On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, John Lull wrote: > > 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 So why exactly do whitewater kayaks require more effort? I confess to never having paddled a river boat in rough ocean conditions. Is it tracking? Whitewater kayaks have no tracking, however course corrections are effortless as a result, so a paddler on top of technique should have no trouble keeping on course. At least, this is what I have always suspected, but have never tested personally. Is it lack of speed? Whitewater kayaks are significantly slower than even a coaster at reasonable amounts of paddling effort. Also waterline length plays a relatively much greater role when trying to catch windwaves than in simple straight line paddling (ask me about my experience at Skookumchuk). Is it volume distribution? The bows of whitewater kayaks are made for punching through holes and stopper waves, but there is nothing like this in the average sea condtions that I think John is referring to. So I would guess that a whitewater kayak would provide a very wet ride whereas the coast has a high volume, anti-pearl bow for riding over waves, not through them. So there are three guesses of mine. Can anyone elucidate? kevin *************************************************************************** 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 - 10:17:57 PDT
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