Re: [Paddlewise] Stability Discussion

At 10:34 AM 2/15/01 -0500, Nick Schade wrote:
>I've put together a discussion on stability and would like to get a 
>critique. Check 
>http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Design/StabilityArticle.html and let me 
>know what you think.
>Nick

That was great Nick.  I've always thought that your chapter on stability
in your book was one of the clearest descriptions I had read.  This
article goes into much more detail but it's still (mostly) understandable.
One minor correction:  it "Weebles will Wobble" (you spelled it woble).

There was something in the conclusion section that sparked some
thoughts I've had on the whole notion of stability and why a
beginner looking for a new boat will often place stability as
their #1 criteria while a more experience boater will look at
other criteria.

I think it is safe to say that the #1 fear for someone getting
into a kayak for the first time is tipping over and getting
trapped inside.  As a result, those wide large cockpit boats
known as "recreational kayaks" are sold as "beginners" kayaks.
Once someone has been in a kayak for a very short time, has
intentionally done a wet exit, and especially after they've
unintentionally capsized and done a wet exit, they've realize
that tipping over really isn't a big deal.

I've used the analogy of a beginning snow skier before to equate
how a boat with high initial stablity will be judged differently
depend on the boaters skill.  When I first started skiing 30
years ago, one of the differences between ski boots for a beginner
and boots for an advanced skier was their stiffness.  A beginning
skier is just learning how much pressure is necessary to edge the
skis in order to turn.  The softer beginners boots tolerate a little
too much pressure as it dampens the effect so that it's not immediately
transmitted to the edge of the ski.  If the same amount of pressure
were exerted while wearing stiff boots, it would be immediately translated
to edging the ski, and they'd quickly find themselves on their butt.  The
stiffer boots are just not as forgiving of mistakes.

As a skier become more experience they gain much better muscle control
and are capable of very subtly angling their knees just the right amount
to carve nice round turns. Their fine muscle movements are immediately
transmitted to the edging of the skis when wearing stiff boots but they're 
able to control it.

I think the same thing happens in a kayak. A beginner is just learning
how far they can lean over and will tend to lean too far every so often.
A boat with a lot of stability will be more forgiving of those mistakes.
However, a boat with a lot of stability will not be sensitive to
the subtle weight shifts and cock of the hip that the experience paddler
is capable of.

Last summer I had the opportunity to paddle a Guillemot that a local
paddler built.  I've paddled a couple of your (Nick's) boats at LL
Bean and felt that they had just about the right amount of stability
for my experience level.  However, this boat I paddled only had a 1/2"
foam pad for a seat and I felt like I was seating deep in the boat.
My center of gravity felt much lower than in other boats I'd been in.
When I tried to do a few low brace turns with the boat on edge, I
cocked my hips, pressing my opposite knee up, trying to edge the
boat and not much happened.  I edged more and more and it didn't
feel like the boat was going to heal over. I really had to lean over
the side to get the boat over to where it felt like it was approaching
it's final stability point.  Because the seat was so low I was expending
a lot of energy to get the boat on edge.  If I wanted to quickly go
from one side to the other it would have required a significant amount
of pressure from one side to the other.  As it was outfitted, it felt
like it had way too much initial stability.  Because I've finely tuned
my paddling muscles I can make more subtle movements that I couldn't
do when I first started.  Now I like a boat that is sensitive to
those movements and responds.  A boat with too much stability doesn't
do that.

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