Subject: [baidarka] Skinboats Rule!
From: Phil Ellis (pcoellis@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Oct 16 2001 - 20:50:08 EDT
Kirk,
Apologies for inadvertently starting a (gag) rigid boat thread. I wouldn't
even be considering a factory-made boat except that I've been invited to do
some rough-water ocean kayaking by some very experienced people I know, and
they were a little spooked when I mentioned that I'd be done reskinning my
baidarka real soon. I could probably stand to have a (material description
deleted) boat around anyway for some other as yet to be determined purpose.
I noticed that there were no negative comments about the, uh, other boat so
I guess I'll go ahead and buy one of them. They seem to have a fan club of
considerable proportions anyway...of course that could be something like the
old joke that starts "Can 10 million flies be wrong?..."
Back to skin boats, the incident with the unfortunate Youknowwhatcapp driver
was in my mind about an hour ago as I was paddling with a friend through an
unexpected storm with gusting winds (don't know how high, part of the time
she was being blown backwards-waves were choppy and 1 to 2 ft) which
illustrated one of the distressing shortcomings of either me or my boat or
maybe both. The woman I was paddling with is small and was in a WS Picolo.
Ordinarily, I can paddle a good bit faster than she can, and as long as we
were into the wind, the same thing applied, but across the wind, she pulled
away steadily as I fought to keep my boat headed in the right direction.
I've noticed that the same thing happens in rough water...I frequently
paddle with a bunch of friends who have rec boats, and they have difficulty
keeping up in flat conditions, but pull away easily when it's rough. Anybody
got any boat modification ideas that might help (I'm paddling an 18" wide
West Greenlander)? Skip the part about getting stronger and paddling
better...I already know about that.
Incidentally, I'd be glad to hear back channel from anyone with a a fast,
seaworthy boat less than 21 inches wide that is not a Youknowwhatcapp to
recommend, or on-line to recommend a traditional type that is less affected
by conditions than my current one.I don't care about cargo capacity.
Gotta go throw another log on the fire and stick my hands and feet in it.
Regards,
Phil
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