[Paddlewise] Cockpit Depth for Greenland Paddling

MJAkayaker_at_aol.com wrote:

>I would appreciate a little feedback from some of the Greenland style
>paddlers out there on the list.

>Questions:
>1. Can a person my size still effectively use Greenland technique with
these
>deeper, longer cockpits?

>2. Does it sound like I am currently keeping my hands too low for proper
technique?

>3. Is there anything to watch for to tell if the deeper cockpit  is
changing
>the stroke enough to make a significant difference in my efficiency?

>4. Would having a shorter cockpit (like the 20" on some of the Valley
kayaks)
>allow for keeping the lower hand position that I am use to even if they are
>deeper than the 10.75" in the Hawk?  (I do not want to make a 3-4 day trip
to
>test paddle one of these if its not likely to be any different than the
boats
>I have tried).

>5. I am looking for a more manuverable (better suited to surfing) kayak
than
>the Arctic Hawk.  The only ones that I found with lower cockpits are the
>Mariner Elan-10.75" and the Dagger Meridian SK-S -11.25" (a cutdown version
>of the Meridian SK).  Are there some other's out there that I should be
>considering?

>6. What are the cockpit depths for the Valley Pintail and Avocet?


Hi Mark

You raise some interesting questions. I spent some time considering sitting
position and cockpit depth earlier in the year when designing and making a
stitch-n-glue kayak. Its a mystery to me why any one would want to build a
kayak with a deck up to your armpits.

There are some pictures of my boat at:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~ltu006/images/stitchnglue/

I based my cockpit on the pintail ocean cockpit, which if I remember
correctly has a depth of about 11 inches. I felt however that the pintail
had a wee bit too much volume for my interest, but the sitting position
relative to cockpit rim, knee bracing under the foredeck and rear deck was
pretty much what I was after - relatively flat legs against the underside of
the deck compared to knees up and wide white water style bracing. The  glass
seat (at least in the pintail I borrowed for a couple of weeks to take
measurements) is positioned quite high at about 2 inches from the keel, so I
built my deck to give a lower  depth of nine and a half inches at the front
of the cockpit, and about half an inch lower at the rear, but fitted my seat
as low as possible to give me essentially the same sitting and bracing
position as the pintail but with reduced volume. Consider the seat height as
well as the cockpit/deck volume/beam as factors influencing the stroke.

If you are interested in valley pintail/avocet I would recommend making the
trip and test paddling them, both are really nice boats, but its worth
noting that the deck/volume sitting position is somewhat different in the
ocean cockpit and key-hole cockpit pintail - if you are going to test
paddle, try them both if possible. The relatively wide beam of the pintail
to my mind also feels to be slightly out of character with the rest of the
boat. If you are looking for a surf boat / sea kayak, then take a look at
http://www.radicalmoves.com/

Radical moves make surf kayaks but they also produce a sea boat called the
sea squirt, which may well be exactly what you are after. Its top of my list
of boats I'd like to paddle.

Re greenland paddling style, I wouldn't claim to have any great authority on
the subject
but what Greg Stamer says makes a lot of sense. I vary the angle of the
stroke and I don't get too hung up on keeping it low for the sake of keeping
it low, the beauty of greenland paddles is their versatility. I also don't
think that there is necessarily any 'proper' stroke - I think that more
important than trying to keep the stroke low per say is sensitivity to what
the blade is doing, particularly the angle of attack of the blade, and feel
and feedback from the blade during different strokes.



HTH

Colin

57º19'N  2º10'W


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