Mr. Roll Or Drown said (snip): >As an experiment, I recently removed the back bands, and so far I haven't missed them. Are there any other sea kayakers out there paddling without any kind of a back rest?< I chucked mine years ago. Do enough paddling and you don't really need back support. As a compromise, I formed my own rear-of-seat bulkhead that slopes forward, angled down from the cockpit coaming to just behind the seat, in a wraparound style. This was then lightly padded. By resting backwards slightly, I can get a bit of temporary support (water removal is way-easy too by simply lifting the bow with the kayak on its side). Doug Lloyd (now Duane, the only thing I want to know from you is how come California is doing so well in baseball and hockey) :-) Victoria BC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever can be said at all can be said clearly and whatever cannot be said clearly should not be said at all." Ludwig Wittgenstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
You make a good point, Duane... Although removing the back band might be a wee bit radical, there's no denying that I get a more efficient, more powerful forward stroke when I lean forward just a bit -- maybe 10-15 degrees. In that position, there is little or no pressure on the backband. I'm thinking, now that you mention it, that I don't put much pressure on my backband unless I'm sorta wriggling in the boat to resettle myself. Bob >Like raising > the training wheels > on a bike, my back bands were moved back to the point that they really > weren't providing very much for support. As an experiment, I recently > removed the back bands, and so far I haven't missed them. Are > there any > other sea kayakers out there paddling without any kind of a back rest? *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Me. I have a custom glass seat in my most-often paddled boat. It comes no higher than the top of my pelvis. Never had a backrest. Shawn On Wed, 14 May 2003, Strosaker wrote: > Are there any other sea kayakers out there paddling without any kind of a back rest? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 5/15/2003 11:09:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, shawnkayak_at_yahoo.com writes: > ... Me. I have a custom glass seat in my most-often paddled boat. It comes > no higher than the top of my pelvis. Never had a backrest. ... My first glass touring boat had an integral molded seat hanging from the cockpit rim. There were no provisions for a backrest with that seat and I never missed it even back then (during "the early years" :-). That boat had no provisions for foot rests either, nor did I miss them -- I paddled with my heels together and my knees splayed out -- and jammed under the deck if the conditions called for serious boat control. That minimal set-up served me well for years on fresh and salt water, in flat calm and somewhat breezier conditions, whether out for an afternoon (or early morning) or for a few days. I reckon that the leg position I describe above makes it easier for me to hold my torso erect and slightly forward of vertical, which seems to help me more with a strong and efficient stroke than any amount of cockpit outfitting. Then again I've come to appreciate bits of cockpit outfitting to provide greater comfort over the years ... :-) Best regards, Ralph Ralph C. Hoehn Folding Boat Center P.O. Box 700 Enfield NH 03748 info_at_FoldingBoatCenter.com www.FoldingBoatCenter.com phone: +1-802-649-2555 -- Ralph phone: +1-603-632-9500 -- Alv (yup, they rhyme) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:34 PDT