Re: [Paddlewise] peception eclipse

At 06:07 PM 10/19/98 -0400, Joy E. Hecht wrote:
>On Mon, 19 Oct 1998, Mel Grindol wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>A couple of thoughts on what Mel wrote:
>
>> 
>> 
>> Now I'm going to tread onto a touchy subject.  I personally think that
>> part of her problem with the Shadow weathercocking on her is self induced. 
>> She likes to paddle at a very slow pace (I outpace her even with breaks to
>> let her catch up).  When I paddle at her pace my Looksha IV starts to
>> weathercock too (very little forward motion to offset the weathercocking). 
>
>I have an Arctic Hawk and had a lot of problems with weathercocking.  I 
>found that the best thing to offset it was to lean back, not forwards.  
>My usual paddling style has a lot of forward lean.  But in a beam wind if 
>I lean back, while it makes for less efficient paddling, the boat tracks 
>much better - so overall it's an advantage.  But perhaps it's different 
>in other boats.
>
>
>> I will grant her that she is small and no where near as strong as me (no,
>> I'm not buff). 
>> 
>> Another problem that she has that is only partially her fault is that
>> she won't lean to counter the weathercocking.  This is probably more due
>> to the fact that we need to seriously pad out her cockpit.  She has no
>> contact between her hips and the boat/seat (I said she was small).  She
>> claims that she doesn't have enough control to effectively lean.  Padding
>> out our cockpits is high on the agenda (I just backordered the Sea Kayaker
>> with the article on how to do that). 
>
>Being tight in the boat makes a huge difference in the ability to lean it
>and prevent weathercocking.  I paddled a Sea Lion for a year.  I'm 5'3" 
>and not slim, but not tall enough or top-heavy enough to lean the boat at
>all well.  In bad conditions I had to use the rudder to avoid really
>getting tired trying to go straight.  The Arctic Hawk is a lower volume
>boat and therefore tighter and easier to lean, but still not perfect. 
>Recently I've begun paddling a Recluse, which is a _very_ low-volume boat
>and it's definitely tight.  It's a breeze to lean and make it track in any
>wind.  That is probably also related to other features of boat design, but
>it does suggest that padding your wife's boat a lot so she is tight in it
>will help. 
>
>
>Joy Hecht
>Arlington VA
>


Joy
 I also paddle a Arctic Hawk and have no problem with weather cocking. Of
course I am 5' 10" and weigh in around 240lbs so it is a low volume kayak
that is tight fitting for me. So I guess it is all relative to who paddles
what kayak to how it performs.

Dana
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