ccarlson Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Interesting article posted by Sea Kayaker magazine regarding relative speeds of several kayak designs. Is longer better? Apparently, only if you consistently paddle well over 4.0kt. Fast Kayak Article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djlewis Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Interesting article posted by Sea Kayaker magazine regarding relative speeds of several kayak designs. Is longer better? Apparently, only if you consistently paddle well over 4.0kt. Fast Kayak Article What's a "Chatum 16? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Millar Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 What's a "Chatum 16? It's the American cousin to the NDK Exploder and the NDK Mitt Romney Deb M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccarlson Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 What's a "Chatum 16? I think it's a new model from Nekki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Great article! That's my experience - try to do anything sustained in the 4.5-4.6 kt range, you find that any little thing conspires to slow you down. Going over a bit of shallow water - it's like vice grips are grabbing hold of your kayak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Tieman Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 If you want to look at only one factor, consider the boat's primary stability. The less primary stability the faster it will be on the water. Here's another data source http://www.blackburnchallenge.com/results.asp The data here would be a good base for an article to help decide if it's better to buy better or train harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsoj2 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 It has been frequently noted on paddling.net boards that there is no significant difference in drag under 4 knots among sea kayaks. Here is the current thread generated by the Sea Kayaker article: http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread...&tid=774376 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 If you want to look at only one factor, consider the boat's primary stability. The less primary stability the faster it will be on the water. A lack of primary stability is not a reliable indicator that a boat will be fast. A log has very low primary stability but it won't paddle worth a darn. I've paddled some unstable skin boats that were real dogs on the water. Stability is simply a by-product of the hull design. Racing boats have narrow, rounded hulls to achieve the lowest possible surface area for reduced drag. That's what makes them fast. The fact that this shape has low primary stability is simply a coincidence. If the same low drag could be achieved in a design with increased stability, there would be no point in making boats that are less stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 Interesting article posted by Sea Kayaker magazine regarding relative speeds of several kayak designs. Is longer better? Apparently, only if you consistently paddle well over 4.0kt. Fast Kayak Article The article confirms something that's been widely postulated, that particularly for smaller/lighter paddlers, a shorter boat is no real disadvantage at typical touring speeds. The benefits of a better fit, lighter weight and ease of maneuverability probably offset any minor performance differences vs. longer boats and may even provide a net gain in performance. Kudos to Jim Crescenzi for putting this graph together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.