At 09:52 PM 6/16/2004 -0700, Matt Broze wrote: >"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. Good point. If someone chooses to paddle solo in conditions which may require the use of a skeg or rudder they had better make sure that they employ a more important piece of equipment; their head, and have the common sense to make sure that their boat is well maintained and completely functional. >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. But Paul was almost right. While it most likely had nothing to do with not having a skeg or deep draft rudder Chris broke his Romany during a beach "landing" to the point where it had to be flown into a town where it could be repaired. Chis *did* paddle a Nordkapp for his circumnavigation of Ireland but he also paddle a Romany (as did Leon and Shawna) for the Iceland Expedition. From pictures of the boats on the Iceland Expedition web site it appears that none of the boats were equipped with a skeg. John Fereira jaf30_at_cornell.edu Ithaca, NY *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 06:50:38 PDT
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