Re: [Paddlewise] Regarding boat speed and length of boat, etc. - was re. Intermediate paddlers

From: Bruce Winterbon <bwinterb_at_mail.magma.ca>
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000 17:54:43 -0500
Wes Boyd reports:
My average speed for all trips for the whole month of October is 3.6 MPH,
over about 80 miles. This includes time spent looking at deer, stopping to
talk with people, wishful thinking on distances, etc. From that, I infer
that my normal average cruising speed must be somewhere around 4 MPH, so
I'd define "really steaming along" as something over about 4.25 MPH.

And, this includes training. My average speed for the month in March this
year was 3.0 MPH, and in April 3.1 MPH. In September, I hit 3.9. It's
interesting to see the effects of training, conditioning and practice take
hold, and then deteriorate as the weather gets colder and I paddle less.
[end quote]

It may not just be training. The viscosity of water at 25C (77F) is only
half what it is at the freezing point. There's more drag in cold water.
Wes, you may like to keep track of water temperatures, as well as elapsed
times, for a year, and then plot either average speed or elapsed time vs.
temperature or viscosity.

Bruce


Bruce Winterbon
bwinterb_at_magma.ca
http://magma.ca:80/~bwinterb


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Received on Mon Dec 04 2000 - 17:09:40 PST

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