[Paddlewise] Skin Boats Bounce

	And skin boats fly.....I have seen my Klepper Aerius parked and minding its
own business on my local  beach, picked up by a savage gust of wind howling
off the land , blown thirty metres through the air, before bouncing jauntily
off a handy outcrop of rocks.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Kleppers aren't
supposed to fly.  Heart pounding, I chased after my boat: damage report:
slightly torn deck,  where the aforesaid Klepper touched back on earth.
Couldn't believe it.  If that had been a glass boat......
	What was I doing out on such a day?  I was making use of the wild conditions
to learn more;  and obviously I learned among other things, don't leave your
boat unattended on the shore, even if you think it's so heavy it couldn't
possibly fly.... I don't know the gust velocities on that day, but they were
enough to turn seawater into spume.
	Back on topic,... I guess a plastic boat would also have survived the gust,
but I was mightily impressed at the survivability of the folder, because of
the inherent flexibility of skin on frame.  And the ability of the timber to
absorb the stresses.   But then I hesitate to push my luck in big surf.  I
have the utmost respect for the power of the ocean,  and have heard stories
aplenty of machos who think their seakayak is a surfboat.  It aint.  And they
have the pieces to prove it.
	Kleppers and other folders get reduced to matchwood, plastic boats get
tin-canned, and glass boats fracture in big surf. Each product has its
strength and weaknesses, but big surf is the Great Leveller.
Cheers, Peter Rattenbury, Wollongong, Australia.
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