[Paddlewise] flooded boat

    I was paddling out on Tomales Bay this past Sunday.    There was
some wind, some white caps, quite normal.  I put in at Heart's Desire
beach.  What I didn't realize is that I didn't secure the front hatch.
Things started getting weird by the time I made it to the eastern
shore.  I didn't land, but decided to push back to the launch site.  The
bow kept getting lower and lower in the water.  It was a little sluggish
and hard to manuever, but I never felt I was in big danger.  I thought,
"Wow, what if the front compartment completely filled with water?  Would
I be prepared for that?  What would that be like?"  When I got back to
shore I opened the hatch and found that in fact the front compartment
*was* completely filled with water.  I'm thinking it might be good to go
through this as an exercise with all my boats:  learn what it is like to
try to handle them with either the forward or rear compartment flooded.
If flooding a compartment leads to potentially disasterous results maybe
that compartment is better off with a flotation bag in it.

BTW, I'm still working on the summary listing of everyone's boats.  I've
got close to 100 boats so far.  Sorry it's taking so long.

Keith Kaste

***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/
***************************************************************************