>The last details on the SOF I built last season from Chris C.'s articles in >SK are the seat and back support, and I'm struggling... Jim, The traditional outfitting can be very comfortable. Did you space the ribs in the cockpit area so that your "butt bones" fit between two adjacent ribs? If not, you may want to remove a rib or cut out the bottom of a rib to make a half-rib. In addition to helping with comfort, this gets your weight as low as possible. When the Greenlanders capsize you often see their butt and heel impressions on the bottom of the kayak. Many of the modern Greenlanders use a 1/4" thick foam pad that stretches from the backrest to the footrest and serves to pad the seat, backrest, footrest, provide insulation and keep sand from getting into the lashings. With the ribs spaced in this manner and with the foam pad, the fit can be very comfortable. The kayak and paddle are a tuned system, and a number of kayakers who use a Greenland-style SOF with a Greenland-style paddle find that they place very little pressure on the backrest. As for myself, I lean forward slightly and help drive the paddle using a slight abdominal "crunch" where you start with your torso erect and then lean forward slightly. This technique was shown to me in West Greenland and appears to be quite widespread there. (I was warned not to "bounce" the kayak up and down). It reminds me somewhat of standing on the pedals during biking. With the low foredeck common to Greenland kayaks you can lift the opposite knee in concert with the "crunch" to use very large muscle groups. This requires proper timing and feels somewhat like performing a sit-up with someone holding your legs. This technique puts very little pressure on the backrest. Hopefully this helps, but we are all built differently, and one person's comfort is another's misery. Greg Stamer _________________________________________________________________ Join the world^Òs largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.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 Tue Apr 16 2002 - 13:43:41 PDT
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