John Winters wrote: 1. The waterline lengths of many of the shorter sea kayaks (Coaster, Speedee, etc.) are actually quite long relative to the overall length (i.e. short overhangs in the bow and stern) whereas many "long" sea kayaks have long overhangs. For example the 20' Looksha II has a waterline length of 16.16' so the overhangs are approximately 20% of it length. For comparison the Coaster is at 13.44' is 12.76' on the waterline and its overhangs are approximately 5% of its length. So, when comparing lengths it pays to look at the waterline length rather than the overall length.... I think John hit an important point here. I've noticed a lot of long kayaks have bows that overhang the water as much as two feet. But all the discussion about speed trials, hull speed, etc. are missing the point to some extent. It is overall performance and efficiency in a wide variety of conditions that is important. This is why I keep harping on the Coaster; it kind of stands alone in this respect. For example, when surfing downwind in short, steep seas, the Coaster can far exceed it's "hull speed". Because of the relatively low volume stern and short length it fits nicely in the wave and because of it's long waterline (relative to overall length) it holds it's speed well. This is all true to some extent for other sea kayaks, but a boat with a long, narrow, low volume bow will tend to bury it's bow in the water when traveling downwind, thereby slowing the boat and causing it to pivot on the bow. Dan pointed out that even whitewater kayaks can be paddled at 3 to 4 knots. And of course they are very maneuverable; however they require considerably more effort to paddle on the open sea than a boat like the Coaster. Anyone who doubts this should get out on a stormy day in their rodeo boat (or even a Dancer) and try paddling a few miles! In a Coaster you would be having fun (assuming you have the skills to paddle storm seas); in the whitewater river kayak, you'd be cursing. John Lull *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Oct 13 1998 - 09:44:26 PDT
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