On Thu, 26 Mar 1998, Geo. Bergeron wrote: > Now that the subject's been raised, who uses rudders and who leans > the boat? I used to be deadset against rudders. I still think a sea kayaker should first learn to control the boat without a rudder, so that if and when the rudder breaks they can get out of whatever trouble they may be in. If a skilled paddler decides they want a rudder I'm all for it. The example that changed my mind was the guy that paddled around Australia. He said compensating for a crosswind for the entire day wasn't worth it, when he could simply add a rudder and paddle with a balanced stroke. I now have a boat with a rudder, it's 19'6" (just under 6m) with a 17.25" (43.8cm) beam. It's brutal to turn. Leaning doesn't help all that much. The rocker created by leaning the boat isn't that significant, it's also tippy and leaning it can get exciting. The major problem I have with most of the rudder equiped boats, in the US, is that the rudder controls double as foot pedals. I've neaver heard a good justification for not selling a boat where the foot pegs are fixed and the rudder is controlled by the forefoot. Maybe enough customers haven't complained. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 27 1998 - 10:32:46 PST
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