Re: [Paddlewise] speed of mixed groups

Hi Joerg,

Yesterday I happened to paddle a trip of 25 km in a mixed group, three
single seat hardshells (two flatwater tourers of type Kajett, and a NDK
Romany Explorer), a Klepper double and my own Klepper single. My Klepper was
slowest, but that might also be caused by my lack of condition, the double
Klepper (with two crew) could well keep up with the others.

Also on other trips I have seen similar, a relatively short and wide Aerius
I stays behind, a longer and better powered (two man) Aerius II can keep up
with a mixed group.

I don't know about a single powered Aerius II, I fear you might stay behind
even more that in a single seat one.

One observation an experienced AE-II paddler made after test paddling my
AE-I was that the AE-II has more of a "brick-wall" behaviour when trying to
go faster, at a certain speed (I guess about 7-8 km/h) it just won't go much
faster, while I can paddle my AE-I at least 9 km/h when I really put some
effort in. My cruising speed is about 6 though.

All these observations were made on flat water, it might be that an Aerius
has more advantage on waves, as it should need less bracing strokes.

regards,

    Kees
    www.vouwkano.nl (in case you read Dutch)


joerg.komenda_at_philips.com wrote:
> As i am using a soft shell foldable (Klepper Aerius 2) and colleagues
> use
> hardshell kayaks, i am interrested to get information about
> performance of
> such mixed groups. As i know the max. design speed is very different,
> but
> at cruising speed, at "non duck pond" conditions, gear loaded, single
> vs
> double etc. the different design concepts are much closer. So it´s
> very
> hard to estimate speed and the complex interaction a mixed group. Tha
> fact
> thatthe foldables act as a stable platform during recovery after
> capsize
> of a hardshell are already discussed in detail here (see FAQ)
>
> So i have to count on your experience to get a good estmation for my
> trip
> planning for the circumnavigation of Elba next spring.
>
>
> Best thanks for sharing
> Joerg
> Vienna, Austria

***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************