Ralph wrote: >>Generally in a rescue of a double, you want to get the rear person in first as Bob suggests as they then are in a position to control the rudder (most doubles are ruddered). This is handy for keeping the boat pointed into any seas or wind while getting in the second person in.<< Ralph you must be having an off day, usually I find myself in agreement with what you write on paddlewise. I am always amazed at the magical qualities with which people attribute rudders. I don't think you can get up enough speed while rescuing your partner to have the rudder have any significant effect at all, much less turn and hold the bow into the wind or waves while your partner hangs on and drags in the water. Ralph also wrote: >>I see some couples who I know love each other and who share a passion for seakayaking but who are in singles. While I know singles offer their own reward, I am saddened because I know that in not having a double in their fleet they are missing some opportunities to regenerate love and reaffirm the spirit of sharing that underlies it.<< I see this very differently. It is my view that the couples who do best in a double are the ones who have a captain/crew relationship where one person makes all the decisions and the other always goes along. Communicating with your partner is also much more difficult in the for and aft position of a double rather than with a side by side position (where you can turn to face each other) that is possible paddling two singles. And you don't hate the bow paddler for throwing water back in your face with their paddle with every other stroke or form stopping and starting all the time making it hard to keep your paddle in sync with theirs. I guess I'd rather have a partner than a master or a slave. I got stuck in a double for three weeks once, how I ached for a single. I realized why they were called "divorce machines" after that. Before I thought it was just a joke. BTW Ralph, its Bruce Furrer not Bruce Werner. Werner Furrer is the dad (and Werner Jr. is the brother) of Bruce. This time I wrote the above as I came to it but didn't send it off immediately. As usual I find that someone else (in this case it was Ulli that made my writing above not totally necessary). Paddlewise has made me think about how much better the world will be when more people who share the same interests can get together as a large group and have a dialog. It gives a chance for the best explanation to rise to the surface where I am sure it is generally easily recognized. With a big enough group misinformation gets shot down pretty quickly and the rest of us come away more informed. Ulli wrote: >>In my eyes that -the rudder control- isn't the reason why the person in the rear should reenter first. From my experience rudders on kayaks work only if the boat moves actively against a water current or faster than a current with it. You need water current to hit the rudder to turn the boat into a direction. I agree that the first should enter onto the rear position. That's were he/she is able to see what #2 is doing and can react (bracing, sculling, give a helping hand..) without twisting the head to see what is going on with #2 when #1 would enter into the front position first. << Same conclusion as Ralph about who gets in first but I think this is the real reason to get in the back first. BTW, John Dowd's Sea Kayaking covers double kayaks and rescues pretty well. For those who want to shorten their Werner paddles, Lightning Paddles makes (or at least once did) a joint kit (and for those who look at the process as trivial I might add that the kit came with six pages of instructions). Since the blue glass shafts of both Lightning and Werner paddles are made by the same pole-vaulting pole company I imaging that (if you know if you have the thick or thin shaft on your paddle) there is a good chance that they would interchange and you could use Lightnings kit (if its still available) to shorten a Werner paddle or make it a two-piece. I'll bet one of the reasons Werner doesn't sell a kit is because they have found out that they often spend as much or more time on the phone walking kit customers through the process as it takes them to do it themselves (but they don't get paid for that phone time). Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Mar 09 2000 - 19:33:14 PST
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