Re: [Paddlewise] Fresh water lake paddling

Craig Jungers wrote:  Does fresh water react differently to wind
conditions than salt water or is it mostly a result of the shallow
water?


I don't paddle on salt water enough to have observations to share.  But
I have paddled on different rivers with different amounts of mud in
them.  The most dramatic differences have been on Grand Canyon trips. 
On three of my trips we have started with green water and ended with
brown, due to rain storms washing silt and soil in from the side
canyons.  There is a HUGE difference when the water is brown.  A green
wave hitting your face feels like water, a brown wave feels like being
hit with a sandbag.  A green wave hitting the side of the bow changes
the vector of the boat a little, a brown wave turns you around.

Not knowing anything about physics, I would guess that it takes more
energy to create a wave out of heavier water than clear water.

We have all seen how rain can flatten small waves.

And have you ever seen what a little bit of oil can do to waves?  We
once took some plates that had peanut butter on them and washed them in
the ocean.  After a few minutes there was big calm spot radiating out
from us.  There were just little wind ripples, but the oil wiped them
out.  Ben Franklin used to do this same trick, using oil that was in his
cane.  A quote from his writings:

"At length being at Clapham, where there is on the common a large pond
which I observed one day to be very rough with the wind, I fetched out a
cruet of oil and dropped a little of it on the water. I saw it spread
itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface; but the effect of
smoothing the waves was not produced; for I had applied it first on the
leeward side of the pond where the waves were greatest; and the wind
drove my oil back upon the shore. I then went to the windward side where
they began to form; and there the oil, though not more than a
teaspoonful, produced an instant calm over a space several yards square
which spread amazingly and extended itself gradually till it reached the
lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as
smooth as a looking glass. 

After this I contrived to take with me, whenever I went into the
country, a little oil in the upper hollow joint of my bamboo cane with
which I might repeat the experiment as opportunity should offer, and I
found it constantly to succeed."


Jim Tibensky
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