-----Original Message----- From: Peter Treby [mailto:ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au] "Have a look at the boat cracked in half 5 kms off shore at: I'll make some enquiries about the picture. " Peter I spoke to one of the fellows on that trip (Dave Winkworth) and who had to rescue the person and I think, If I remember correctly, that the boat was exceptionally light - 19Feet long and only 16kgs called a raiderX. They weren't surfing - it was big waves 5 - 6 metres but were paddling past an outer reef. A wave broke near them and the last last two fellows weren't quick enough to get over the top. One rolled underneath and the other tried to sprint but wasn't fast enough and got catapulted end over end 3 times backwards and this broke the back of the kayak It proved to an interesting rescue scenio but luckily most of the fellows on the trip were senior instructors. The only way to get the person back to shore was have him sit the back on one kayak with his legs on another then tow both these togethe. The kayak was useless for helping get the person back. Dave thought this was such an interesting rescue scenario that he tried it out on his fellow paddlers on a training weekend when he got back. See the photo on the front page of www.nswseakayaker.asn.au Thats my kayak thats taking most of the weight with him sitting on it And a useless bit of trivia It probably seems odd that some of us Aussies often speak half in imperial and half in metric measurements. Australia went metric in 1972 and a lot of us (I've seen the average age of sea kayakers) had left school by then. There are some things I just can't visualise in metric and thats boat lengths, peoples heights and pieces of timber. Cheers David Australia *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Whyte wrote: "I think, If I remember correctly, that the boat was exceptionally light - 19 Feet long and only 16 kgs called a raiderX." This confirms my suspicions. I thought the hull shape was familiar. The Raider X is one of the boats that worried me by having such a weak deck it can be depressed with one finger, in parts. I am not surprised to hear that a Raider X fell to pieces in an offshore reef break. These boats have a "podded" seat: the front and sides of the seat are extended to the hull and it forms a bulkhead. I was thinking of buying a second hand boat of this type recently, and test paddled, and closely examined it. It had a stress fracture where the podded seat met the thin hull underneath. A gel coat repair had been done, but the fracture had re-opened. One local owner of the Raider X has gone to the trouble of having that point reinforced, less than a year after buying the new, kevlar laid-up boat. The photograph seems to show the boat broken at or near the point where the podded seat meets the hull. This is a serious stress point for a thin hull. This stress occurs at a place where the boat is widest, and the hull relatively flat. A good photograph for boat manufacturers to put in their showrooms and point to when buyers are after excessively light boats. Regards, Peter Treby 37º 42' S 145º 08' E *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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