Re: [Paddlewise] Excessive Weather Cocking

From: Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 11:14:10 -0800
"D. Scanlan" <dscanlan_at_shaw.ca> wrote:

>> On an overnight trip this weekend, I ran into a bit of a problem with my
boat [snip]  My Narpa weather cocked like mad all the way accross.  [snip]
Usually this boat tracks very well in wind without any rudder.  One of my
paddling buds said he thought my boat could have been looking a bit nose
heavy.  I might have had a little more gear than usual up front ( 10 lbs)
but it didn't feel any different in the water. >>

Others have dealt with skegs, rudders, etc., but I have not seen anyone
address the issue of trim.

In short:  yes!  You can alter the weathercocking/leecocking behavior by
loading the boat bow heavy or stern heavy.  You probably would not notice
this until you got into the heavy seas and wind, and moving 10 lbs from the
forward part of the bow compartment to the rear end of the stern compartment
should be noticeable in heavy conditions.

This is __not__ a good way to deal with weathercocking/lee cocking, though,
because once trimmed, you are married to that trim until the end of a rough
crossing.  I once shepherded a paddler across a windy passage whose boat
leecocked slightly, and because the paddler did not have the strength/skills
to compensate, we had to tow the person (the boat had no rudder), and if we
hadn't, the paddler would have ended up in a bad place.

--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

***************************************************************************
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 Dec 03 2002 - 11:14:19 PST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:00 PDT