He is in two feet of water before loading on the car so that I can observe the waterline.
If your boat turns upwind when paddling with a crosswind, this is called weather helm, also called weathercock or weathervane.
If your boat turns downwind when paddliing with a crosswind, this is called lee helm.
Most kayak designs experience some weather helm when paddling with a crosswind, especially when not properly trimmed, that is bow heavy.
You could have noticed weather helm when paddling your other kayak with the rudder up, otherwise you may have corrected this automatically with your rudder.
1 Like
My sailing talent is limited, but I think yes.
If boat control is getting dicey, it is generally considered to be safer to be biased to point into the wind rather than away from it. So the default in most kayak hull designs if nothing else alters the boat’s behavior, like how you have it trimmed, is to weathercock.
I tend to agree with this. If the boat is already trying to evade my control I would rather have my bow pointing into the problem.
1 Like
I think most touring kayaks are designed not to lee helm and possibly minimal weather helm, as that is the better of the two evils.
Lee helm is considered worse, because when there is a problem downwind it makes it even more difficult to go upwind to avoid that.
If there is a problem upwind, weather helm is usually not that a problem as you can slow down and or paddle or drift downwind away from the problem upwind.
2 Likes
I would gladly take weathercocking over leecocking for one reason. The latter is more likely to send me somewhere I don’t want to go faster than weathercocking would. Most people paddle forward better than they paddle backward OR make corrections.
It’s just easier to counteract weathercocking, and a skeg helps a lot.
1 Like
Low dispacement boats are not comaptible with large humans or overnight trips. I like sea kayaks with some rocker because they are so manuevarable. Kayaks keep getting shorter which is a problem. The only sea kayak I have ever paddled a lot was a Pygmy Coho. At 17’9" it was just the thing on Pyramid Lake, NV or Lake Tahoe in big rollers.
Weathercocking is an issue for many paddlers. Once you learn to brace and control your boat it is usually not that hard even without a skeg or rudder.
I would ask how often water gets into the boat. For sea kayaks the spray skirt should be considered as part of the hull of the boat. The kayak is designed to have water wash over the top of the boat from time to time. The spray skirt is designed to minimize the amount of water that gets into the boat. If you are getting too much water in the boat, the boat may not have enough free board due to being over capacity or your spray skirt might not be waterproof. I would more importantly ask if you are comfortable in the boat.
It has stayed bone dry. Edging and ferry waves haven’t caused any incursion. Originally I felt the skirt might be too tight but it has loosened a bit.
It’s very comfortable and I have good contact although I might try moving the seat back a bit especially since the stern looks high. I think I have 1-2 inches.
1 Like
With LV, high rockered boat, incremental changes to seat placement is the way to go, to assess impact on weathercocking and rough water handling. Here is the related discussion about considerations in doing the same with my Sterling Progression.
sing
1 Like
If you can move the seat back that would be better than adding dead weight. Even less than an inch can make a difference.
1 Like
“It pivots amazingly fast of the pivot point somewhere right under my butt area.”
That’s the first thing I noticed, not on waves, just turning
I keep meaning to compare the Progression and Illusion hull specs to this hull out of curiosity.
Specs with length, width, depth, overall volume are there in the Sterling site. Of course, you would have to convert to metric, or vice versa, to compare with your European kayak.
The actual hull shape and rocker can be more accurately compared through a direct side by side of the two kayaks. To see if you have the similar rocker and pivot area, maybe try this… 
sing
1 Like
Yea the conversions are why I haven’t done it yet even with a computer 
I did eyeball the hulls side by side before I bought it. I demoed the Braveheart but not the Sterling.
The Sterling is made an hour from our house back home so I would have liked that one but the Finland (hand laid etc) was about 1/2 the price with the no VAT.
There really isn’t a used market much over here.
I think labor cost on the west coast is probably some of the highest anywhere.
With my boat with me in it and nothing in the hatches, the boat turns broadside to the wind. The good thing is I can easily turn upwind or downwind with no problem. The downside is that being broadside to waves makes it tough to take an on-water break in some conditions. At 18’ with a straight keel it tracks great but take a bit of effort to turn quickly. With a 22" waterline beam, edging only make turning a bit easier and with only moderate primary and secondary stability you have to be careful.
Does that mean soft chines?
My boat does have soft chines or a rounded bottom. This affects edging, but not how the boat responds to crosswinds. Weathercocking or leecocking is generally more dependant on where the center of mass rests and whether the bow or stern resists the effect of a crosswind more. This can differ on whether the bow or stern is deeper in the water, height of foredect vs stern deck, and how much gear is stowed on the deck. Rockered hulls are often more sensitive to the effect of crosswinds as the bow and stern is generally not as deep in the water as hulls that are straight and sacrifice tracking for better maneuverability.
Rudders and skegs are primarily designed to counter crosswinds. Longer boats generally need them more than shorter boats.
1 Like
I like the options that the builder has incorporated for seat position. How far did you move it back? Whereever the seat location, take time to go out between 15-20 knots (in a protected cove) if available, and test how the boat helms to the wind when you are paddling. Most folks don’t purposedly go out when forecast is beyond 20 knots. You could be out then on a forecasted 10 knot day, only to find the winds pick up beyond forecasted or because of local land structures that funnel the wind.
If you find the boat is neutral or weathercocks slightly (you can compensate a bit, if needed, with some exposure of the skeg), then you are in the right seat location. If you find yourself leecocking (turning downwind), time to move the seat forward for a notch and try again.
Good luck! I admit an affinity/bias towards LV rockered boats and would love to see how that performs in textured waters.
sing
2 Likes
I moved it all the way back which is maybe 1.5-2”
I probably won’t have waves here but when we get home to Washington next year we go to Tofino and the San Juan’s quite a bit. It’s an easy ferry ride for us to Van Island and we like the drive and camping our way up.
I’m also very curious about the Oregon coast having been there but not paddled.
Thanks for the information on lee cocking, that would be hard to sort out by myself.
That’s a large change in seat position and, probably, the trim.
I would’ve moved it something like half an inch, paddled it, and kept moving back only if needed. Weathercocking is safer than leecocking.
2 Likes