“The Freya is by far the easiest rolling kayak I have ever been in. She fits like an extension of my body... The end result is a kayak I know so well and am so confident in that I can concentrate on having fun in gnarly paddling situations like in the surf or tidal rapids.” -Freya Fennwood, Highest Scorer in the 2015
National Greenland Rolling Competition
The Freya:
The New Freya represents a 4-year collaborative design effort between John Lockwood (owner and designer of Pygmy Boats) and his daughter Freya. In 2012 Freya learned to roll in John’s new touring kayak, the Murrelet, which was designed to be easy to roll. Her progress had been astronomical. She learned to Static Brace and Butterfly Roll on her first day. On her seventh day, while John was suited up in his dry suit standing in 49 degree water helping to right her right herself, she missed a roll. Much to John's surprise, Freya threw away her paddle and executed her first hand roll! Unbelievable.
The next summer at the SSTIKS symposium, Dubside, a world-renown kayak roller, saw Freya playing about in her Murrelet and suggested she take her rolling skills to the National Greenland Kayak Competition. John said to Freya, "If you want to do this, I’ll make you a kayak that is sized for you and designed specifically as a rolling kayak to compete in the Greenland Rolling Competition."
Greenland Kayaking Championships: John and Freya spent 4 years and went through 5 prototypes. First redesigning it to improve its ability to do forward finishing hand rolls, and again to make it the type of highly maneuverable play boat that Greenland kayak rollers like. The rest of the Greenland story can be read by clicking here. In brief, both she and the boat performed beautifully in Greenland and had the highest rolling score of any male or female competing at the 2015 competition. Yeah Freya!!!
Designed to Roll: The Freya is intended for advanced paddlers who want to further develop their rolling skills, or who desire a very maneuverable kayak. With her extremely cutaway back deck, laybacks are a cinch. The hull and decks were redesigned to make forward
finishing hand rolls easier. The hull rocker was pushed further than any of our other designs to create a playful hull for dynamic water. This kayak is not intended for the beginner or the larger paddler. It was designed for a smaller-framed paddler with narrow hips but it will accommodate up to a size 10.5 men’s shoe (US), depending on ankle flexibility.
Freya in the Freya does a straitjacket roll (the hardest of the 35 Greenland Rolls):
Freya Specs: Length……16'4" Beam…… 20” Height at Front of Cockpit……9.91”
Height at Rear of Cockpit..... 6.25"
Knee Height... 7.75"
Weight….. 28 lbs Cockpit…. 15” x 31” *Initial stability……7.6 Carrying capacity (vol.cu.ft)……8.50 **Efficient Cruising Wetted Surface in sq. ft.……17.30 Loaded waterline length……14.60' ***Top cruising speed……5.30 mph Available as kit……yes Available as plans……no
*The transverse Metacenter, in inches, is a measure of a kayak's initial stability. A higher number is more stable. All single kayaks computed with same weight person.
**Efficient cruising is a function of low frictional drag and low wetted surface. Lower WS means faster (less effort) cruising speeds, here expressed in sq. ft. ***90% of theoretical hull speed (THS) in mph. A boat's theoretical hull speed is a function of square root of its loaded waterline length (LWL). at approximately 80% to 90% of its hull speed a kayak will start to produce a bow wake longer than its LWL and the effort required to continue acceleration rapidly increases
Freya Features: Hull type…Multi-chine Deck type…Pygmy multi-chine cut away deck with patented rear cockpit recess Best used for… Surf kayaking, Dynamic Water, Day Paddling, Light touring, Pettite paddlers Paddler experience level… Intermediate/Advanced Shoe size….Up to men’s 11 (This depends heavily on ankle flexibility and personal comfort.) Cockpit size…15” x 31”
* We usually ship "Medium" hardener with our kits (good for temperatures ranging from 55-75 degrees Fahrenheit). You may order "Slow" for hot climates (75-95 degrees Fahrenheit) or "Fast" for cold climates (35-55 degrees Fahrenheit) upon request. Read the System Three Epoxy Book to help select the appropriate epoxy and hardener for you. If you would like a copy of the Epoxy Book, click here to download. We also stock System Three’s Silver Tip Epoxy and offer this as an option in our boat kits for an additional charge. For Silvertip epoxy the slow hardener is good for temperatures warmer than 65 and the fast is best for temperatures cooler than 65. Note: Silver Tip Resin can only ship via Ground Service and is not eligible for shipments to Alaska.
