RE: [Paddlewise] Loading & handling

I apologize to Mark for the "Read the Directions" comment. I meant no
offense by it. From what he wrote (and how others were going along with his
meticulously trying to maintain a level trim) it looked to me that he might
benefit from reading that part of the manual again more closely because it
is hard to error on the side of "too heavily loaded in the stern" when the
load is heavy. Loading a kayak with a stern heavy trim is the best thing you
can do to improve most heavily loaded kayaks handling. The point I wanted to
make was that there is almost no downside to doing so (other than that it is
hard to do given the relative spaces available--and a slight decrease in top
speed). Not only will weathercocking be reduced but broaching in following
seas will also be reduced. Most people find those two characteristics to be
the major problems in controlling their kayaks. Another benefit of a stern
down trim when heavily loaded is stiffer tracking. This is a benefit with a
heavy gear load (with its greater tendency to yaw due to the mass out near
the ends) but often stiff tracking is a liability when trying to turn up
into a wind when a kayak is empty. Since the mass of the gear in the bow
also keeps the wind from blowing the bow back as much on the crest of a
whitecap (and the stiffer tracking is more than compensated for by the
increased tendency of all that mass out at the end of the kayak to continue
its yawing motion once the yaw is set in motion by turning in the trough)
turning into a high wind is not nearly the same problem it can be with a
empty kayak. An empty kayak trimmed too much to the stern and/or one that
has too much windage forward and/or one that is too stiff tracking will
compound the difficulty of turning into a strong wind. All of these things
hurt an unladen kayaks ability to turn into a strong wind far more than they
hurt a loaded kayak. That is why I added the comment (to what was written in
the manual) to even shift heavy weight (like water) further to the back of
the stern compartment if one is still experiencing weathercocking after
loading the kayak stern heavy (but with the greatest mass right behind the
paddler as I advocated in the manual to help maintain responsiveness with a
heavy load). Of course, with a light load some of that gear weight should go
into the bow to help keep it from being blown around so don't put all the
gear in the back. Keeping the same trim as the kayak is progressively loaded
will likely still result in a little more weatherhelm than it had when
empty. Also when the load is heavy a given amount of weight in the same off
center position can't change the trim nearly as much as it can when the
kayak is unladen.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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