From: "Samson family" <Bill.Samson@tesco.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka directional stability
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 19:21:30 -0000
Hi,
I find exactly this problem when paddling little white-water kayaks - as
soon as you're getting up speed it wants to veer off to one side or other.
Of course, these are designed to be manoeuvrable, and this is the downside.
Mind you, good paddlers (i.e. NOT me) can paddle these fast and furiously in
a straight line - so it ain't impossible.
Likewise, Blandford's kayaks are general purpose (- they didn't seem to have
special purpose ones in the 50s - ) and so were intended to be used as much
(more?) on rivers as on the sea. I seem to remember him writing that the
PBK26 (14 foot single seater) is suitable for rapids, but also mentions
people crossing the English Channel in them. Clearly a lot of compromises
here.
Bill
-- bill.samson@tesco.net
Chebacco News can be viewed on:
http://members.xoom.com/billsamson
-----Original Message-----
From: Llama <llama@mb.sympatico.ca>
To: Baidarka List <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Date: 08 November 1999 01:19
Subject: baidarka directional stability
>Greetings!
>
>I just got off the water, testing my recently built skin kayak (built
>from Blandford plans). Today was dead calm, no wind - I got back to the
>put-in just as the sun was setting. A beautiful day altogether but
>marred by severe annoyance directed at my kayak. Here's why.
>
>The first couple times I had it out I thought it was weathercocking
>severely, so I figured I would put a keel on it. But today there was no
>weather for it to cock into, and it still wouldn't go straight - and the
>faster I went, the worse it got. It didn't seem to care which
>direction, just that it wanted (quite badly) to veer off to one side or
>the other, and turn perpendicular to its direction of travel. Now I am
>assuming that this is not typical kayak behaviour - this is the only
>kayak I've ever paddled aside from a sit-on-top and a Kiwi type.
>
>The boat has considerable rocker, about 2.5" astern and 1.5" forward. I
>am wondering whether the fact that the lateral area in the water is
>unbalanced - more forward - would make it directionally unstable, in
>which case a keel would only make matters worse. Although it seemed to
>do the same thing in reverse. (It was designed to be used with a
>rudder. I was hoping to avoid that.)
>
>I know there are some real experts on this list, and most of you are
>more expert than I am - what gives? Should a kayak be directionally
>stable, and if so how does one achieve that?
>
>TIA,
>
>Jason
>-
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