RE: [Paddlewise] Hull speed

At 09:09 AM 3/8/01 -0800, Mike Wagenbach wrote:

> Boat wakes come to
>mind.  Anyone know if 8 inch/ 20 cm wavelets are significant?

As you would expect at race pace almost any wave can be significant.
Particularly
if you are "running" perfectly level, and the waves introduce a bounce
(reducing the
hull's glide) into the motion.

>If you were to do a couple of back to back runs in dead air and flat
>water, I'm pretty sure you could see a difference, IF you can maintain
>a truly constant speed.  I've never used a knotmeter, so I don't know
>how hard that is.  

I used to train on a set course.  We would be within 20 seconds on a 30 minute
loop consistantly - without a knotmeter.  I'm pretty consistant about my
paddling rate,
based on some of my experiments with an acquaintances boat, which was
equiped with a knotmeter.

>Lacking a knotmeter, if I were to try this, I would get warmed up
>(paddle at least half an hour) then start well back from the measured
>distance course and try to maintain a stable, moderate heart rate, say
>140 bpm, and time a half-mile run, then repeat in the opposite
>direction, then switch boats.  Better yet, bring someone to paddle the
>other boat along, and do them in order a-b-b-a, hopefully minimizing
>effects of changing conditions.

I would only do the testing on a lake.  I would not do it anywhere with a
current
and preferably in water at least 10 feet deep - minimizing the effect of
the bow wave
in relationship to the bottom.

kirk



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