This review was written by Peter Loyen and posted courtesy of NDK/SKUK.
I recently purchased a new member of the SKUK kayak family, the Pulse.
I opted to have a skeg instead of a rudder. This decision was based on the comments from various experienced coaches and kayakers, who have tested it both with skeg and rudder.
I wasn't able to test it myself prior the purchase, so I took a leap of faith.
Honestly, I haven't regretted my purchase at all.
The reviewer, Peter Loyen, in the NDK Pulse.
The pulse is a fast and slim kayak, with excellent primary and secondary stability. I can easily edge it as far as my sprayskirt touching the water without the kayak getting out of balance.
How does it handle in conditions?
Flat Water
At first, I primarily used it as a fitness kayak on flat water and gentle seas. I did notice it really wants to weathercock at the slightest breeze. It can be corrected with some edge or dropping the skeg a little. In time the skeg wasn't needed that often anymore, as I got more used to the behavior of the kayak.
Acceleration and cruising speed are very good. My other kayak is an NDK Explorer and compared to it, the Pulse needs half the effort and is easily 1.5 knots faster. I have paddled the Pulse at speeds reaching to 6.5 to 7 knots, and this for about a 10k distance, considering myself an above average fitness paddler.
It turns quite easily applying some edge, but due to the long waterline (no rocker), it took me some time to manage the right amount of edge. Edging too much and it would start to turn very short and applying too little and you might miss your turn. This is not so important at open sea but closer to land it is good to get used to it.
The hull has a double concave running from the bow and a flat area mid-kayak. This promotes early planning on waves, and it also aids turning.
Following Seas
In following seas (sea state 3-4), the Pulse is a very capable sea kayak. It remains very stable. Depending on the direction of the wind (side or stern), you probably need to deploy the skeg to some extent, and surely much sooner than I would do in my Explorer. Although it is not designed as a surf kayak, it does this quite well. The concave hull and flat section, allows the kayak to surf on even smaller waves (less than 3 ft) with minimum effort.
Surfing
It tracks well while surfing. In actual surf, heading towards the beach, I found it sometimes hard to keep in straight and it wants to turn parallel to the breaking wave. But that might be just me and not the kayak. The plumb bow isn't really designed for surfing on stronger surf towards a rocky or pebble beach.
Expeditioning
I wouldn't use the Pulse for more than a weekend trip mostly due to less loading capacity and not being designed for this either.
Conclusion
A great and versatile sea kayak, ideal for fitness, speed (it is fast) and weekend trips with light packing (it hasn't got that much loading capacity.) And I agree with the designers, it is perfectly capable to be used up to sea state 4!
The NDK Pulse: a sea kayak designed for fast cruising with very little rocker and a long waterline.
Specifications- Length 17.5 ft
- Width 19.9 in
- Height 12.2 in
- 3 hatches: large round front hatch; day hatch; oval rear hatch
- Knee bumps for maximum contact and control in rough water
- Wide cockpit to enable most people to paddle with their knees up
- The Pulse comes with a rudder as standard but a skeg is an option
- Werner aluminium footrests
- Adjustable fiberglass seat
- Deck lines and elastics