Good Advice
Thanks for the advice. I have spent a little time at the pool, mostly practicing rolling. I will emphasize sculling next time I go to the pool and will continue to try to get more comfortable/relaxed with other stability profiles. It can only help me become a better paddler, I suppose. Maybe I just will continue to need my Romany babysitter. Which leads me back to my original post, besides the speed/acceleration, what is the joy of paddling a lower initial stability kayak? What are the other advantages over a kayak like a Romany, or similar hull design?
True
not everyone wants to have a boat that challenges their skills, but not everyone wants to paddle a water plow, either :).
There are times (fishing, for example) where I attach what is essentially an outrigger to my boat (paddle attached behind the cockpit with a float on each blade) and that handles whatever stability I need. Paddling a barge is frustrating and leaves a brown stain on my seat.
I think most folks who paddle a barge amongst a lot of faster boats learn to hate them, too :).
Rick
practice in breaking waves
– Last Updated: Nov-18-13 4:41 PM EST –
"give me any more that 1 ft. wind chop on the beam and the wobbly feeling just messes with my mind. Bigger swell or wind waves and I really can't avoid tensing up and feeling nervous/anxious."
"I can just relax and let the boat do its job."
Practice in breaking waves will bring you to a new level like nothing else. I think it's because in breaking waves, once they reach a certain level, your kayak's stability can no longer protect you. You need to have a different skill set in place.
I was out yesterday in my P&H Bahia playing in 3-4' surf. The Bahiya was largely considered quite unstable, on this board included. I got thrown around a little, spun around a little, had to roll up a few times. None of this had anything to do with stability. I own several kayaks. In those moments, a kayak's stability gets pretty well lost for me. It's more about leaning into waves, blade angle control, adjusting to unexpected movement, controlling movements where you can, relaxing your left leg to bring the kayak back to level up from the right, relaxing your right leg to bring the kayak back to level up from the left, etc. Edging doesn't work well beyond a certain size and wave-break intensity. The wave will knock your body right over unless you're laying your body over into it as it hits you. That's why I say "leaning into waves" vs "edging into waves". With less impact, edging works fine.
In any case, once you iron out controlling your balance and ability to right yourself with forces acting on both your body and your boat, the twitchiness goes away. That then leaves other things to appreciate or not appreciate.
In some ways, if you're planning on taking on bigger water, I think you're better off working your way through that nervousness at a less rough level. It doesn't take that big of conditions, and no matter what boat you're in, once you tense up and feel nervous/anxious, the boat will no longer keep you upright.
I find this an interesting thing as far as the psychological factor. If a group paddles out of a deep channel inlet into 4' short-period open water, there is usually a little anxiety about the open water conditions for a while. If a group launches into that same water through breaking waves, everyone is breathing a sigh of relief and is relaxed in the same open water conditions. I'm no different. If I can bust through an intimidating surf launch, I'm immediately relaxed in the open water. A whitecap on the crest of a steep wave no longer seems intimidating. It seems playful.
So start by taking that Cypress out to some 2' breaking waves. Learn what knocks you over. Learn how to counteract that. Learn to reliably and automatically sit up from a deep brace. Learn blade angle control, so that you can sweep forward or backwards with either hand with either a high or low brace to keep your body on the surface. It will give you that little bit of extra support while you sit up if necessary.
Diving blades due to a diving blade angle, and two tense legs up in both thigh braces, are usually the things that prevent a person from sitting back up after a side-surf, for example.
As a simple safety precaution, I would advise people against flirting with white-capped open water conditions without developing this as a prerequisite skill set. Since you're talking about building conditions, and the possibility of a more stable boat being a better solution, I'm suggesting developing a skill set that will protect you better than a more stable boat. Some may suggest doing both. But I recommend picking up the skills that go beyond your kayak's stability, and then re-evaluating the performance of your kayaks.
Use the pool to learn to roll, blade angle control, recovery from a deep brace if you want. Once you have that, you could play in the pool for years, and probably not pick up the open-water capabilities that you would in a few visits to breaking waves with the ability to knock you over and side-surf you for a bit. If you don't have a roll, the entire activity is largely useless, as there is little difference in the mechanics of sitting up from a deep brace and a roll. But you seem interested in what it takes to push things further more than just wanting a more stable boat for what you already do. And a person usually picks efficient kayaks because that is something that turned them on about kayaking. I guess you said exactly that: "I particularly enjoy for their speed and acceleration: an Epic 18X&V8 and a Current Designs Cypress" So I'd definitely push skills over new equipment. I'd love to have a Cypress and an 18X.
More Great Inspiration
I found your post particularly inspiring. I’m going to bring the Cypress to the pool this week! I also have a nice place to bring it into some small (1 - 3 ft) breaking surf as well. This makes me think of the nice step forward I took once I became confident side surfing, rolling, and playing in the surf with my Romany. My only trepidation is I am not 100% consistent rolling the Cypress - but will work on this in the pool as well. FWIW: The 18X and V8 were both demoed/rented boats that I spent time in and liked for their acceleration but felt more similar to the Cypress in terms of stability.
Other boats
There are not a lot of boats out there with the combination of secure feeling and responsiveness of the Romany. Once in a while someone just gets it right.
But speed or a spritely quality - as in acceleration - can make a boat more pleasurable to paddle. I stay with my Vela for that reason, even though there are some weaknesses as a rescue platform compared to the Romany. While both have similar top hull speeds, the Romany is a pig at acceleration compared to the Vela. But the Vela will ask more of the paddler in terms of staying relaxed when things get dicey. It’s the trade-off.
too true
that the overall stability of a boat is largely a function of paddler skill, not hull design. The reason is obvious: any moderate sea/swell/wind condition quickly surpasses the envelope the hull design can handle. Odds are that the conditions will exceed the design when one enters or exits the surf zone as well (that is, in a sea kayak). WW kayaks and canoes surely cannot handle severe conditions on their own, it takes a paddler that is confident and capable in the prevailing conditions.
It is the paddler that provides the overall capability of the boat. A paddler who isn’t comfortable in the boat will have a much more difficult time in developing the necessary skills. Those who opt for a truly stable boat will usually lag behind both the performance and learning curves.
Rick