Joshua Teitelbaum wrote: Joshua, The Romany is a fine boat, but I think you have way over generalized in your assertions, > > It is my understanding (I do this with the utmost humility in this forum, > please...), that these boats tend to be sportier; by this I mean that they > are: > Narrow (& tippy), relatively fast, good tracking (slow to turn) low > volume (less windage/less cargo), snug-fitting (more control/less > comfortable) & extremely durable (& heavy) all of which adds up to an > extremely seaworthy craft that requires effort and skill to pilot and enjoy. The Romany is not as narrow or as tippy as lets say a Nordkapp, another British boat. NOr as tippy as many American boats such as some Current Designs (I believe the Solstice and Extreme perhaps?), some Boreal designs, as well as many others I presume. The American boat design I am building is 2" narrower and longer than the Romany and will probably be tippier. When I went for training some time back, one of the students was paddling a Current Designs rental and seem to tip every new stroke attempted until exchanging with the instructor's Romany. The shorter Romany(a very common one here) is not a particularly fast boat, I have no problem paddling faster than many friends who have it in my plastic Dagger Baja (very similar specs as the Romany,round hull, 1/2" wider beam and 6" shorter though waterline length could be similar). I think that the volume thing is really varied from boat to boat as I have seen Valley/NDK boats with rather large volume as well as American low volume boats. Snug fitting is something that every boat should be personally outfitted for. My shape generally requires much change in any cockpit outfitting. Foot pegs had to extend 3 inches from the furthest setting and about 1.5" of shaped foam on either side of my hips- my kayak is designed for a medium size person and I am a bit of a distorted medium... Durability is depending what sort of stresses are exerted. I would want a light craft for falling off a car top or off garage hooks, heavier for some sea obstacles. I most prefer a woven cloth lay-up no matter the weight to a 'felted' fiberglass lay-up, one of the reason I am making one. I presume that there are very few of the higher quality American kayaks shipped overseas due to high exchange rates currently and this probably allows these assumptions to proliferate overseas. I am not particularly nationalistic and really like many of the British boats, but think that it is far more complex then the generalities you expressed. It was a good question though and will prompt much good discussion I am sure. by the way, whenever I use American I mean North American. best to you Joshua. gabriel -- : : Gabriel L Romeu : http://studiofurniture.com furniture from the workshop : http://members.xoom.com/gabrielR life as a tourist, daily journal : http://users.aol.com/romeugp paintings, photographs, etchings, objects *************************************************************************** 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 Sun May 14 2000 - 07:57:41 PDT
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