At 1:48 PM -0400 4/4/00, Joe Brzoza wrote: >I found Derek quite entertaining. One of his comments that stuck in my mind >the most was during his pool session. He was paddling a kevlar Gulfstream >and had to mention that although it was a fine boat indeed, he prefers a >heavier layed-up boat that will give him confidence in rough seas. He says >the light boats are great for car-topping, but he prefers boats that "don't >flutter in the wind like leaves" when dropped. I think Doug Loyd would have >probably jumped up and cheered at that point. > The British seem to have this feeling that inorder to do things right you need to suffer. The Antarctic explore Scott is a hero in England because he did everything wrong and died with a stiff upper lip. If Derek wants to bust his back moving his kayak, he is welcome to it. The standard heavy British layup is not neccessarily stronger or more able to handle abuse. Polyester and fiberglass mat can be quite brittle which is not a good thing when hitting rocks, especially with a heavy boat. A brittle layup will tend to break catastrophically where a more resilient layup will tend to hold together even if it does break. The idea that a light boat will get tossed around does not have much merit. With a paddler weighing 150 pounds or more the difference of total displacement between the 50 and 75 pound boat is not very significant. Any possible disadvantage of the light boat is made up for by other on-the-water performance advantages of the light boat. A light boat is a little easier to turn and accelerate. If you don't think this is important, carry some extra water and you can have a heavy-paddling boat that you can lift. With a good modern layup the light boat will be stronger and more rugged than a polyester/mat barge. Nick Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 10 Ash Swamp Rd Glastonbury, CT 06033 (860) 659-8847 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Apr 05 2000 - 10:23:41 PDT
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