RE: [Paddlewise] Turns Easier When Loaded - Ballast Systems

Matt writes at the end of an exhaustive tome on the GTS turning potential:
>Faced with having to paddle in a very strong wind without a gear load I'd
>ballast such a kayak with genuine "Canadian Ballast Rocks" (or even a poor
>substitute like "U.S Waterlogged Ballast Wood" if I wasn't paddling in
>Canada) out near the ends of the kayak in order to increase the kayaks
>slug-feet-squared (although this is normally discouraged among the
>cognoscenti). Maybe slugs are embarrassed by their square feet and so
>always keep them out of sight. I've seen a lot of slugs (living in the
>NW) and have never seen their feet, have you?

	Matt, can you are you suggesting that we might employ PNW slugs as active
aids
in our quest to turn the GTS and other maneuverability-challenged craft?
It's
certainly an interesting new idea. The "Genuine Canadian Ballast Rocks" have
served many paddlers well for many years. As you know, they are quite a
bulletproof
design. I am saddened though, to see that the ever-elusive Norwegian Love
Trolls
were not included in your recommendations. Possibly they were not available
at
the time of your study.

	In the ANE (Atlantic North East) we have discovered that our beloved
Norwegian
Love Trolls help us comply with the "multiple-use" dictate which all
thinking
outdoors-folk seek to embrace. (Please forgive the obvious pun.) As you
know, the
Norwegian Love Trolls are but one variety of an Active Ballast/Trim
Management System.
But their personality and playful nature make them a much more interesting
solution
to my mind than Genuine Canadian Ballast Rocks. I concede that there is the
argument
that Canadian Ballast Rocks require less maintainance and have a longer
service life.

	I would be most interested to hear your opinions and those of the other
cognoscenti on their relative merits of some of the Active Ballast/Trim
Management
Systems (AB/TMS) versus the more common Passive Ballast Systems (PBS).

Jed, who is always smilin' when I paddle with those frisky trolls.


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