Have you been celebrating New Years a little early? A bit too much bubbly perhaps?
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I will when it happens. No bubbly. Might not even do alcohol. Just another day to catch a few movies.
I’m not sure that gravity counts when counting a fast kayak.
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32 fps per second.
Per second per second
Correct. Gravity is good. Until you reach terminal velocity. The bottom.
Stability before ability.
I can consistently paddle 6+mph on a straightaway without wind nor wave on a calm day in my Stellar S14 G2. My actually average speeds on lakes with lots of twists are obviously slower around 4.5-5mph due to slowing down every turn. I have friends who surfski and unless they are going downwind are hard pressed to break 6.2-6.5mph on a calm day. These numbers are measured on Strava.
I can get about 7mph or more with my younger son who is a very strong paddler on our Stellar S17T double on some straights if we really get on it. That boat will rise out of the water and plane. People say kayaks can’t. The ST-17 can and does, you feel the boat rise higher in the water and the resistance to paddling goes down as your speed increases. If that’s not planing I don’t know what is.
Unless you’re a pro stable boats are always faster because you can paddle them harder without worrying about flipping. It’s counterintuitive!
Planing is the mode of operation for a waterborne craft in which its weight is predominantly supported by hydrodynamic lift, rather than hydrostatic lift. Many forms of marine transport make use of planing, including fast ferries, racing boats, floatplanes, flying boats, seaplanes, and water skis. Wikipedia Kayaks can’t get on plane. You’ll never over run your bow wake.
When considering human-powered equipment, a healthy human can produce about 1.2 hp (0.89 kW) briefly (see orders of magnitude) and sustain about 0.1 hp (0.075 kW) indefinitely; trained athletes can manage up to about 2.5 hp (1.9 kW) briefly and 0.35 hp (0.26 kW) for a period of several hours.
Paddling hard in a sleeker boat does NOT increase the possibility of capsizing. In fact the best way to keep a narrow beamed boat upright is to keep it moving. Somewhat equivalent to bicycling.
Many long narrow (and therefore, fast) kayaks have very good secondary stability. I am not a “pro” paddler but I guarantee I can dust anybody in a wide bargey “stable” boat and could even when I first paddled my 18’ x 21" Greenland SOF. “Stability” doesn’t reside in the boat, it resides in the paddler. If the paddler panics and overcorrects in a kayak that has a twitchy primary but great secondary it is simply a case of them not have yet learned to trust that stability and work effectively with it.
And paddling a wide, flat bottomed boat hard is not going to guarantee more speed compared to a sleeker boat. You’ll always reach a point where the inherent resistance of the hull designe overcomes any amount of added effort.
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Speed isn’t everything
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My CD Expedition 21’-1/4" x 18’-10" I thought it was tippy when I got it. Rounder bottom than my CD Extreme’s of same dimensions and faster. It’s just a little bit but you can feel it glide just a tiny bit better and accelerate tiny bit faster. All comes down to seat time and building confidence.
I wanted to go faster after I got my 15’ Ocean Trident Prowler SOT in 2008 or 9. Rented a CD Solstice 24.25" a month later then bought I one. Then I wanted faster again so I rented a CD Extreme for and hour. I only had it about 40 minute I had to return it. I was totally exhausted from twitching in the Extreme. I still had to have one so I bought one in my first kayaking year. Now when I get in any of the Extremes I have I can’t imagine the feelings I had the first time in one and say what the hell? Then I searched for a Expedition for 4-5 years. Now it really feels solid to me guess my butt got used to it also.
My partner sold her Hobie Quest 13’ we bought when we started. So I took it for a paddle after not being in it for years before it left. It’s 28" wide but it felt scary to me and tippy. Every small 12" wave of bay chop passing under me translated to the hull and my body. It felt horrible if I was sitting still. Even entry and exit at the floating dock seemed extremely awkward. It was easier to get in the Extreme cockpit of 16" x 29.5". It’s all what you get used to if you persevere. I just turned 70 so no spring chicken 
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Celia said the Expedition was meant to be loaded heavily and still be fast as a guide boat. Never really loaded it up but I will one day for kicks. My original desire was for it was bigger cockpit and higher deck than an Extreme. Now I like the speed and glide.
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Speed is nice to have in reserve. I can go slow in a fast kayak but I can’t go fast 8n a slow kayak. I can take a few strokes in my fast kayak and glide vs a few in my SOT and it just dies near immediately.
I made a couple of glide videos of the Expedition the other day. Got it up to 4-5 mph and stopped paddling and goes a long long way after I stop. Post later in the week I got a new hero 11 but need download it with a cable and other gizmo I ordered.
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Years ago. I was looking for a faster boat and tried the WS Tempest, 22" wide 13.5" deck. 325 lbs capacity. I needed a shoe horn to get in it and I couldn’t get comfortable with the foot space. Same problem, with the Zephyr, 23" wide, 14" deck, 300 capacity; I didn’t fit and the safe limit of 300 lbs had me overloading the boat by 47 lbs (125 Tsunami 300 lbs capacity was nice boat, but I overloaded it). My 145 Tsunami is 24.5" wide, 16" deck, 350 lbs capacity; it felt like a different boat when I lost 30 lbs last year (currently overload it by 10-15 lbs, but hope to lose tbe weight again). My 175 Tsunami is 24" wide with a 15.75" deck, 400 lbs capacity; its a good fit, and its faster. The main problem is its a bear to carry and get back on the truck. The other problem is that it’s harder to control in current at the confluence of rivers, in certain tide conditions and in high winds.
John was the Tempest the 17 footer? My brother Clay is thinking about getting one and it looks good from the specs. Feedback would be appreciated.
He tried my Chatham17 and found it a bit tippy on his first time out (So did I my 1st time out) But with only a few days of time in it I found it to be an excellent kayak overall. No longer available, so we are looking for other kayaks in the same range and the 17 foot WS Tempest seems like a good match. Or very close. The Chatham is 17 feet 3" and 21.5" wide as compared to the Tempest at 17 even, and 22 inches wide.
Clay is 5’ 10’ tall 175 pounds and size 11 boots. I am 5’6" tall (short) 193 pounds and size 10.5 boots. However his waist and mine waist are the same at 33", but my upper legs and my chest are both larger in diameter then his. I am guessing my learning curve may be easier because being shorter and heavier it would set my center of balance lower in any given kayak then it would for Clay. From out conversations I expect you are closer to Clay’s size then I am.
So…feedback?
Steve, saw a lot of good posts about the Tempest on the site. My impression is its a good beginners boat to get the hang of sea kayaking, then moving on to more specialized boats. Tempest was not good for me. I cast to large a shadow.
Fastest I ever got mine was 85-90
SOF on a C30 when I was cruising to the westcoast. Not fast thru this pass.
I was back down to bursts of a solid 3 by the time I had it in the Sound.
Peace J
Paatit, I believe that was planing for sure. Sound close to approaching airborne. Hope you were strapped in.
Winning speed averaged out to about 11.4 mph. Interesting to see the differences in cadence among the paddlers while maintaining nearly the same speed.