my new greenland 17x22 is more tracky than i’m used to so its teaching me to be a better paddler. my thought at the moment after paddling it a few times is if i move my weight forward then the stern will become looser and i will be able to carve tighter turns. i have to negotiate a bunch of marsh creeks to get out to open water. help?
try edging
i doubt you’ll be able to shift your weight forward enough to make a difference over the 17 feet of your boat. far more effective would be edging your boat in the direction opposite the turn. i.e, edge left, turn right.
How does it react in wind?
If it’s balanced, don’t change anything. If it tends to leecock (turns downwind) shifting forward and/or adding weight to the bow would be a good idea. If the boat weathercocks (turns upwind) shifting your weight will make it worse.
Tracking is largely a fundtion of the amount of rocker in the hull. No amount of weight shift will change that.
Strange but here I go.
B nystrom had plucked me forth fron the oceans bosom many times but…
Every stance tried.
Folks taught me to lean forward when I do a sweep to lighten the stern a bit. Not a big difference but every little bit helps.
How is your bow rudder with a heavy outside lean working? That is usually my best shot to turn on flattish water without losing too much speed.
will definately
improve your paddling. Used in ww and canoe’s , so not used much by seayaks , named after the ww paddler -somethin w/a a F? Anyway like a bow rudder power face is away from ya arms as in high brace blade to bow in water off side and ya turn , NOW the good part -recovering the blade you’ll have fun , twist blade back to usual paddle foreward stoke and follow tru. That’s the point where ya can dive the blade and follow it into the drink , will get some gettin used to , and it’ll feel very stange. I’d sugest tryin it in a open area 1st.18’&21" my boat , NC creeks and Everglades it works , folks behind ya have no idea how you are turnin yer boat !
hey
I take a 16’ foot boat out in the tight stuff all the time, Try moving your grip so that your paddle is farther out when you sweep, that way you get more leverage. Don’t forget to reverse sweep on the opposite side for the really tight stuff.
ok i’m adding
what flatpick said to somebody else about starting the sweep way forward plus a forward lean to unweight (loosen)the stern (pk?), stick the gp into the water forward for a bow rudder(can’t remember where that one came from) and edging hard to the outside. it works! last night under a full moon i assembled all the info, slowed down and actually carved some beautiful in the eye of the beholder turns, thanks people! i love this site.
loose aft…
My girlfriend had a loose aft and… wait, maybe this isn’t the place for this…