Sea Kayakers, With all of the positive comments about ocean cockpits, I have to throw in a few negative comments to provide balance. I have two fiberglass kayaks, one with a keyhole cockpit and another with an ocean cockpit, and I frequently go back and forth between them. On a long paddle with a keyhole cockpit, it is nice to occasionally bring a knee up to prevent stiffening of the legs. You can't bring a knee up in an ocean cockpit. In a keyhole cockpit, it is easier to reach forward with your hands in the cockpit to adjust foot pegs and grab gear. Even when I am out of the boat, I can barely reach my foot pegs with my hands in my ocean cockpit boat. By far the biggest disadvantage with an ocean cockpit is landing is dumping surf, which is common where I live in Southern California. With a keyhole cockpit, I can pretty much jump out of the boat. In an ocean cockpit boat, I have to take a couple extra seconds to slide my legs backwards, and those couple extra seconds is all it takes for the next dumping wave to nail me. Do I dislike ocean cockpits? No. But I don't believe for a second that they are better than keyhole cockpits. I have no problem with the thigh/knee bracing in the keyhole cockpit kayak I own. Also, because I use properly fitting whitewater style (all neoprene) sprayskirts, I've never had a sprayskirt fail me on a keyhole cockpit while in the surf, and I spend a lot of time playing in the surf. Duane Strosaker www.geocities.com/strosaker *************************************************************************** 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 Mon Aug 12 2002 - 04:31:28 PDT
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