Been lurking here for a while on this one and finally just couldn't keep my mouth shut ;-) Correct me if I'm wrong, but all that really matters is how efficient the system is. While most kayaks are easier to move from point A to point B with a paddle, I wouldn't consider one of them any more poorly designed than ones that are easier to move with a rudder ;-) It really doesn't seem very relevant that a particular rudder adds 10% drag to a kayak or that removing it reduces drag. It may be relevant if the rudder adds 10% more drag, while heeling/leaning the boat adds less drag, but even that is incomplete, if heeling/leaning makes the paddler less efficient. Maybe the boat has the least drag while on it's side, but the paddler then paddles in a circle, because they can only reach water on one side. What I think is relevant is how much energy does it take to move a kayak system from point A to point B under a set or sets of environments or conditions. From that, you can deduce which system is the most efficient under those conditions. With enough data you may be able to find systems that work most efficiently under a wider range of conditions and even identify which work under a wide range when one or more variables are factored out. The system is the boat, the load, the paddler, the paddle. You probably need to define what you hope to do with the results once you complete your experiment, to set it up reasonably well. I would guess that adding a paddler such as Greg Barton to the system would make a bigger difference than the selection of a Mariner without a rudder or a Necky with one. So maybe you want your experiment to determine what boat and paddle combination is most efficient for a certain range of paddlers in a specified range of conditions. Depending on what the results show, you may be able to further segregate your information. I would propose measuring efficiency either by measuring paddler workload or by measuring time across a variety of courses. If you get enough data, either approach can work. Maybe something like 6 different boats, 10 different paddlers and each paddler does 10 circuits of the course each day over 4 days. A few methods to measure workload are strain gauges on the paddle shaft or O2 uptake of the paddler. The strain gauge approach can be more compact. The O2 uptake approach is probably the better measurement of efficiency, but the equipment is bulky and may impact the results. You could also measure time, and with enough paddlers across a range of boats, under a variety of conditions you could run a DOE that could be used to optimize your boat and paddle selection. You don't need to put each paddler in each boat, using each paddle, or worry about who gets tired as they run additional laps on the course, the data will show you that. You could even run an experiment using the strain gauges and course time. It would be important to have a large enough sample to get statistically meaningful results, or conversely keep the sample size small enough to support whatever conclusion you feel is the one that should be reached ;-) I suspect that what we'd find is that different boats will work better for different sizes of paddlers in different conditions, but now we'll be able to actually quantify what those combinations are to help people pick boats that work better for them, and these new converts to kayaking will be so happy that pretty soon jet ski sales will fall off as everyone discovers that kayaking is way more enjoyable and these great guys at the kayak shop simply measure your size, height, weight, strength, flexibility, balance and a few other variables and then sell you three different boats and four different paddles, along with a little computer program that tells you which boat to use on a given day for a given route;-) Just a little food for thought. I think I'll go back to messing around with my statistical software now ;-) Not paddling enough this season (but I did race someone paddling with only my hands Sunday ;-) - Saul *************************************************************************** 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 Jul 02 2007 - 23:08:55 PDT
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