[Paddlewise] Tethers, hydraulic forces

Nick Lyle wrote

> With either paddle or personal tethers the loads will equal whatever
> force is required to suddenly accellerate the mass of your body, moving
> against water resistance, pulled by a lunging object weighing 100 to 200
> pounds (for a loaded single).  The lunging kayak could have hundreds of
> pounds of water pressure acting on it.

G'Day

Thanks Nick. I'ld have to say that the Velcro loop on my surfboard tether
would be unlikely to stand up to the forces you describe and my wrist
certainly wouldn't. I tried to visualise a worst case based on your post. So
if the paddler is behind a cresting wave and the kayak is fallling down the
front of the wave then its a balance between drag on the paddler vs a 200lb
kayak sliding maybe 2 metres through water, under gravity, at say 45
degrees. I've ignored the water pressure because surely this would act on
both paddler and kayak. Can anyone visualise a more realistic worst case?
Does anyone have figures for the hydraulic drag on paddlers or kayaks? Would
a drogue be a reasonable model for the drag on a paddler? 

Phillip Torrens wrote

> Right you are Peter, the problem of good and bad Velcro has puzzled
Catholic 
> theologians for centuries.

And I still want to know how many angels can dance on the bow of my Klepper
- or maybe I'm hallucinating :-)

All the best, PeterO
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