[Paddlewise] Sponsons Permission/Assistance

Hello,

My name is Kait O'Hara.  I believe Kirk Olsen may have written you about my
project.  The U.S. Coast Guard has hired me to do a search for information
on sponson use in the paddling community.

I am hoping that through this e-mail I can gain permission to use the
information from the PaddleWise Sponson Discussion
(http://www.paddlewise.com/topics/boatequip/sponson.html) in my report.

I have composed two summaries, the first you will find at the bottom of this
document and the second is an excel spreadsheet.  The Excel sheet is a break
down of commenter and subjects, as well as direct quotes (mostly copied &
pasted).  It is available at www.potomacmgmt.com/sponsons/.  The user name
is 'sponsons' and the password is 'quote'.

Ideally, I would like to use your ideas in the findings discussion.
PaddleWise requires I receive permission from each commenter to reproduce.
I am hoping you will give me that permission.  If you feel as though I have
misrepresented your thoughts, please send me an e-mail correcting my
previous statement.

It might be important to note that I have not categorized most of John
Winters comments.  I will incorporate them into my report, but may not
include them in the same format, due to the nature of his experiences with
sponsons (having different experiences/impressions of sponsons).

If you would like to add to your comments, or add new comments, they would
be more than welcome.  I am looking for information on their uses (it seems
as though this discussions revolved around the SeaWings, however I am also
looking at other variations i.e., Sportspal Canoe, homemade ect...),
deployment, and efficiency.  You can either re-open the discussion, or reply
only to me, at kohara_at_potomacmgmt.com.

Thank you for your time.
Kaitlin O'Hara

List of Previous Participants
Colin Calder
Jim Croft
Dana Decker
Ralph Diaz
JackieFenton
George  Gronseth
Dan Hagen
Chuck Holst
Brian Jones
Keith Kaste
WayneLangmaid
Bob Myers
Greg Stamer
Wayne Steffens
Ted Whitney
John Winters
Philip Wylie
Mark Zen
Scott (KiAyker)

General

Ralph Diaz, of the Folding Kayak Newsletter and the Complete Folding
Kayaker, stated SeaWings are extremely well made.  Voyager, who manufactures
the sponsons, is a reputable company.  According to Diaz, "they are as
fail-safe as anything can be."  They are firm, hold air, and there are only
a few cases of manufacturing defects or air loss.

Diaz stated that he himself had not used sponsons, but had heard about
situations where they did save lives on several occasions.  Chuck Holst,
Founder and former president, Inland Sea Kayakers, mentioned he had met a
few kayakers who had used them, one of which was an experience paddler who
used them because he frequently paddled by himself.

Deployment

According to Diaz, the pre-setup is not difficult, but necessary.  The
fastex buckles must be mated and adjusted to a paddler's particular boat.
He mentioned sponsons would not be effective in a self rescue if the
pre-setup was not completed.  Wayne Langmaid, a professional kayak guide for
Central Coast Kayak Tours in Australia, (he mentioned that he paddles for
business and personal trips about 25 days a month) pointed out that from his
experience in rough conditions, decklines can be nearly impossible to hold
on to; in fact it can nearly rip off one^Òs fingers as the wave catches it
and causes it and causes the bow or stern and rocket up or down.  Langmaid
even compared it to getting back onto a very uncooperative bucking bronco.
He has experienced serious bruising of fingers from gripping decklines in
similar conditions.  These experiences cause him to wonder how sponsons
could be deployed in the situations which caused one to capsize.

Langmaid also voiced concerns that similar to decklines, sponsons can give a
false sense of security.  He also warned that when a paddler is out of
his/her boat they are dealing with a "potentially lethal weapon."  Philip
Wyle added that he agreed with Langmaid, and pointed out that blowing up the
sponsons would be an even greater challenge in said conditions.  He
proceeded to hypothesize that CO2 cartridge inflatable system would be
better.  Ingram has a patent for this but has had trouble recruiting a
company to manufacture.

Effect on Performance

Bob Myers commented that he tried sponsons on his tippy boat, and they
"really slowed the boat down, at least subjectively."  He felt as though he
was "plowing through the water."  Diaz, on the other hand, found that in
actual paddling conditions, they cause a minimal amount of drag.  He found
that if they were properly setup, they would only touch the water if the
boat was being tossed around, under which conditions they would be serving
their purpose.  A friend of Diaz's used them with his Aerius 2000 (very
tippy) and he frequently used them for comfort.  According to Diaz, it
hardly slowed him down, but it did look very funny.

Towing or Injured

Many members of the Group thought that sponsons could be useful for towing
injured or sick paddlers.  Jackie Fenton thought sponsons, coupled with
other safety equipment, might be useful to have on group trips, especially
if one of their paddlers became incapacitated (either injured or sick).
Ralph Diaz, Wayne Steffens, and Kieth Kaste originally agreed with this
statement.  However, Chuck Holst pointed out that the sponsons may not be of
use if the leader's boat was equipped with them, because the pre-setup would
not be done on the injured or sick paddler's boat; making them useless.
Diaz reconsidered saying that pre-setup is "absolutely crucial for someone
alone."  Diaz speculated that setup could be done in the water if a group
was working on it, but in such a case an assisted rescue would be quicker
and more effective over a wide range of conditions.  Diaz stated that he
considers it more of a "moving on device" that facilitates dumped paddlers
to paddle to land or safe point.  He claimed in many of the classic episodes
in the Sea Kayaker and other accident reports, of dumping situations, the
affected paddler is prone to continue dumping.  He further claimed that the
real value of sponsons lies in their ability to stop the dumping which gives
a paddler a chance to regain composure.

Accordingly, Jim Croft mentioned that there were a couple of instances on
his club trips when sponsons could have potentially effective.  There have
been at least two occasions where a normally adequate paddler became seasick
to the extent of being unable to stay upright.  In order to tow the injured,
one person had to hold up the seasick paddler, while the other towed the
weight of two dead bodies.  Croft felt sponsons may have been useful in
these situations.

Non-Vital Uses

Diaz claimed a fellow paddler used sponsons as close-in outriggers, these
enabled him to sail his fairly small 18 square-foot craft.  Dan Hagen
mentioned he found them most useful for hygiene breaks.  He confirmed that
he does not like beamy boats, but does enjoy the option of temporarily
increasing the beam for additional stability.

Other Recommended Devices

Langmaid suggested that there is no substitute for avoidance of dangerous
situations and solid paddling skills because training is far better than
being outside of your boat.  Bob Myers suggested that using California
Ballast Rocks T with inflated float bags to keep rocks in place was a far
superior method of achieving temporary stability.  John Winters, naval
architect and designer of QCC kayaks and Swift canoes, suggested creating
paddle craft with sufficient stability for reentry.

Handicapped Paddlers

Mark Zen, a experienced paddler who is disabled, stated that he thought he
could have really used sponsons; furthermore for the disabled they would be
great.  Winters suggested that they would be a poor solution for a
handicapped person, because they would be forced to paddle with the sponsons
deployed all the time, in which case they may be better off having a
properly designed boat; or he/she would be forced to deploy them after
capsize, which in certain conditions is not a certain thing.

Conclusions

Chuck Holst, may have summed it up best when he said, "I have never met a
kayaker who could not roll who was equipped with sponsons. It is my
experience that it is often the kayakers with the least skills and are the
least prepared who are the most sure of themselves."

Tim Ingram

Many of the commenters said they would not be interested in buying a pair of
Tim Ingram's sponsons because of his sales tactics, and the cost of his
product, SeaWings.
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************