Peter, Under windy conditions a kayak loaded up on deck with drybags and other high volume items is more like driftwood and defeats any good kayak design. Also, your 2nd line of defense (re-entry after wet exit) is more complicated, especially in cold water. Loosing things is another problem, so it the problem with towlines. What is your kayak design criterion for serious touring? I think that with some proper planning/packing the storage capacity of the Cape Horn is sufficient for more than a week long trip. Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: Peter van den Hurk <pvdhurk_at_ufl.edu> To: Peter Veng-Pedersen <veng_at_uiowa.edu>; <paddler_at_loxinfo.co.th>; Paddlewise news group <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 8:10 PM Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] No need for a rudder... finally > This is an interesting message, which I would like to hear more about, > especially from actual kayak designers. It is my impression that some > kayaks are properly designed for use without a rudder, and for other kayaks > that do have a rudder it needs to be used because it is part of the design. > I have noticed that both Dagger Magellans and Perception Chinooks perform > very poor in side wind with the rudder up. Which is understandable when you > look at the hull design (no keel or hard chines). With the rudder out of > the water, this works as a sail at the rear end of the kayak. Even though > the rudder area in the side wind is relatively small, it needs little force > to pivot the boat because the arm to the center of gravity of the boat is > so long (basic physics). For these boats you really need to have the rudder > down in side wind. (Which created a severe problem the other day because > one of the footpegs of the Chinook had gone missing, and thus it could only > be paddled with the rudder up). > > This brings me to a related problem: how do kayaks without a rudder perform > when gear is packed on top of the boat? We went on a 5 day camping trip in > the Everglades before Christmas. Because we had to bring all our water (6 > gallon per boat), food, a tent to survive the bugs and a sleeping pad to > get at least some sleep on the chickees, we could not avoid to tie dry bags > on top of the kayaks. I was very happy to have a rudder, because I could > feel the 2 drybags on top of my rear hatch working as a sail in side wind. > In other words: try a new boat also with gear on top if you plan on doing > serious touring (which I guess the Cape Horn is not intended for). > > Another Peter > > At 11:51 AM 1/3/00 -0000, Peter Veng-Pedersen wrote: > >I spend several days trying out many sea yaks at demo days here in the > >Midwest region and got quite annoyed by the need for using a rudder for > >directional stability when a significant wind is blowing. Also, at aerobic > >speed many yaks tend to diverge from the intended direction if you skip a > >couple of strokes for a little break or do not "closely balance" your > >stokes. I was NOT impressed about several of the "top of the line" sea yaks. > >Trying the Cape Horn (http://www.wildsys.com/kayaks.html ) was a VERY > >pleasant experience. There is something quite magic about this hull design. > >No wonder WS claim they spend more R&D on this design that any other of > >their designs. (A big compliment to the designer Harrie Tieken ). I am now > >a very happy owner of a Cape Horn. My advice to anybody planning on buying a > >sea yak DON'T trust anybody about the suitability for you. TRY IT OUT !!! > >Peter > > > *************************************************************************** > 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/ > *************************************************************************** > *************************************************************************** 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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