Awhile back, I had the opportunity to paddle a Necky Looksha 3 sea kayak for a few months. Actually, I bought it & then took it back. It's a pretty radical design, being 19' 6" long, double hard chines and a beam of only 19 inches. I noted the following: (1) It's incredibly fast! I could outrun highly experienced paddlers in more traditional boats without really even trying all that hard. On one 4 mile crossing in fairly rough seas, I noted a speed made good of almost 5 knots, and I wasn't in any real hurry! This was near slack tide, so the current was not a significant factor in my speed. When I got my Solstice GT, at first it felt like I was paddling a "lifeless plank" as Derek Hutchinson would say. I'm pretty much used to the Solstice now, and think it is a very good boat. (2) The Looksha is **very** tippy. (19" beam) My paddling style is generally one part performance kayaking and two or three parts just noodling around. In the Looksha, I couldn't really relax & look at eagles & seastars, or just "drift & dream" without being aware of staying upright. During rest breaks, I occasionally got out the paddle float just to be able to totally relax. I think this is probably because I didn't paddle it long enough to get comfortable with how far you can lean before having to pay attention. (3) the long skinny profile necessitated an additional piece of equipment. An umbrella! to fish stuff out of the extreme ends of the storage compartments! No way could I reach that tent with my hand! Anyone else paddle this boat or one similar to it? I miss the speed and agility but I don't want to give up the comfort of my current boat. 'Guess I'm looking for ways to have the best of both worlds. Craig Olson Bellingham, Washington *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
I just demoed a Looksha III for a couple hours last weekend. I found it to be fast and tippy. I also found that it would start tracking in its own direction and I would have to lean pretty hard to get it back on course. I'm sure that would cease to be a problem once I got comfortable with its secondary stability. The Caribou I demoed right after that seemed a whole lot more even tempered. I didn't get a close look at the Looksha III hull but I'm guessing it gets some of its speed from a low amount of rocker. That must be where it gets its tracking, too. The difficulty I had bringing it back on course probably had to do with its rounded bilge (compared to the Caribou and my hard chine stitch and glue) and the low amount of rocker. The question I have for the techies out there that are familiar with the Looksha III is this: Besides the obvious length and width issues does it derive its speed by having low rocker and a rounded bilge? On the other side of the coin I paddled a fiberglass Sea Lion. It felt like it had a lead keel. It just didn't want to lean. How is that accomplished? Mostly by width? Craig Olson wrote: > Awhile back, I had the opportunity to paddle a Necky Looksha 3 sea kayak for a few > months. Actually, I bought it & then took it back. It's a pretty radical design, > being 19' 6" long, double hard chines and a beam of only 19 inches. > snip > Anyone else paddle this boat or one similar to it? I miss the speed and agility but > I don't want to give up the comfort of my current boat. 'Guess I'm looking for ways > to have the best of both worlds. > > Craig Olson > Bellingham, Washington > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Wave~Length Paddling Mailing List > Submissions: wavelength_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: wavelength-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > World Wide Web: http://www.wie.com/~wavenet/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
-----Original Message----- From: Keith Kaste <kkaste_at_slip.net> To: Craig Olson <craigo_at_az.com> Cc: WaveLength <wavelength_at_lists.intelenet.net>; PaddleWise <PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Date: Wednesday, January 28, 1998 4:48 PM Subject: Re: Wave~Length: touring boats >I just demoed a Looksha III for a couple hours last weekend. I found it to be fast and >tippy. I also found that it would start tracking in its own direction and I would have >to lean pretty hard to get it back on course. I'm sure that would cease to be a problem >once I got comfortable with its secondary stability. The Caribou I demoed right after >that seemed a whole lot more even tempered. I didn't get a close look at the Looksha >III hull but I'm guessing it gets some of its speed from a low amount of rocker. That >must be where it gets its tracking, too. The difficulty I had bringing it back on >course probably had to do with its rounded bilge (compared to the Caribou and my hard >chine stitch and glue) and the low amount of rocker. > I demo'd the Caribou in 25 knot winds on protected water. It weathercocked terribly. Extremely hard to hold on course. Try it in wind before you buy. Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
Gerald Foodman wrote: > I demo'd the Caribou in 25 knot winds on protected water. It weathercocked > terribly. Extremely hard to hold on course. I don't have any trouble holding a Caribou on course. I've paddled a Caribou in everthing from gentle breezes to a full gale, and on bodies of water ranging from a lake to the open ocean. As for your difficulties, several possibilities come to mind. First, any tendency to weathercock will be exacerbated by a wind blowing over a short reach (such as when you are paddling in a strong wind behind a protective jetty or on a lake). Second, the Caribou is somewhat sensitive to trim. It paddles better when loaded a tad stern heavy. Third, the Caribou is extremely maneuverable. While this makes it easy to correct for course deviations, it doesn't have the "locked on" feeling of less maneuverable boats. This doesn't bother me, but then again I don't find it all that difficult to paddle a whitewater boat in a straight line, and the Caribou tracks like it is on rails compared to my whitewater kayak. While some folks don't like boats with "soft" tracking, I much prefer a highly maneuverable boat to a boat that sacrifices maneuverability for tracking stiffness. I have a Sosltice that tracks stiffly but I seldom use it anymore--It doesn't feel very lively. To each his own. > Try it in wind before you buy. This is always a good idea! Dan Hagen Bellingham, Washington *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
On Wed, 28 Jan 1998, Craig Olson wrote: > Awhile back, I had the opportunity to paddle a Necky Looksha 3 sea kayak for a few > months. Actually, I bought it & then took it back. It's a pretty radical design, > being 19' 6" long, double hard chines and a beam of only 19 inches. > > Anyone else paddle this boat or one similar to it? I miss the speed and agility but > I don't want to give up the comfort of my current boat. 'Guess I'm looking for ways > to have the best of both worlds. I've given up on having the best of both worlds in one boat. I've got a surf ski to "complement" my sea kayaks. It's fun to have a go fast boat. It's definitely not useful for much more than having a speedy paddle in open areas. I need about 40 yards of space to turn it around. On a 50 foot wide river I needed to do a 5 point(?) turn to turn around, back and forth, back and forth. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
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