I am puzzled by the discussion of "lift" as it applies to skegs and rudders. I recall something called Bernoulli's Principle that describes lift in terms of airplane wing sections but rudders and skegs are not shaped that way. It seems to me that if a skeg had a cross section like that, say, of a Cessna 150, the "lift" it created would tend to pull the kayak's stern to one side or the other just as it tends to pull the Cessna's wing upward. John Myers *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
John Myers wrote: > > I am puzzled by the discussion of "lift" as it applies to skegs and > rudders. I recall something called Bernoulli's Principle that describes > lift in terms of airplane wing sections but rudders and skegs are not > shaped that way. It seems to me that if a skeg had a cross section like > that, say, of a Cessna 150, the "lift" it created would tend to pull the > kayak's stern to one side or the other just as it tends to pull the > Cessna's wing upward. Any surface with a *positive angle of attack* will generate lift. Aerobatic aircraft have symmetrical (or nearly so) airfoils, and generate lift whether right side up or upside down. The asymmetric airfoil of the Cessna's airfoil is designed to generate lift in only one direction. A symmetrical airfoil on a skeg/rudder would work like the aerobatic aircraft's airfoil. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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