Re: [Paddlewise] Children as Skegs (was Ginger vs Skeg)

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 9:42 AM, James Farrelly <JFarrelly5_at_comcast.net>wrote:

>
> Lets get back to Paddlewise basics and start an argument about rudder vs
> skeg. I'll start.
>
> It depends.
>

It just occurs to me that I may have worded the new subject poorly. Oh,
well.

I can testify that when Hailey was 3 and sat in the rear hatch (we took the
hatch cover completely off) we discovered that she liked to trail one or
both hands in the water as I paddled along. Since she was behind me, her
activities made a good experiment. I did notice a few changes in the
handling of the Nimbus Telkwa; to wit:

1) Tracking was excellent about 66% of the time;

2) Turns toward a single hand in the water were easy while turns away from a
single hand in the water were not so easy;

3) Stopping was much easier when both hands were in the water;

4) Going was much harder when both hands were in the water;

5) Performance peaked at 30 minutes after which time the skeg began making
shrieking noises immediately after yelling, "are we there yet?"

Not recommended. I believe that the rudder would be a vast improvement over
a child as skeg.

We have not yet tested a child as a rudder. Frankly, I'm a little afraid to
bring it up to her mother.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake Scientific (sort of) Test Center
www.nwkayaking.net
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