Re: [Paddlewise] Skeg Jammers

"Peter Treby" <ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au> asked:

>>>>>>What do solo paddlers do to free a skeg while on the water?<<<<<<<

Well, if shore was too far off and if there was no chance of having your
kayak blow away faster than you could swim, you could bail out with your
skeg unjammer firmly held in your teeth, fix it and then do a self rescue.
Of course if conditions were that mild you could probably handle the kayak
without the skeg (or with too much skeg if that, less likely, failure mode
occurred). Same goes for a rudder that has failed in a position (such as
jammed over to one extreme) that makes paddling any distance virtually
impossible. Again though if conditions are that benign and the rudder
failure is such that the rudder can still be lifted or is still free to turn
with the boat (even though you can no longer control it) you can get by
without it with at least with most reasonable sea kayaks. I don't think
anyone has mentioned that the best way to not get into this position is to
always test that the skeg is functioning correctly as soon as you leave the
beach.

Chris Duff modified the Romany Explorer he used to solo circumnavigate the
South island of NZ by (if I recall this correctly) filling in (or cutting
out) his kayak's skeg box so he had no skeg to fail on him. Paul Caffyn (the
one previous circumnavigator of the same island--part solo and part with a
partner) is reported to have told Chris that if he didn't use a Nordkapp
with a deep draft rudder he had no chance of succeeding. If that is true,
Paul was proved wrong when Chris completed his trip.
This also calls into question Steve "Alder Creek" (and "kayaks with skegs"
designer) Scherer's conclusions when he jumped on board Duane Strosaker's
comments below:

>>>>>>It's too bad there aren't more kayak designs that
don't need a skeg or rudder. Interestingly, there was such a boat on the
trip, and due it being loaded bow heavy, resulting in excessive weather
cocking and broaching during a crossing, a tow line had to be used for a
while to keep it going straight.<<<<<<<

Steve ground his axe thusly:
>>>>>>>this is the problem with boats that 'don't need a skeg or rudder'.
The
simple matter of balancing a boat to 'conditions' and course is quite
involved, taking wind speed and direction, intended course, boat trim,
swell direction, etc. into consideration.  just being off a little with
this balancing equation can be a nightmare.  skegs and rudders make this
'balancing act' as EZ as deploying the device.
Many times I have seen experienced paddlers in boats that 'don't need no
stinkin' rudder or skeg' have all kinds of issues when the wind kicked up.
The boats WILL find it's weather balance point, and sometimes it ain't
where YOU want to go.<<<<<<

I don't know which kayaks he or Duane were talking about so I can't judge if
these were kayaks that I believe a skilled paddler shouldn't need a rudder
or skeg to control in side winds or following seas. However, as the designer
of some kayaks that I believe are among the kayaks that are the least in
need of a rudder or skeg to keep a course in difficult conditions, I would
like to respond.

Yes, it does take a little skill and practice to get the best from such a
kayak (much like it takes a little practice to learn to use a skeg correctly
and somewhat less practice to learn to use a rudder). Someone trained to the
rudder usually takes awhile just to overcome the urge to push harder on the
pedal on the side he or she wants to turn toward and often has little or no
clue how a kayak can be controlled without the rudder. They can find it even
harder to learn to use a rudderless kayak than a rank novice might because
their previous learning must also be overcome. Plunk this rudder dependant
kayaker down in difficult conditions with a rudder that has failed (even
benignly) and they are likely to be (at best) struggling in that situation.
The less rudderless friendly the basic hull of their kayak is the worse
their struggle is going to be.

