Re: [Paddlewise] Advice on boats

Good explanation Carey. The "Zen" experience of a twitchy Nordy in a 
moonless gale at night along rebounding cliffs is an active, engaging 
experience where the vigilance of instant hip-control correction _is_ the 
experience an assumes a stability paddler-provided that is difficult to 
illuminate to others. Just don't ask me to take any pictures though. :-)

Hey, you Paddlewisers are a great bunch of guys and gals letting me take up 
your bandwidth reading time (heh, heh - assuming some of you do).

Have a great paddling season everyone. Be safe. Be real. Just do it with 
some gusto once and awhile.

Doug Lloyd


>I might have this wrong, so I'm posting it mainly to see how many arrows it
> attracts.
>
> First, semantics may play a role here. "Stable" sounds like a good thing
> when you ask someone would you want your boat stable? But if you 
> substitute
> "strong righting moment with respect to the water's surface" it might make
> one think a little before answering.
>
> If the water is horizontal, the "stableness" of the boat will also tend 
> keep
> you horizontal. If the water were to incline to 45 degrees, that 
> stableness
> would tend to incline you to 45 degrees. Ditto 90. How strong this 
> tendendcy
> is depends on how "stable" the boat is.
>
> Now taking the opposite extreme, if your boat had zero "stability", on 
> flat
> water it would have zero tendency to keep you horizontal. Your attitude is
> all dynamic and up to you. If the water were to incline to 45 degrees, it
> would have zero tendency to incline you to 45 degrees. Ditto 90. Your
> attitude is all dynamic and up to you.
>
> So, I'm thinking it's pick your poison. If you are all of the time in flat
> water "stable" is good. If you are really worried about water with 
> texture,
> even if it's that one crossing back from the island when the sea gets up,
> maybe not so much.
>
> As long as you have a paddle in the water and are applying force, it's
> pretty easy to control your attitude. It's only sitting with your paddle 
> in
> your lap that the boat needs to take over the job of staying upright. I
> doubt Doug spends much time fishing or taking photograps when he paddles 
> in
> a gale at night.
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