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From: <MadPoodle_at_aol.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Re: Is it a kayak, or what?
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 05:48:24 EDT
Time to get out the GPS and clock one I guess. No idea how fast they are, but
they fairly fly around the marina here. I know this is heresy on this list,
but theoretical hull speeds do not always work...

Scott

Found a new beach. Its in the garage. What, thats not a sand dune, its dads
car?
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From: John Winters <735769_at_ican.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Re: Is it a kayak, or what?
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 07:15:52 -0400
Scott wrote;



>Time to get out the GPS and clock one I guess. No idea how fast they are,
but
>they fairly fly around the marina here. I know this is heresy on this
list,
>but theoretical hull speeds do not always work...


Actually not heresy at all but just plain fact.

Hull speed is not a limit to speed. It is a term coined by William Froude
for the speed at which the transverse wave system produced by the boat
coincided with the effective waterline length of the boat. For ships and
boats of high displacement/length ratios this is a practical limit to speed
as enormous amounts of power are required for greater speeds. Even so, high
displacement ships etc. can and do exceed hull speed.

For light displacement boats or ships displacement speeds are easily
exceeded because wavemaking resistance is so small.  Sea kayaks, rowing
shells, etc. regularly exceed hull speed while in a displacement mode.
Sprint boats race at speeds 50% higher than hull speed and my old worn out
body can produce speeds 20% higher than hull speed when testing kayaks.
Some warship models are tested at speed length ratios of 4.0 or almost
three times hull speed.

The term "hull speed" is unfortunate and I am sure if Froude could have
foreseen how it would be misused he would have thought of something
different. My suggestion would be Coincident Speed since that does not
imply any limitation.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/



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