Kevin Whilden wrote: > > > Ralph, I think there is line between when folding kayaks are more stable or > less stable than narrow hardshell boats, which I would like to define a > little better and eliminate confusion. > > I am skeptical that folding kayaks are so stable in waters that some people > on this list would call "absolutely insane". This is definitely a relative > term, is it not? I really don't know an absolutely definitive answer to your question. Folding kayaks have been in far hairer waters than I would ever want to be and have done fine. Examples: In 1990, a fellow Joe Weight took a double from Grenada to Puerto Rico and got caught in a hurricane in about a 60 mile crossing toward the end and didn't capsize. The hurricane was insane enough but he regularly was in pretty insane stuff. Two guys took a double folding kayak from Sydney to Darwin some 3,000 plus miles along the rugged surf eastern shoreline of Australia. They capsized, I believe just once in some 100 days of paddling. Some of the waters they were in were absolutely insane by any definition. A lot of the staying upright for these guys and hundreds of other expeditioners was due as much to the stability of the boats as the skill of the paddlers. Never having paddled a folding kayak in rough seas, I > cannot say for sure, but I have always thought that too much primary > stability increases the chance of capsize in big steep waves or really > nasty (by my metric) tide rips. For example, has anyone paddled a wide > folding kayak in the tide rip behind the surf wave at Skookumchuck? Now > that is what I call "insane waters" -- I have never seen a more confused > mixture of 2-3 foot high boils with an occasional deep violent whirlpool. > Even the hardcore whitewater crazies avoid that place, and choose to float > down a 1/4 mile (in rodeo boats) before trying to cross that eddy fence. Sounds ominous. I would not want to be in that stuff ever. Who would? > But if one were to find themselves in an eddy fence of that magnitude, I > would rather be in a narrow "tippy" boat with great secondary stability > than in wide "stable" boat with high primary stability. Then I would be > more able to react with an insta-brace. Greater secondary stability is only as useful as the paddler's ability to brace and use it constantly for long stretches of time. Again, it does sound like a challenging spot for any boat. I have no way of knowing how well a foldidng kayak would fair. I doubt that most kayakers in skinny tippy boats would do well either. It sounds like a place for our good friend, Superman Doug of BC! > > In a less extreme example, such as steep wind waves, high primary stability > tends to make the boat lie flat relative to the local water's surface. But > if that surface is nearly vertical (as in a steep wave), then a capsize is > imminent unless the paddler attempts an ill-advised down-wave brace (a > danger for shoulder dislocations). A low primary, high secondary stability > boat can just edge into the steep wave ever so slightly, ride over it, and > have no fear of capsize. Again, since I have never paddled a folding kayak > in rough water, at what point does the high initial stability become a > drawback in terms of remaining upright? It will at some point, definitely, be a drawback at about the point the boat was absolutely vertical on its side and would trip over its downside sponson. I know that many hardshell kayakers are getting good at getting their boats on their side and holding a good brace. But I have seen folding kayaks go over nearly that much and just right themselves. For example, it happened to me in my first months of paddling in my double foldable. I was going into surf near Coney Island. Fiddling with the rudder cord to drop it into the water, I let the boat get completly sideways to a pretty decent wave. We went over quite a bit, no bracing. I have no real idea of what degree of tilt we had but fellow experienced paddlers on the beach later said that they fully expected, from their own experience, that we would be windowshaded back toward the beach. Instead the boat righted itself. I finally got it pointed into the next wave which broke over our heads and came out the outer side soaked. There is no issue that a skinny boat in the hands of a very capable experienced paddler will do well in chaotic waters because of the superb bracing, sculling and rolling skills of the paddler using its secondary stability. But if you only have limited, less than superb skills when in such a tippy boat, the secondary stability will mean squat to you and you will capsize. In a folding kayak with its flex and stability, you can go into pretty insane stuff and the boat will help see you through. Don't get me wrong...folding kayaks can capsize and do. But in many instances in rough conditions, many paddlers have come back reporting that the boat saw them through without their doing much to keep upright much to their amazement. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Sep 12 2000 - 09:28:53 PDT
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