Re: [Paddlewise] Evangelical Church of Rudderless Paddlers

From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 22:22:18 +0000
At 20:09 10/5/99 -0400, Michael Daly wrote:
[snip]
>
>I have a kayak with a rudder, but haven't used it in years - where's
>that put me?
>
>Mike

none of my canoes has a rudder, can't see why i would want one on a
kayak? ;-p the last one i bought from my dad, had a rudder. used it once,
out on a big lake, and the wind came up, i forgot about the rudder, 
and did a hard sweep to bring the boat around. ended up in the emergency
room with pulled muscles...

what did i learn? yes i can paddle all day without ever having to worry
about steering, until the swells come up, then the rudder goes in and
out of the water... you never know [since you're looking forward] when
the boat will stop or start to turn as the rudder catches and releases.
i would rather have the predictability of never having it grab.

i come from a whitewater back ground, and believe boat control is an
essential part of the paddling "skillset" ... my "sea kayak" that is
designed for a rudder, but has none :-) has _fixed_ foot braces, that
the rudder control pivots around, so you don't have that squishiness
in movable foot pegs. i don't see how you could brace solidly in the
boat, and still use your feet to steer...

YMMV, IMHO, etc

mark

#------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com--------------------------------------
mark zen                      o,    o__              o_/|   o_.
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#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~
http://www.diac.com/~zen/paddler  [index of Paddling websites I manage]
Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club, Colorado River Flows, Poudre Paddlers
The Colorado Paddlers' Resource, Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page 
--
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
--Pablo Picasso

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Received on Tue Oct 05 1999 - 21:19:06 PDT

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