WoodenBoat Magazine had an article on the construction of a baidarka for racing in a fairly hairy, long distance race somehwere on the east coast. It was a double. They won the race, but didn't break any records, but then conditions were pretty bad. It is hard to determine if they won due to superior equipment, ability, or plain good luck. I don't know if they repeated their performance this past year. Remember that baidarkas have rather selective flexibility. I beleive they are designed with joints in the keel to hog, (middle rises while the ends droop) but not bend the other way much. I am not sure how much rigidity they have in other ways, like torsionally, or in terms of how much the skin flexes (do they breath a lot when you stuff them into a wave?). Rob. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Rob MacDonald wrote: > WoodenBoat Magazine had an article on the construction of a baidarka for > racing in a fairly hairy, long distance race somehwere on the east coast. The blackburn challenge - about 20 miles, essentially circumnavigating Gloucester Massachusetts. > It was a double. They won the race, but didn't break any records, but the > conditions were pretty bad. They paddled a Bruce Lemon designed and partially built double. I raced that year. 20 miles without a single ride on a wave :-( Basically broadside to head high waves for the northern portion of the paddle. A LOT of boats went over that year. I saw a 6 man outrigger, with a good team, flipped by a wave. Imagine swimming with a swamped 45' 400 pound boat, in 4 foot waves, a 20 mph wind, with the wind and waves pushing you toward a rocky shore (the site of a former granite quarry). Fortunately the Blackburn Challenge is exceptionally well run and 2 rescue boats were there to assist the outrigger within 10 minutes. > It is hard to determine if they won due to > superior equipment, ability, or plain good luck. I don't know if they > repeated their performance this past year. They weren't there. I think the baidarka did well because it was flexible. I also expect it would have lost this past year if they had raced the same opponent - the water was glassy smooth. > Remember that baidarkas have rather selective flexibility. I beleive they > are designed with joints in the keel to hog, (middle rises while the ends > droop) but not bend the other way much. Depends on the boat. A friend who put a segmented keel in one of his singles hated it. > I am not sure how much rigidity > they have in other ways, like torsionally, or in terms of how much the skin > flexes (do they breath a lot when you stuff them into a wave?). Mine pops up pretty quickly when stuffed into a wave, I particularly like the bow shapes for going into waves. You can definitely feel the waves passing along the skin. How much so depends on the skin and how tight it is. kirk *************************************************************************** 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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