - the benefits of which we’ll discussshortly – mean that when turning, particularly inswell, a large proportion of the surface-area of thecockpit can be submerged.The HandlingThe 520 is Zegul’s ‘playful’ kayak. It is certainly truethat the very functional rocker combined with theraised ends on the bow on the stern, the hard chinesand sharp ‘V’ hull make for an incrediblymanoeuvrable and fast boat, with all of the play thatZegul intended.We’ve had it out in a variety of conditions and ithas certainly proved to hold its own in the face ofmore challenging sea states. What makes the 520such a delight to paddle, even when there’s a bit of abreeze, is that the shape of the hull causes it to track58 OCTOBER 2011 www.canoekayak.co.ukwww.canoekayak.co.uk OCTOBER 2011 59

GEARTESTTRIEDANDTESTEDincredibly well with the skeg up, and when you makethe most of the secondary stability, get your weightover an edge and paddle aggressively you can makesome really snappy turns. The edge-edge transitionis fast and smooth, so you can positively weave inand between obstacles with striking ease.This goes out of the window, however, whenconditions force you to drop the skeg. You wouldobviously expect the skeg to have an adverse effecton manoeuvrability, but although it does a great jobof keeping the kayak tracking in high winds, theturning becomes almost unbearably sluggish.We’ve only tested the Zegul 520 with thestandard-fit kajaksport skeg system, but as anoptional extra or alternative you could opt to have itwith a Smart Track rudder system.As you would expect from such a playful seakayak the Zegul 520 surfs beautifully, and neverfeels unwieldy or out of control, although beprepared to paddle aggressively, the rocker andbow position when the boat isn’t loaded make itquite easy to get turned around and surfedbackwards if you don’t dominate it. We think that inthe right hands this boat could really be putthrough its paces in the surf or on a substantial tiderace. It’s an absolute dream to roll, so you’ll neverfeel uncomfortable pushing yourself for fear of notbeing able to bring it back up again. If you’re a seapaddling thrill seeker out for a bit of fun on a daywith good conditions the design of this boat isguaranteed to give you a fine ride and put a smileon your face!The TripHaving said this, we’ve taken the Zegul 520 on longer,more mellow and sheltered day trips and it’s servedus just fine. Across the four storage hatches, one ofwhich is a handy day hatch right in front of thecockpit, there is plenty of room to fulfil the needs ofthe day-tripper or someone on a longer trip.Interestingly, we found that loaded only with thelunch, water, emergency kit and some photographyequipment required for a day trip the bow would skipover the waves a fair bit, something that willpresumably be brought under control by loading thefront hatch with kit for a longer trip. Despite this,though, the water line around the cockpit seemsquite low when the boat is completely unloaded. Wethought it was a little strange that provision for a lotof kit is built into the design of such a playful seakayak that, in our opinion, is much better suited tozipping around your local stretches of coastline andtide races, rather than being loaded up for longer,more serious expeditions.We’re not really complaining, though! At almosttwo thousand euros any attempt to make the Zegul520 more versatile in purpose is a welcomedaddition.ConstructionStandard construction is a carbon/aramid infusion.Aramids are synthetic fibres designed for strengthand heat resitstance, Kevlar being the most commonexample. This standard light and strong modelweighs in at 22-24kg. You can also opt for an evenlighter, albeit slightly more delicate, vacumm infusedcarbon fibre lay-up version, a mere 19-21kg of boat.Other DetailsTahe Kayak’s long history of making sea kayaks showsin the quality finish of this boat. The outfitting ishighly customisable to individuals if you’re willing tospend a bit of time tweaking, don’t expect to get itspot on first time out if you only spent a fewmoments making adjustments. There is a raised frontdeck, which allows room for a comfortable bend inyour knees even when you’re packed in quite tightlyThere is plenty of accesible storage.with good purchase on the footrests. We’ve spentlong days out on the water in the Zegul 520 and it’salways been comfortable.All the other finishing touches – the hatch covers,the bungee, the end handles are a similarly goodquality job. All things considered, we think this is avery reasonably priced option for and advancedpaddler’s composite sea kayak.ConclusionWe loved the Zegul 520, for the right person it’s ajoy to paddle but it’s also definitely true to say that itisn’t for everyone, or everything. The rocker andhard-chines that limit primary stability rule it outentirely as a beginner boat, and even for anexperienced sea kayaker the highly-aggressivepaddling style it demands will take some gettingused to if you’re only familiar with the moretraditional British fish-form style kayak.Although it has plenty of storage and a highridingbow when unloaded, we don’t think it’s bestsuited to long expeditions. We’d recommend it for asea kayaker who loved a bit of excitement andwants a fast, manoeuvrable recreational or surfingboat, or maybe even a whitewater paddler whowants to get into sea kayaking and is alreadyproficient at the aggressive paddling style you needto get the most of this sea kayak.WebFor more sea kayak reviews and videosplot a course forwww.canoekayak.co.ukWhen unloaded the bow skips over the waves a little60 OCTOBER 2011 www.canoekayak.co.uk