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

From: Wes Boyd <boydwe_at_dmci.net>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 08:35:49
At 05:54 PM 12/4/00 -0500, Bruce Winterbon wrote:

>>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.
>
>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.

I dunno -- seems like that would have much less of a percentage basis than
just the effects of being in shape vs. not having paddled for a while. I
suspect that it would tend to get lost in other variables, if for no more
reason than my "monthly average speed" includes a lot of different
variables, and can be taken only as a generality.  But then, I'm not a
slide rule type like some on this list, and I could well be barking up the
wrong tree.

I agree, viscosity has something to do with it -- hitting ice chunks while
out paddling Sunday certianly slowed me down! Unfortunately, that may well
be the last time out for the winter -- the lakes iced up three to four
weeks earlier than last year and are getting harder. Unless we get a
prolonged warm spell, I'm now an "armchair kayaker" for a few months.

-- Wes


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Received on Tue Dec 05 2000 - 08:32:32 PST

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