As I was reading through the very interesting (to me, a relative newbie) paddle tether thread (yes, still trying to catch up from an earlier break from digest-land), a thought struck me. It seems the major reason the boat runs away from the person is due to wind - it blown away. I would expect current forces to act somewhat similarly upon man and boat, so you would be able to swim and catch up in a current-only situation (but I could be incorrect here). Anyway, the question that arose in my mind was this - would a sea anchor / drogue sufficiently slow down the egress of the boat? If so, could it be rigged such that if one wet-exited, the sea anchor would then deploy? The idea being that the sea anchor would present a lower chance of entanglement than a person-boat tether. I'm sure this idea is full of holes, but thought it might be a basis for an interesting discussion thread. I must admit the idea was given form through a comment Matt Broze made about snow ski safety straps - now skis have brakes on the bindings to prevent them from running away after a fall, the sea anchor was the closest parallel I could draw for a kayak being able to arrest itself in windy conditions. --Jason Pringle *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Mr Tex wrote: > > Anyway, the question that arose in my mind was this - would a sea anchor / > drogue sufficiently slow down the egress of the boat? If so, could it be > rigged such that if one wet-exited, the sea anchor would then deploy? The > idea being that the sea anchor would present a lower chance of entanglement > than a person-boat tether. To answer the question: Yes, a sea anchor would do the trick. The technical implications might be more of a problem: If the anchor is attached to the bow or the stern, so that the boat will align with the wind, I think a small anchor would suffice. The boat doesn't have to be dead in the water: It just must be slowed down so that a swimmer can reach it. However: Since the release mechanism, set off by the exiting kayakker, must be in the cockpit, the bow or stern might be a difficult place to attach the anchor. If the anchor is attached near (or in) the cockpit, it would have to be much bigger, giving a risk of entanglement while reentering. After reentering, the anchor should be hauled back into the boat (don't leave your junk floating around) and, if possible, set up for the next capsise. This might be difficult. Don't forget you have to do all this in the same conditions that caused your capsise. The release mechanism is a problem in itself. A sure release system that only releases when the boat is upside down, full of water and no kayakker in the cockpit... I prefer my leash. Niels. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 4/11/2002 9:20:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, niels.blaauw_at_wanadoo.nl writes: > ... The release mechanism is a problem in itself. A sure release system that > only releases when the boat is upside down, full of water and no kayakker > in the cockpit ... This thread has grown on me! The idea of the auto-release sea anchor sounds like a potentially very useful safety device in conditions so severe, relative to the paddler's skill and emotional or physical state at the time, that they could force her or him actually to exit accidentally. At that point, a sea anchor holding the bow or the stern of the boat into the wind might not only make the difference between said paddler being able to reach the boat again or the latter drifting away, but might also be of invaluable assistance during the re-entry, assuming for the moment that wind and waves are more or less aligned. In fact, I suspect that under almost all real (!) circumstances that I can imagine (and hope never to experience), the poor paddler will find the head-on orientation of the hull effected by deployed anchor helpful. Therefore I do not really see any need for the cockpit to be full of water or the boat to be upside down as additional deployment criteria. The anchor should be released as soon as the spray skirt pops, in my view. This would cut down on the amount of drifting the empty boat could potentially do before the anchor is fully deployed and able to hold the boat back effectively. A simple pull-pin "velcroed" to the spray skirt might do that job in combination with a "Drift Stopper" (anchor-in-a-bag) type set-up for the anchor. Will have to work on that idea a little ... Keep It Simple, Stupid comes to mind ... Under NO circumstances would I rig the anchor in such a way that it pulls anywhere other than at bow or stern, certainly not in the area of the cockpit, guaranteeing that the boat will end up broadside on to the waves. Personally I prefer pointing the bow into the waves because I like to see the monsters that might be coming at me! Best regards, Ralph Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.PouchBoats.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/ ***************************************************************************
At 11:08 AM 4/11/02 -0400, FoldingBoats_at_aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 4/11/2002 9:20:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, >niels.blaauw_at_wanadoo.nl writes: > > > ... The release mechanism is a problem in itself. A sure release system > that > > only releases when the boat is upside down, full of water and no kayakker > > in the cockpit ... > >This thread has grown on me! Yes, these kinds of threads can be fun. >The idea of the auto-release sea anchor sounds like a potentially very useful >safety device in conditions so severe, relative to the paddler's skill and >emotional or physical state at the time, that they could force her or him >actually to exit accidentally. > > >The anchor should be released as soon as the spray skirt pops, in my view. >This would cut down on the amount of drifting the empty boat could >potentially do before the anchor is fully deployed and able to hold the boat >back effectively. A simple pull-pin "velcroed" to the spray skirt might do >that job in combination with a "Drift Stopper" (anchor-in-a-bag) type set-up >for the anchor. Will have to work on that idea a little ... Keep It Simple, >Stupid comes to mind ... I was thinking of something that attached to a loop on a PFD but attaching to a spray skirt would works as well. As I thought about this, I thought that this is essentially a temporary boat tether (since, even if it were attached to the spray skirt, the paddler is also attached to the spray skirt) with an auto-disconnect. Boat tethers have been discussed often here with the recurring concerns about entanglement. So, I was thinking if you're in open water conditions, you've exited the boat, it's about to drift away from you, a simple boat tether solves that problem. When boat tethers have been discussed in the past the importance of some kind of release mechanism in the even of an entanglement has been emphasized. If there is no potential for entanglement it would be nice if you could just pull on the line to bring yourself back to the boat. If a pull-pin were used it should require quite a bit of force to get it to release. For example, in very rough conditions with breaking waves, a simple boat tether could drag a paddler through the water pretty hard if a large wave comes between the paddler and the boat. At that point it could release the pull pin, which would deploy the sea anchor, but there is no point in deploying a sea anchor if staying tethered to the boat isn't going to cause any harm. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Fereira" <jaf30_at_cornell.edu> > > > ... The release mechanism is a problem in itself. A sure release system > > that > > > only releases when the boat is upside down, full of water and no kayakker > > > in the cockpit ... > > > >This thread has grown on me! > > Yes, these kinds of threads can be fun. > > > > >The idea of the auto-release sea anchor sounds like a potentially very useful > >safety device in conditions so severe, relative to the paddler's skill and > >emotional or physical state at the time, that they could force her or him > >actually to exit accidentally. > > > > > >The anchor should be released as soon as the spray skirt pops, in my view. > >This would cut down on the amount of drifting the empty boat could > >potentially do before the anchor is fully deployed and able to hold the boat > >back effectively. A simple pull-pin "velcroed" to the spray skirt might do > >that job in combination with a "Drift Stopper" (anchor-in-a-bag) type set-up > >for the anchor. Will have to work on that idea a little ... Keep It Simple, > >Stupid comes to mind ... > > I was thinking of something that attached to a loop on a PFD but attaching > to a spray skirt would works as well. As I thought about this, I thought > that this is essentially a temporary boat tether (since, even if it were > attached to the spray skirt, the paddler is also attached to the spray > skirt) with an auto-disconnect. SNIPPED I have a DriftStopper but have not used it in years. While nothing is impossible, it would really be hard to deploy a sea anchor in such an automatic way. The Drift Stopper requires you to pull the sea anchor chute out of its storage case and then physicallly throw out the float line that then helps the chute open up once in the water. It isn't all that hard to do but it does require some steps and manuevers. ralph diaz *************************************************************************** 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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