> A conclusion we came to was that as >a designer, you need to decide whether your kayak will be balanced >with or without a rudder in side winds. One of our kayaks was quite >balanced without, and then with the rudder deployed (as virtually all >people paddle here in New Zealand) the bow would blow downwind. >This is exacerbated by light loadings/paddlers or stern loadings. > >Consequently we now produce boats that weathercock without the >rudder, but are balanced (or more balanced depending on the final >tradeoff we choose) with the the rudder. The stronger the winds, the >more of a problem it becomes, and we do live in a very windy part of >the world here. > Glyn, Do you think many designers actually choose whether to balance the hull design to be neutral with the rudder deployed, rather than with it up? How would you do that anyway? Wouldn't small variations of the load distribution change the result. I prefer paddling my Solstice GTS without its rudder deployed. It is only under certain conditions of wind and chop that the rudder is a real benefit. I think that I am happy with the balance of the GTS with the rudder up, and am willing to pay the penalty of having the bow blow off a bit in a side wind. Jerry *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Nov 19 1998 - 21:06:43 PST
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