[Paddlewise] guidance H-29

I'll poke my bow into the discussion on H29 for a moment, having seen all
the ABYC materials come through over the years while they were developed.

It is voluntary for any manufacturer to participate, the ABYC is not the US
Coast Guard.  The ABYC has done a lot of standardization in yachts, so if
Seda went into 50 foot powerboats, it's still voluntary for us to follow
ABYC guidance on how to wire the engine up, but if there's a problem with
said wiring a window for liability has been opened. For power boat buyers,
that's important due to the complexity of the product. 

With kayaks you'll likely see in the marketing materials if a boat is H29
compliant or not (eg the CD Suka discussion)  The concept was to define
certain safety and/or measurements in the industry.  If meeting a guideline
is important to you, you'll only buy a boat with that certification.   For
touring sea kayaks, the H29 has an exception as noted, so the layback roll
has not been regulated out.  You may begin to see some standardization on
load and volume measurements though, as there are strict definitions of
these metrics.

To be blunt, H29 is all about recreational kayaks.  Consider all the
quasi-sit in kayaks on the rack at Costco. These typically have no internal
bulkheads, and the massive cockpits do not allow the paddler to skirt up, if
a skirt was even available.  These are picked up while heading to checkout
for many folks, with little understanding of what's required for safe
paddling, and they head straight out to sea with them.  It's in the interest
of touring kayak manufacturers to push for such a guidance, which is why
it's been implemented (disclaimer, it wasn't something Seda played a part
in)

Off topic, Russian speakers must find some humour at "suka" as a boat name.

John
Seda Kayaks
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