Unlikely, but possible
Assuming you were in a Nootka which is 20 ft. with a waterline of no more than 18’. If you use conventional math assuming a full 20 ft. of waterline (which it doesn’t have) you have a hull speed of around 6 knots. Now that can be exceeded , but at huge power increases. 8mph is 6.95 knots which is well above that boats range. If you made 4 mph against a 5mph current your speed would be 7.82 knots. Perhaps you are both Olympic athletes, and are legit. If you’re not, you missed your calling!
Thanks Sanjay
A dose of reality, and in the nautical world distances and speed are traditionally in knots as you pointed out. I wonder about GPS speeds. Sitting in yachts tied to docks I’ve been doing a couple of knots on the GPS??? And that aint cheap equipment like kayakers use!
how much fun per hour?
Have fun with friends and speed is secondary unless you are bitten by the race bug and really want to be fit when your are 75. At age 54 did the 70 miler in a t-bolt by name of “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” in 9.3 hours and the first hour was picking thru trees in a narrow winding creek. At the half way point was mooching water for the rest of the race and that cost some time. It was downhill and while paddling averaged better than 8mph for 9 hours. I think Pam beat me because she is the goddess of training and speed. Me, I eat way too much ice cream and train a little but love to race a lot. www.canoeregatta.org 2004 results
Nootka plus, ~ 22’6" overall length.
about 21’ (best est. I can measure) at the waterline. But, I suspect the Garmin Legend’s readings are correct. Given the laminar flow in a river, we may have had a slower channel going up stream and a faster going down - even though the overall river speed may be ~5 mph.
In any case, the speed, relative to the riverbank going by as we paddled downriver in a human powered craft was quite a thrill.
River velocity varies a lot
Are you the monster I heard about hauling up from Vernita to Priest Rapids? I worked my butt off on that bit, about 3 hrs up eddy hopping and 1 hour back, slacking off.
Since the dam controls the flow, it’s really difficult to compare the current from hour to hour, much less from day to day, unless you pull the gauge data off the web.
Must be Faulty GPS or faulty vision
The speed function on even the cheapest GPS is accurate within a few percentage points. Close to 0 there will be some noise but not 2 knots. Sure it wasn’t 0.2 knots?
flatwater TT
You should find a lake and do a 5 and 10 mile TT, and post the results to MountainWayfarer’s website (Virtual Time Trial). Nothing personal, but your speeds are quite extraordinary, and I’m having a hard time believing that you and your wife are faster in a Looksha double than Greg Barton is in a fast surfski. Look forward to your results. The standard format is either an out and back, minimal to no wind or current, or a loop.
Have fun and let us know what you find.
Andrew
Thor was the…
monster, but he and I paddle together, even upriver. it’s great practice for handling the nature of water.
Yes, very sure
Interestingly Seadart this is common and I’ve witnessed it on a few yachts that I’ve shuttled. Don’t know why? I’m very familiar with navigation equipment and navigating. Sometimes my handheld Garmin will indicate a very low speed when at rest as well. Maybe it’s my body odour!
That really is the best question,
Dave. Sets the priorities straight : )
Sanjay
3 boat comparison
I’m a 41-year old male, 5’11", 265 lbs. I’m obviously not in great shape, but I’m somewhat active and paddle some.
I started in a Dagger Bayou that was 10’8" long. I was a few pounds lighter then, but I was already over the 250 lb weight limit. I never had any big problems, but the boat was slow. The Bayou is a wide boat already, and my heavy weight pushing it into the water meant that I had to move a great deal of water to make progress. I actually tended to push a curled bow wave half the time, and a bow wave looks funny on the front of a kayak. I found that I could hit 4.5 mph somewhat consistently, but over the course of almost any trip up to 3 hours in length, I figured that I’d average about 3 mph.
My second boat is a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 145T (14.5’ long). Paddling solo in this boat raises my average speed over an equivalent trip to about 3.5 mph. Sometimes, I move the front seat to the middle and paddle from the middle. Other times, I sit in the back and let the front of the boat stick up a bit. When I’m in the middle, the boat doesn’t track as well but may be a little faster. However, I don’t think the difference is more than a tenth or so of a mile per hour.
My third boat is a Dagger Magellan at 16’6" in length. I’ll often have instantaneous speeds of 5 to 6 mph in this boat, but I generally expect an average of about 4 mph for the average two to three hour trip. The problem with the Magellan is that I’m just too stiff to leave my legs and feet in one position for more than 3 hours. In my other two boats, I can change positions quite a bit and be pretty comfortable for longer trips. In the Magellan, I can only move my feet on and off the pegs. No other repositioning is possible. As a result, I’m usually cramping pretty badly after 3 hours.
The moral of the story is that if I want to see 12 miles of water in less than 3 hours, the Magellan is the most efficient way to go. If I have to longer than 12 miles, I have to have the time to take the Pamlico 145T and take a really long trip or I have to find a place to land the Magellan and rest my legs.
Wow, that’s strange
I’ve been playing with my cheap Garmin E-Trex for a couple of years now, and have yet to see a single non-zero speed reading while I stationary. I’ve seen various sorts of temporary errors, but never anything like that.
you can learn a lot…
…about hull speeds by studying the results of annual races (which seldom record the type of crafts). Most times for amateurs calculate to 6-7 knots. It is also interesting how the times for the entire field will vary each year, likely due to wind, current, or other water conditions.
Never checked my speed but it would be pretty pathetic because I stop paddling pretty often (you can’t sneak up on wildlife when you’re paddling like the grim reaper is gaining on you in his sleek surfski!)
As Frank in Miami might say: “Paddle…at the speed that is right for you…on.”
What the heck everybody else jumped
I paddle an Eddyline Night Hawk 17.5 and in flat water with a slight breeze I cruise around 4.8 and have peaked with the wind and a bit of swell at 8 mph as measured by my Garmin. Mostly I like to try and maintain a 4 mph pace and when screwing around who cares.
bogie and bacall
Anyoine know the speed that won that race in Key Largo last february?
Paul
There were various classes
I know a few of the times.
Greg Barton won the masters sea kayak in the Bacall (six miler) with a 47.38 and Canunut was second with a 54.05
I did a 1:06 for second in the Grandmasters sea kayak
In the Bogey (13.2 miles) Canunut took a second in the sea kayak with a 2:18
I took a third in the grandmasters sea kayak with a 2:50.
P-nets own Grayhawk and Grayak were right up there also.
There were some strong winds pretty strong winds for the Bacall. We had them in our face for the first leg, quartering from the back for the second leg, and quartering in our face for the final few miles.
Then we had the two crazy canoe paddlers: “Bald Paddler” and “Staubr” who were the only canoe paddlers who would venture out into whitecapped seas. They did good, but I don’t know their time
time was.
Cheers,
JackL
Pics
The guy in that first pic is in serious need of a sprayskirt! Look how low that boat is sitting (at the cockpit) with him in it…