>As in most things there is little that is new in boat design. >Thousands of years have been given to the evolution of boat and ship >designs of all types and in the process just about everything has been >tried. >Michael in Tallahassee Hi all, Been off-line moving from Cincinnati to Cape Coral, FL (no, I've not paddled yet, not even rolled in the pool.) So if this has been mentioned, please forgive. Michael is correct, evolution will settle in around the optimal. But optimal is what it is given many other dimensions besides "performance", for example the technology available while the evolution is going on. The form the Inuit et al evolved over thousands of years was perfected within the constraints of what they could build. What if they had roto-molding and modern composite lay-up techniques as well as titanium to work with? Is it possible that the optimal they arrived at would lie in a different place? Perhaps so. That said, to someone wanting to make a business go, another dimension which holds rather important sway is will enough people buy it. To what degree do their expectations of "kayak" influence their willingness to heave one atop their car and show it off in traffic? Another more recent factor is the ability to share insights and evolve faster now that we have the internet and can search up other's designs and suppliers of materials and parts. I'd bet the evolution curve is getting pretty steep right about now. Oh, and don't forget - evolution requires the many permutations be tried to determine the ones that live and the ones that die. Maybe this latest design is one that will die, but will shine some light in some previously dark corner where some gems lie. Dream on Bill! Carey *************************************************************************** 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 Tue May 10 2005 - 05:17:20 PDT
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