Steve would have you believe it is difficult and extremely complicated to
get the balance just right in even a "good" (if he will even admit to such a
beast) rudderless or skegless kayak. He would have you believe that even if
you are off by just a little it will be a real nightmare. This "red herring"
is just not remotely true. It is very simple to get the balance right when
loading a kayak with gear (hopefully the designer took care of this for you
when the kayak is paddled with little or no gear load). The problem is that
few understand what needs to be done to maintain trim. Simply put all of the
dense heavy items in the rear and all the light bulky items in the front.
The major (by far--I was even tempted to say "only") reason a skilled
rudderless paddler might have a problem is that they put too much weight in
the front of the kayak. This is an easy thing to do if you are not aware of
the problem it causes. Here is what happens. The trim of a kayak works much
like a teeter totter. The fulcrum is at the center of buoyancy (for a well
designed kayak this should be at about ones belly button when the kayak is
level). (Note: Your belly button is about your center of  gravity when
sitting in a kayaking position--you could try this out at the playground).
Any weight you put in the front of the kayak has to be put further out on
the teeter totter because your legs stick out further in that direction than
your butt does in the other direction. Any kid soon learns how that effects
the balance of the teeter totter.

Ones goal should be to get twice as much weight into the stern as into the
bow. If that is difficult (or you find your kayak still weather helming) put
some of the water way back near the stern to help balance out the bow's
load.
This advice isn't just for kayaks that have little or no need of a rudder or
skeg though, because ruddered and skegged kayaks will also handle better and
be faster if you do this. A weathercocking kayak will need more rudder angle
or skeg depth to compensate if you load the bow too heavy and then travel
across a side wind. The greater rudder angle (especially) and the deeper
skeg (somewhat) will increase the kayaks drag as the cost of keeping to an
unnatural course that the hull doesn't want to stay on. Speaking of adding
drag, some kayaks skeg boxes are major drag producers at all times and tank
tests have shown a flat rudder to add 10% to the drag of a kayak at 3 knots
(with the rudder straight back). Imagine how much more drag there is when
the rudder must be held at an angle to ones direction just to keep the kayak
going that way. When my kids were small, and rode in my lap, I could sure
tell that somebody had put on the brakes whenever they would dangle their
fingertips in the water.

Lee Moyer of PWS recently told a kayak club that he has seen lots more
problems with skegs than with rudders in his shop. He is probably a lot more
knowledgeable about customers rudder and skeg problems than I because we
rarely sell kayaks with rudders. One benefit for me is that I don't get many
complaints about them failing. I also have a lot of folks thank me for
letting them learn to be "paddlers" (as opposed to "rudderers"). However,
I've seen all sorts of rudder failures in the wild. Either it is fairly
common or I'm way out on one side of the bell curve with my experience with
this. If I had to chose one or the other (and they were both totally
reliable and had none of the common but solvable problems--such as loose
foot pedals that don't let you get your leg power into the stroke or skeg
boxes that develop leaks) I would most likely choose the skeg because the
rudder is invariably mounted at the stern and can spend significant time out
of the water just when it is most needed in steep following seas. I'd still
have to put up with that hard to pack around skeg housing in the stern
compartment though. If I did have a rudder I'd cross the rudder cables so at
least when I wanted to turn the proper knee would lift up to help me turn
the kayak faster by leaning it. This also brings the proper knee into play
when one angles the rudder to straighten out a broaching kayak but nothing
happens until the rudder renters the water. If you have been trying to stop
the broach with a normal rudder your down wave knee isn't on the knee brace
when the rudder catches the wave crest again and tries to trip you down wave
with its leverage. Crossing the cables also naturally fixes this problem.

I almost forgot. With a seat/footbrace unit that can be easily moved fore
and aft in the kayak one can adjust the kayak's trim about as easily as one
can adjust a skeg (and there is no skeg control bump sticking out of the
deck to bark my knuckles on either). For some reason many skeg manufacturers
also seem to want to place the skeg adjusting recess (internal lump as
opposed to the adjusting knob's external bump) right where one of my knees
would like to go. Irritating, yes, but like sliding foot pedals, just poor
design, rather than a necessary evil of the system.

For those who, like Chris Duff, would like to reduce their dependence on
unreliable crutches, there are some tips on handling a kayak in difficult
conditions, using your bare hands, in the "paddling" manual (in the
"Manuals" section of the website below my name).

Matt Broze
www.marinerkayaks.com
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