Epic boat speed comparison

nice
It’s nice except it compares a fairly small range of boats with a very limited range of waterline lengths.



Would be more helpful if it compared an average rec boat to an average touing one.



Bill H.

Yep
That’s the stuff, put Greg in an Epic GPX and see how long the 10K takes — shouldn’t be too long, once he gets it up to planing speed…

Above theoretical hull speed
The line on the graph goes straight up but even my old 10 ft dagger aniams could be planed up above its projected hull speed. Skiis are at a disadvantge becuase you can adjust the seat. ted vandusen told me this does not matter much on my van dusen. one reason K1 is fater becuase tiller steering is faster. Please try to jump with your heel as in a ski. Then jump off with your toes. My van dusen mohican has tiller steering just like K1. It is worth a lot to me.

POTD, thanx jackl
Now we are all well aware that someone here has issues with subaru drivers AND brit boat owners!

what I’d like to see
I’d like to see how fast you could get all of those boats going, if they were in a train close enough for drafting!

Well said, Agree

funny this popped back up today
I’ve had an 11kg Fenn Mako Millennium sitting in my garage for the last two years un-used. I bought it site unseen for cheap and got it home and it was the wrong size so it has been collecting dust. Well, yesterday I took some minicell foam and built a seat insert for the bucket that would sit me forward far enough to reach the pedals. That sits me up two inches higher than the bottom of the bucket and gets my weight 4" further forward. It’s a comfortable seating position, really comfortable, though maybe too high for rough water.



Anyway, I left the Vanquish II in the garage this AM and took the surfski with the improvised seat for this morning’s paddle (firm aerobic cruise). Even with the big rudder and the two venturi drains I was holding the same speed at HR 135bpm as in my K1 (My stroke rate is about 5-10spm higher in the surfski. The mechanics of the wider boat and slightly restrictive seating makes the stroke a little shorter but the pressure per stroke is lower so the rate is sustainable). I did a few longish segments where I decided to let my HR drift while I held my usual k1 20km and 10km race pace and found that I could hold the 20km race pace at the same HR as in the k1. I’m pretty sure that I can paddle 20km in the same time in the ski as in the k1 but probably not 10km. Take those venturi drains off (like closing the bailer in the V12) and put a smaller rudder on the ski and I’d be pretty sure that I’d go 10km in the same time as in k1 with more leeway in the water type. Of course I’ve paddled the V12 and my impression was that the effort required at 13-15kph was pretty similar to a Legacy. I’m curious to see if I can get the same result out of an “old school” surfski.



Since the stroke is a bit different, maybe with more time in the ski there would be parity for me between ski and k1 at distances under 20km. I noticed that my stroke rate dropped for a given speed during the workout this morning as I adapted to the differences between k1 and a ski with foam seat, two footwells, and pedals as opposed to a foot board and tiller. I hadn’t been in a ski since August.



Shorter than 10km? K1 gets the nod for sure. At those speeds drag forces other than by wave making are murder in a long boat for someone that weighs under 80kg.

Drafting
Remember, you can only go as fast as the fastest boat when drafting. It’s not like Nascar where both cars benefit from drafting.

why is that?

Drafting a kayak
When drafting the wake of another kayak, the lead person gets no benefit. They just provide a wake for the people behind to surf on. The people behind do not provide a wake for the person in front to ride. Drafting is not cutting down the water resistance on the hull, it’s just riding the wake of the person in front. There’s a good article on huki’s webpage about drafting.



http://www.huki.com/index.php?page=Drafting