In a message dated 4/8/99 6:46:17 AM Pacific Daylight Time, rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com writes: << but they shine when it comes to a paddler suddenly rendered ill or injured. Since the (folder) boats stability is inherent to their design and not a function of the skills and alertness of the paddler, an ill/hurt paddler is in a lot less danger of capsizing while being towed >> Ralph, A *bit* sweeping, that comment. Perhaps true for folding *boats*, but not for folding kayaks. If I were towing someone in a Klepper, I'd just throw them in the bilge with those famous rocks and they'd be stable as a spider with its stomach on the ground. But if they were in the Khats or one of the other performance kayaks, I'd post someone nearby. The stability of folders, like other craft, comes from the sum total effect of their hull designs and dimensions, not from the inflatables inside the skin. Only when *swamped* -- when the internal sponsons have water on both sides of them (giving them buoyancy and helping to right the boat when tilted), does the sponsons make a folder any more stable than a rigid craft of the same external shape. Or is there some benevalent blue fource I've never heard of that only acts on skin boats of Euro manufacture? :-) Harold *************************************************************************** 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 Apr 08 1999 - 08:19:43 PDT
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