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From: 735769 <735769_at_ican.net> subject: [Paddlewise] Stability troll Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 08:35:25 -0400 · This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:14 PDT

To those who haven't had a lot exposure to my sense of humor (lucky you) I
want to apologize for my flip response to Rob Cookson's query about
stability. Fortunately Nick Schade provided an informative response worth
reading carefully if you have not already done so.

An interesting aside to Nick's post.

Even though the "apparent" gravity acts normal to the wave surface we also
orient  ourselves visually with the horizon. This appears  to cause some
people to "right" themselves relative to the horizon while heeling relative
to the apparent gravity. Those of you who have attended an IMAX film on
gliding will recall how the audience sways back and forth as the glider
banks into its turns. We know our seats don't heel but our eyes tell us they
do so we correct. Very humorous if one sits in the back of the theater ("Hey
look at all those dummies. They think they are flying.")

I wonder if some people don't capsize as a result of this conflicting
information.

If you want more detail on the effect of breaking waves I have a page
devoted to this phenomenon on my web site under my safety pages.

In any case, the kayak and the boat operate as a system as Nick points out.

Seaworthiness defies exact definition but C.J. Marchaj says that a common
thread runs through most definitions and " it is: to be seaworthy the vessel
must be able to defend herself against the incursion and perils of the sea."

By this definition we must use caution in defining a sea kayak as seaworthy
because it cannot right itself and hence "..."cannot  defend ITSELF against
the incursion and perils of the sea." (My emphasis) The paddler could become
sick, disoriented, fatigued, psychologically disoriented etc. etc. and, as
result, the system of boat and paddler might lose its ability to ".....
defend itself against the incursion and perils of the sea."

Of course, a sea kayak without its paddler might survive most anything but
that kind of defeats the purpose. :-)

What we expect of a boat influences what we consider seaworthy. If we expect
a boat to remain on the open ocean regardless of conditions then we have a
higher standard than for a boat used for paddling close to shore. Thus we
could say that Hannes Lindemann's beamy folding kayak fulfilled most of the
criteria of seaworthiness even though he did capsize and had to spend the
night holding on to his boat. We might also say, however, that his Liberia
was more seaworthy because it did not capsize on a similar crossing. We
rarely expect our sea kayaks to allow us to sleep at sea and so we have a
less rigid standard of seaworthiness for them that places a greater reliance
upon our skills.

Cheers,

John Winters
Redwing Designs
Web site address, http://home.ican.net/~735769

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