Craig Jungers wrote: > The mechanics of edging a kayak to make it turn faster are simple: basically > you convert the hull from an essentially flat surface with little rise from > end to end into a curved surface with rocker. The more you edge the more > rocker you get and the faster the boat will respond to the turning moment > imparted by your paddle blade. That's part of it; the other turn-inducing feature is that the hull is now asymmetric: the "down" edge is curved in the direction of the turn; the "up" edge is curved in the direction opposite the turn (really, it is a portion of the hull you have rolled upward a bit) but has much _less_ curvature. This difference, side-to-side, generates a turning force, also, which aids the paddle. You can see how much this amounts to by starting a turn, edged, and then coasting, with no more paddling. The boat should keep on turning, albeit not as tightly as when you were sweeping to help out. > But there are situations in which you might want to do exactly the opposite. > Another situation is when you are on the face of a wave surfing down and > want to turn back up the wave and off the face. You'd edge towards the > direction of the turn (and into the wave-face) while using your paddle to > rudder your stern around. This would probably be really interesting in a > round-bottomed sea kayak and your "edge" might turn out to be more of a > side-slip. Remember that the water particles are move in a circular pattern: > up the back of a wave and down the face of a wave so that you would not just > be fighting gravity as you move across that wave-face. Aren't the water particles moving _up_ on the _face_ of the wave and down on the backside? If they were moving down on the face of the wave, wouldn't the water level on the face be falling instead of rising? > Skiers talk about "carving" turns as they move down the face of the slope > and so do white-water kayakers. And edging on skis with heavy sidecut is an entirely different game than edging a kayak (WW or other wise) because sidecut generates a curved edge that interacts with the surface to generate turning forces _toward_ that side, not away from it. [I feel particularly unqualified to discuss the mechanics of sidecut on snow, inasmuch as I never learned to do parallel turns! Strictly a skidded turn guy, perhaps a consequence of my surfer heritage and upbringing!] -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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 Jan 22 2007 - 13:11:13 PST
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