Some observations on Doubles; They are fast, due to hull speed and summing the power of two people. I'm most familiar with glass doubles over 20'. Doubles can carry 10+ days of food water and gear. The bow paddler can fly a kite, or put split paddles inside a 50gal 6-mil trash bag to make a hasty sail. If a paddler gets sick/injured, another person can paddle them in the front of a double for many miles. They are fairly stable, can handle seas, but you can dump them. It's only happened to me once. This is probably one of the more interesting times I've had in a double: One winter there were a series of fronts with lots of rough weather and wind in Mexico, so we were paddling in rough seas on an almost daily basis to make miles down the coast. One day we were in 6-8 ft. seas with wind building, and sets of 2-3 10-12ft waves coming in at about 3 minutes. These were shorter wind waves, versus long developed swells. We made it around a rocky point and started cutting over to a beach, when a 12 foot curling boomer caught us in about 15 ft of water. My partner was not a roller, so we had to exit. We got the front cockpit bailed, she jumped in, put the skirt on and paddled the kayak into the seas while I bailed the back cockpit and hopped in. We then kept paddling around the point and surfed in to a sand beach. We agreed that we would not likely have practiced rescues in such realistic conditions-not to mention with a loaded boat. Being dressed for the water temps helped. Paddle leashes can help to restrain the paddles until needed. A double needs two pumps. In big following seas and surf, the rudder may be out of the water much of the time. The stern paddler should be able to use forceful stern draws, prys, and rudder strokes to keep the kayak from broaching. A double on a surf is quite a rush. With a loaded double, bracing skills are helpful in rough water. The cockpits on a double, even with a center hatch, can hold a lot of water. A beach landing can fill the cockpits fast when you jump out. Likewise, when launching unassisted in waves, the stern paddler must switch quickly from pushing off to hopping in and paddling with skirt fastened. I don't have any credentials in human relations to relate to the "getting along" dimension of tandem paddling-and worse yet, I'm a guy. Most of the experiences in doubles have been very positive, and synergistic- the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. When you are on an extended trip in a wild place with a partner in a double, you soon appreciate how dependent you are on each other for survival, and beyond that, how working as a team can really enhance the experience of tripping together. Regards, Jay Alma,CO *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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