Re: [Paddlewise] planing

Michael Daly wrote:
> If you want to plane, the wave speed must comfortably exceed the
> kayak's hull speed in order to stay with you.  Otherwise you either won't plane
> or you'll plane off the wave into the trough ahead and loose speed.  Around
> here, wave speeds tend to be slow; I can often paddle faster than the small
> waves, hence planing isn't a consideration.

No, wave speed doesn't have to exceed the hull speed in order to plane. 
Your speed relative to the water must exceed the hull speed, but that
can be much faster than the wave speed.  You get up to speed by going
down the front of the wave, but then you can turn to be at an angle to
the wave so you are moving both with the wave and laterally along the
wave.  Look at the picture that was posted by Rob - the surfer there is
moving much faster than the wave because he's moving mainly parallel to
the wave front. 
> 
> One key point I was trying to make in the original post was the difference in
> breaking and non-breaking waves in that one features gravity induced speed and
> the other features a rapid downhill flow of water on the face as well.
> I wonder if this could be the difference between planing and surfing (though
> surfers and others ignore the difference).

Look again at Rob's picture.  There is no downhill flow of water in the
part of the wave where the surfer is located.  His propulsion comes only
from gravity pulling him diagonally down along the face of the wave - in
fact the water in his location would be moving backwards into the wave.
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************