Paddling with the wind?

Thanks for the kind answers
Thanks for the feedback everyone. It sounds like it just feels faster into the wind. I’ve been out with GPS a couple times on my phone and it always shows the same 4mph…

I find the hardest is a strong…
quartering wind.

Two people paddling on the same side, sometimes need to go a hundred strokes or more before getting the boat turned the right way. It gets old real quick!

Every so often it might even require a wasted rudder stroke from the stern if sweeps don’t do it.



Jack L

What you are experiencing
is apparent wind… I learned about it when sailing



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_wind

Apparent Speed is Relative
Factors that you observe are relative but not absolute.

As others have mentioned the airspeed when going down appears slower. However, the water movement tends to be also downwind too. The wind pushes the surface water down wind. This makes your speed relative the water seem seem slower than your speed relative to the shore.

You’ve discovered…
…manifestations of Resistentialism, the philosophy that holds inanimate object are at war with humans. Seems perfectly reasonable to me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistentialism

In open water without tides
or currents water orbits and does not move. Waves move



http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/motion/waves1.htm

There is a net movement …
… of surface water in the downwind direction, hence Langmuir spirals (you see the evidence of those spirals in the form of streaks of foam on windy days, with all the streaks being parallel), the accumulation thick algae and warm surface waters on downwind sides of a lake, etc, but though huge volumes of water are moving downwind (and correspondingly huge volumes of deeper water are flowing in the opposite direction), the speed of flow is so much slower than the speed of a boat that no one would ever notice it.



By the way, this downwind surface flow movement is independent of what happens due to wave action, and the two things are not related.

I’m learning a lot
Thanks for the information everyone. Very interesting stuff. Cheers.

When rowing or sculling,
it always felt better going into the wind. It’s because things you’re supposed to be doing for maximum effectiveness, especially snaking the blade into the water for a firm catch, are easier to do when the wind is supplying a bit of resistance. With a strong tailwind, the boat seems to be slipping away from under you, and a sharp catch is more difficult.



Any rowing crew is likely to be faster with a tailwind, but only the very best crews have the technique, the sharp slippery catch and leg drive, to row effectively and set record times with a strong tailwind.



The same will be true for a solo canoe paddler. A headwind gives the feedback that makes it easier to paddle properly, with a good reach and a slippery, firm catch. But with a tailwind, your form must be that much better, because the tailwind is slipping the rug out from under you.

Nice post
I found tail winds to be tricky when I first started canoeing the open bays and inshore waters of South Florida. I usually lean toward the wind and use a sweep-like power stroke. I prefer delta hulls, sitting or kneeling, and sit and switch with ZREs. You can really take advantage of a tail wind, but you must match the wind speed with proper technique, power and stroke rate or you’ll end up sideways to the wind and waves. That’s been my experience.

Wind direction
Kayamedic is right about apparent wind which is well known among sailors. I have never liked headwinds. Sometimes it is impossible to make headway at all. Tailwinds, following seas can be really fast but really dangerous once you start surfing with the ever present danger of pitch poling butt over teakettle. Everyone’s idea of windy is quite different.



I like to put up a sail using a bedsheet with two canoes for tailwinds.



What I like most is no wind or light winds under say 10 knots.

Practice? I could go to a lake
of moderate size, like Stone Mountain Lake east of Atlanta, on a day with reasonable wind, that is 8-12 mph, and set an up/down course for practice. Paddling into and then with the wind in alternation should help sharpen the technique used for each.



Or I could stay home and watch football.

Fewer Corrective Strokes Are Needed
Paddling into the wind (light to moderate), especially when paddling only on one side. This way, more effort is being used for going forward instead of steering.

That’s the rule Jack
you paddle into the wind on the way out, then just when you think you will get an easy ride back, the wind shifts and you paddle against it all the way back. Always happens

You’re right
We hiked into a pond in the White Mountain National Forest and sat in a pine grove while high winds blew foam and streaks across the pond.



And that was not circular movement of water that got us wet in our face…Spray picked up off the top surface.

Glad I wasn’t paddling.



But I dislike football.

Not only that…
but it’s uphill both ways.



Yeah, it does seem that way at times, but I’ve cycled and paddled with strong winds at my back and you can definitely tell when winds are working in your favor. I was once pulled over for speeding on a rainy (wind assisted) day when I was a student for going 42 in a 25 MPH zone. Yeah, I was passing the cars, but I had no idea I was going that fast. I was just a rush to get home and in the shower.



The cop asked me, I kid you not, “Do you know how fast you were going?”



There were no cycle computers back then, so I just shrugged and said, “A bit faster than the cars.” When he told me the speed, I laughed and said, “I had no idea I could go that fast.” He wasn’t pleased, but let me off with a warning.



Must have been my cute legs.



Rick

Wind in face
I think the Indian meaning for the name Contoocook River in NH is Wind in Face. No matter when I paddle it one way or out and back the wind has been in my face.



With wind is faster.



Two days into the wind, one day out with the wind.

Just Curious
Were you paddling traditional “Indian Style” in a canoe or were you kayaking?

I’ve never…
had the wind at my back. What’s it like?



Pag

It’s nice
AS the center of the canoe rides up on the wave you paddle to stay there as long as you can and the wave pushes you along, but you can be swamped just as easy as waves coming in on you.