[Paddlewise] Initial Stability, Rolling and Seaworthiness

G'Day,

Thanks to everyone for their replies to my question, here is a very 
comprehensive reply from Colin Calder who is off the air at present and 
suggested I forward it on to Paddlewise.

PeterO

From: "Colin & Fiona" <tiree_at_supanet.com>

Hi Peter

In reply to your paddlewise post:

>G'Day,
>      I'm in the middle of buying a second boat to further develop
>kayaking skills. The one I have at present is a Klepper (which is a
>lot of fun and would still be my first choice for a roughish sea).
>But I'm looking to develop rolling and better bracing skills and
>opting for a hardshell as the second boat.
>      Is it true that boats which have higher initial stability are
>not necessarily as stable in rough seas?

In rough water in a kayak it is paddler input which is important, ie what 
you do with your body and paddle, not just the hull shape. Flat bottomed or 
excessively beamy boats with so called 'high initial stability' are in my 
opinion a mare in rough water because the hull limits the amount of control 
you can exert with your body by edging and leaning. An analogy - Tricycles 
have more initial stability than Bicycles but would fall over a lot if used 
for mountainbiking. Probably less often mentioned but of concern 
nevertheless is the fact that the motion of beamier flat bottomed kayaks is 
considerably less comfortable in rough water - even ignoring the 
need-to-brace-to-avoid-capsize condition in a lumpy sea a beamy boat will 
throw you around much more and flat bottoms slam, both of which is tiring.

>Also can anyone tell me of circumstances when a roll, or reenter and
>roll is not the best method of self rescue in a hardshell?

The best rescue is not needing one .. thus I don't consider a roll any more 
a rescue than other bracing strokes. If you can't roll though, you can't 
re-enter roll. Catch 22. If you can roll, then falling over isn't likely to 
be as much of a problem! Opinions on the list clearly differ, and for any 
individual/conditions/locations its a judgement call but my opinion is that 
if you aren't capable of rolling in whatever condtions you probably 
shouldn't be paddling that water solo. .... If you aren't solo then I think 
if you do swim self rescue is probably going to be slower and less reliable 
than an assisted rescue. Thus my hierarchy would be:

1. Don't fall over (good bracing skills)
2. If you do, roll up
3. If you can't roll, take a bow rescue from a switched-on companion
(although I suspect that if you can't roll, you are unlikely to hang around 
too long for a bow rescue before swimming)
4. If you swim, make use of your friendly companions (it will stop them 
laughing for a few moments) to effect a speedy and safe rescue
5. No companions? hope you know how to roll. If for some exceptional reasons 
you swim, re-enter roll.

FWIW, I don't know of anyone who would consider going paddling solo on the 
sea if they didn't have a reliable roll, and I also don't know anyone who 
carries a paddlefloat with the serious intention of using it for an 
outrigger style self rescue (I do have an inflatable paddlefloat, bought out 
of curiosity really after reading the paddlewise list, but it would be my 
absolute last choice as a method of self rescue). The idea of relying on a 
paddlefloat as your only method of effecting rescues is something that I 
have only learned about through the wavelength/paddlewise lists, and the 
concept I find utterly amazing! - they are not a widely accepted accessory 
in these parts. It might be instructive to add that I don't have any 
experience of paddling in warm protected water (my sea kayaking is 
predominately around the coasts of Scotland: cold tidal waters with 
essentially no protected water at all on the east coast), and I can 
understand that warm procected conditions the whole 
newbie-gets-a-kayak-goes-out-falls-over-on-flat water scenario is a real one 
and self rescues like the paddlefloat outrigger method may have some value 
there, but that scenario doesn't really arise here. Contrary to what you 
might believe if you read some of the American importers of Valley or NDK 
web sites, sea kayaking is a tiny tiny minority sport in the UK, no rental 
outfits, no guided holiday trips, kayaks are only available from a very few 
specialist retailers ... and as a result those who take to the sea in kayaks 
typically tend to be paddlers who have first acquired boating skills on 
rivers and who as a rule also tend to paddle only with club/groups until 
they have more extensive experience.

>      Various sources have suggested that for hardshells a shorter,
>heavier (15ft & 26kg) boat with a V chine and relatively low initial
>stability might be more suitable in roughish seas than lighter longer boats 
>with greater initial stability (17ft & 22kg).

Not sure what you mean here ... have I got this right 'shorter and 
heavier'as opposed to 'longer and lighter'?

>I think one of the arguments goes that it is easier with the V chine
>to knee lift the boat horizontal when a wave is coming at a steep
>angle. Have I got the concepts right?

Hard chines on a V-bottom give a secure feel when the boat is edged or
leaned but will feel tippy initially, a round bottom is the easiest to
edge or lean but tippy at all angles of heal, a flat bottom the
hardest to edge and lean (stiff). Designs tend to use different
combinations and extremees of these features. Which is more stable?
Depends what you mean by stability but the important point is that as
conditions become rougher paddler input becomes more neccesary, not
just the boat, and what some perceive as unstable boats facilitate
more paddler control. Does that help? My advice is to paddle different
boats and feel the differences, and even if your off-balance strokes
and confidence isn't as good as it will be with experience, you will
still be able to feel if you have the concepts right, but also consider that 
in rough water the deck shape and the cockpit are also
important ... clearly if you have a boat that comes up to your
armpits, your movement is going to be limited and so therefore is your
bracing/rolling/stern rudders/boat control/etc etc, and while volume
(freeboard) = windage which is not good, it also increases how the
boat is knocked about left and right by the seas (which is also not
good).

Hope this helps. I'm temporarily on an email account on which I'm not
subscribed to Paddlewise (which is bouncing out of my regular account
to this one), and I suspect that the paddlewise server won't forward
mail to the list unless its from a subscribed account, so if you want
to forward this to the list please feel free to do so.

Cheers

Colin Calder
57°19'N 2°0'W

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