Subject: Re: baidarka stability
From: Kirk Olsen (kolsen@imagelan.com)
Date: Mon Dec 18 2000 - 18:17:31 EST
On Fri, 15 Dec 2000, Fraser Howell wrote:
> Late this summer I launched a greenland type kayak built to the Sea
> Kayaker plans of Chris Cunningham. Beam 20 in, LOA 17.5 ft. I am a
> novice kayaker. This thing tried to drown me every time I took it out.
> My question is should I persevere with it, or get a beamier boat to
> learn on?
You can learn to paddle damn near anything, if you care to. There's an
series of posts to rec.boats.paddle by Al Bowers about learning to
paddle a race surf ski and then an olympic flatwater kayak
http://www.deja.com/usenet are the searchable archives.
First make sure the seat is as low as you can make it. Sit right on the
lower skin of the boat if possible.
My suggestion is to go out in a boat with a paddle float or two and learn
the balance points of your boat. For example put a paddle float on the right
blade of your paddle. Now sit in the boat seeing how far you can lean it
before you need to touch the water with your paddle float. As you become
more comfortable in the boat you'll find some balance points. Also with a
greenland style boat there is a lot of stability when the boat is lying on
it's side. You just have to find that leaned over stability and learn to
trust it. As you get comfortable practice wiggling your hips back and
forth, seeing how the boat behaves when you rock it. With 2 paddle floats
you'll be able to commit to tipping the boat and still use the floats to
brace and stay upright.
After you get a feel for the boat staying in one place you can work toward
actually paddling it...
kirk
who LOVES paddling tippy boats.
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