Re: [Paddlewise] Advice on boats

Well Craig, just buy a Nordkapp and you can become a 360 degree water man 
too (unlike Paul who is a 360 degree ditch man). :-)

Doug Lloyd

> On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 6:04 PM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>>
>> Your original notion that a performance sea kayak with slightly more
>> stability (primary and secondary in equal measure perhaps) should be more
>> desirable that one without this improvement if that design retains 
>> similar
>> performance roles is one I cannot disagree with. Who can? Craig has 
>> brought
>> this issue up in earnest here before.
>>
>> Well yeah... I have. I'm still grappling with the idea of an 18-foot boat
> being a "playboat"; but maybe it's because only 14 feet of it is actually 
> in
> the water.
>
> But I'm starting to see that it's a matter of what you like. Let's face 
> it,
> sitting on top of a 1-ton bull is downright stupid; but it's probably fun 
> to
> see if you can do it and someone else can't. So there are people who sit 
> on
> top of 1-ton bulls. In the same vein there are people who sit inside a 
> boat
> that is too unstable to let them reach behind them for their lunch.
>
> It's no secret that I love the way a couple of the Mariner kayaks move in
> the water. I love to edge a boat and have it begin to carve a turn or have
> it settle in on a boat wake without the need for a brace. I like to sit 
> out
> in front of my house and wait for some board boat to trundle by ballasted
> deep in the water and catch its wake for 100 yards and then turn around 
> and
> wait for the next one. But while I'm waiting I like to relax and watch the
> bikin.... er, birds.
>
> Matt Broze has made the case that a well-designed boat needs neither 
> rudder
> nor skeg and has put his mouth where his laptop is with a half-dozen hulls
> that really don't much need either of those. Unless you call the sliding
> seat a device designed to eliminate the flaws of the boat itself (which I
> don't think it is... but you could make that case). I like that subtlety 
> of
> purpose.
>
> So if you actually *like* having a boat that you need to keep one paddle 
> in
> the water for at all times and stay alert then who am I to say you're 
> wrong?
> And Robert's point that all kayaks under about 24" wide are unstable in 
> one
> way or another is a valid point that underscores the entire discussion.
>
> I just prefer to paddle a boat that doesn't *try* to kill me if my 
> attention
> wanders a bit. :D
>
> Craig Jungers
> Moses Lake, WA
> www.nwkayaking.net
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