[Paddlewise] Baidarka bow types

Paul wrote:
>Good points Nick. Although the bifid bow does not ride in the water,
>it looks like to me that the bow would disseminate water faster in a
>heavy sea than a straight bow. Able to recover from a dig in faster.
>Again, not a controlled test, just a hunch. I just have a feeling
>that all of the extra work that went into that bow was for anything
>but function. Or maybe I just WANT to believe that.

The functionality of the bow is an interesting question. A comparison of the 
lines of  of the Dyson boat with the same hull but with a conventional  bow 
suggests that the conventional bow would pitch less due to the greater 
bouyancy. Hard to say if that would really be the case though. The only way 
to ascertain this would be to build two boats identical except for the bows 
and even then you would only know how those two boats compared. The bifid 
bow may actually pound more than the conventional bow. Studies of bulb bows 
on ships reveal the bulb bows are generally detrimental in waves that cause 
emmersion of the bulb. Since kayaks spend a lot of time in that kind of 
condition they may actually prove largely detrimental. certainly would be 
fun thing to study though.

It is worth noting that the Vikings who were pretty good boat builders and 
sea men abandoned the bifid bow one they developed the curved bow.

As for extra work, ships had figure heads that served only an imagined 
purpose. They persisted long after their effectiveness at keeping ships safe 
was debunked or the superstition that fostered them disappeared.

Anyway, it is fun to speculate as long a one doesn't confuse the speculation 
with fact. :-)

Cheers

John Winters 
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