[Paddlewise] Cavitation vs Ventilation

From: Nick Schade <schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com>
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 09:08:53 -0400
At 4:31 PM -0500 5/11/01, James Tibensky wrote:
>If a blade didn't slip in the water when paddling a kayak, there 
>wouldn't be any cavitation, would there??  And there would be no 
>need to dig deep.

You mean "ventilation" not "cavitation". Cavitation is when an object 
is moving so fast through the water that the water can not move 
around it fast enough so a bubble of vacuum is produced on the 
trailing edge. This vacuum will eventually eat away at the object.

Ventilation seems similar, but it is a result of air being sucked 
down from the surface, where cavitation happens without contact with 
the surface. Ventilation can be reduced or eliminated by completely 
submerging the blade because the round shape of the shaft does not 
produce a good path for air to travel down to the blade.
-- 
Nick Schade
Guillemot Kayaks
824 Thompson St
Glastonbury, CT 06033
(860) 659-8847
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Received on Mon May 14 2001 - 06:10:10 PDT

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