Re: [Paddlewise] My own Deep Trouble

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Broze" <mkayaks_at_oz.net>
> Kevin wrote:
> <SNIP>>>>If you were in a shorter playboat, it is extremely difficult to
> gain hull speed enough to tow a swimmer.<<<<<SNIP>
>
> It ain't the length of the boat that's the problem here.
Based on my years of experience towing swimmers to shore in whitewater, I
have noticed a dramatic difference in the speed with which a old-school boat
(e.g. dancer) can tow a swimmer vs. a new school rodeo kayak.  I don't think
there is any other rational explanation other than the length, although I
couldn't begin to explain the physics of why it is so.  I have thought about
this for a long time, but haven't come up with anything plausible.  Matt,
your the kayaking hydrodynamics expert, so think of something that supports
my viewpoint.  Perhaps it will be right.

Also, I don't agree with a different suggestion that the difference in speed
is the lower volume stern being sucked down by the swimmer, and thus
changing the rocker.  Short creekboats have just as much trouble towing
swimmers as short playboats.  However perhaps the distance between the
paddler and the swimmer attachment point (e.g. grabloop) is the key factor.
A Dancer would have a good 5 feet of distance, whereas a playboat has three
feet.  If we substituted a rope for a boat, is it harder to tow a swimmer
using a three foot rope than using a six foot rope?


> You'll be
> able to move even faster if the swimmer can quickly get his torso up on
the
> back deck with only his legs dragging in the water.

Not with a rodeo boat, which will go vertical quickly with a swimmer on the
back deck (assuming the swimmer could even fit on the deck, which he will
not on the new <6' kayaks).

On a tangentially related story.  I recently rescued a swimmer from a boily,
whirlpool style eddyline.  I didn't have enough speed in my 7' Booster 60 to
get him out of the eddyline squeeze, and thus we had to go back through the
'rinse cycle' to make it to shore.  He was sucked straight down under water
while holding onto the stern of my boat.  He remembers looking up through
the clear water at the waters surface 3-4' above him.  Meanwhile, I was
being spun in wild circles by the whirlpools, with the bow of my boat
pointing almost straight up in the air and the water going up to my neck.
It was a good thing that I spend a lot of time squirting and playboating,
because I had enough skill to brace and remain upright during the
maytagging.  After 10-15 seconds, we were through the whirlpools and ejected
into the relatively calm eddy, where my friend beached himself on a rock and
enjoyed breathing dry air for a good 15 minutes.  If I'd been in a longer
boat, I probably could have towed him right to shore out of the squeeze.

Cheers,
kevin

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