I'd have to give Derek's comments a big "It depends". I do have some direct experience with just this topic. I paddle a CD Caribou, and my buddy Ken paddles a CLC Patuxent, among many others in his fleet. Both are hard-chine kayaks, and are roughly the same length and beam. We decided to try and see whose boat was fastest one day, and we raced. My boat began to plane off, just as Derek predicts, but it started planing at the very top end of my ability to propel the boat. Ken's boat showed no signs of planing, and he continued to accelerate past me (Well, for about 30 feet, and then he almost collapsed). We switched boats, and repeated the experiment, with the same results (The Patuxent was able to continue to accelerate until the paddler nearly died). However, the planing effect did not manifest itself until I was paddling well above a speed I could hold for any appreciable distance, I guesstimate about 7-8 knots. I really should try this with a GPS, just to see how good a judge of speed I am. For regular paddling, it seems to have no noticeable effect. I have no problems keeping up with most paddlers, even Ken. So, as I said, "It depends". Wayne -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ Wayne Smith wsmith16_at_snet.net Check out my sea kayaking & homebrewing page: http://pages.cthome.net/wsmith16/home.html ----- > *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Jan 15 2002 - 18:26:20 PST
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