I paddle where the average wind speed over a year is 17 miles per hour so we have lots of waves. I use a plastic Necky Looksha IV, just so people know what kind of kayak I am talking about. I have found that the kayak will tell me what direction it wants to go in. Usually this is upwind quartering the waves if I am not ballasted and I never ballast unless I am carrying gear. Why paddle a bunch of extra weight around. I could sit out there and force my kayak to go directly to my landing point or I can let it go to the left or right of my destination on a course the kayak actually wants to travel. I find it is less strenuous and ususally quicker to paddle the kayak in the direction it wants travel. What happens is at some point I can turn my kayak towards my final destination with the waves to my stern and surf into the landing. I actually find this to be quicker and take less effort than trying to force the kayak to travel directly to the final destination. I do not use my rudder, even though I have one, which would help me hold a course but would also slow down the kayak through increased drag. I guess what I have found is that for me a straight line is not always the quickest course to my final destination. <Bill> Brought to you from beautiful Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Alaska. N 53°51.140' W 166°30.228' *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Nov 30 2000 - 15:31:42 PST
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