What are some of the things I might need to know or should think about that differ from paddling solo? Tom Dowling I paddle a double with my wife a lot. Ours is a Libra by Current Designs. When we first went out in Lake Michigan we tried to tip it over to practice wet exits. We're both relatively light - we couldn't, I mean really we could not, tip it over by leaning. I had to stand up on the gunnel to get it leaning enough to take on enough water to finally swamp. This stability is annoying in big waves when leaning would be helpful for balance. But it's nice for scouting, I just stand on my seat and look around. I used to race 4 man kayaks and they never tip. The more people paddling in unison, the more stability, in my experience. The double goes fast. We sometime meet up with a champion C-2 marathon crew on our home river and we can keep up with them for miles. I sit in front and my wife in back just to aggravate the traditional people who say the man must drive. And the rudder really is necessary when it is windy, sweep strokes just don't do enough in a four meter boat. We sometimes use a kite to pull us along on the Mississippi where the river is wide. There's so much room that we travel in luxury. Re-entries are a real pain if there is no other boat to help. But most if all, it is FAST! Jim Tibensky _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jun 21 2001 - 16:24:52 PDT
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