Re: [Paddlewise] "Rollability" vs. comfort

In a message dated 1/18/2003 4:34:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
grsnapp_at_charter.net writes:


> If I have a seat back tall enough for me to paddle in
> comfort, will it make it excessively difficult for me to roll my boat?
> 

There's an assumption made frequently that to have comfort, you need to have 
a waterproof Barcalounger in your kayak.  I used to make the same assumption. 
 Also have lousy posture and back pain a lot.

However, one of my boats is a VCP Pintail with an "ocean cockpit" --- a tight 
environment for an aging 6'1" body --- and the stock, hard fiberglass seat 
pan.  Instead of using the backband that came with the boat --- or any 
backband, for that matter --- I carved a solid seatback from minicell, 
covered it in neoprene (nylon side out --- and it's great.  Very low support, 
but easy to do laybacks in --- actually, the back deck on my Pintail is often 
partially awash in any sort of lumpy water, and has minimal freeboard (maybe 
one to two inches) in flat water, so it's a low after deck.

Point is, this seat pan (hard) and seat back (solid fit) creates a low lumbar 
support, and I try to accomodate the rest with abs and other conditioning (as 
recommended in another post).  My longest time in the Pintail was about 8.5 
hours during a very long Potomac River crossing with a swim support event.  
Didn't feel great when I got out --- okay, fell out --- on the beach, but was 
not uncomfortable during the paddle.  Bottom line [pun unintended but not 
removed] --- comfort does not necessarily equate to a high seatback in a 
kayak.

Joq

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