you have my admiration
Any time I run across open canoeists handling big water I gain more respect. Last time was watching a bunch make hay of the Mackinac Bridge crossing.
Of course, Native Americans and traders alike did it on the great lakes for centuries.
I wasn’t getting turned
parallel to the trough. I could have paddled straight for a while, but I would have ended up in the middle of Narragansett Bay. I was trying to paddle at about a 30-degree angle to the direction of the waves to stay close to shore. It just didn’t seem to be working.
I’d say the waves were about 2 feet, but they were swells more than waves. Sounds like I just wasn’t paddling hard enough. I may have to go back and try again – once the wind dies down. Pretty windy here right now.
So why do sea kayakers use a rudder in trailing seas. Is that more for wind than waves?
Missing out on all the fun …
I get that you like to paddle canoes in places where most would not.
I get that you may not be able to get a kayak because of various reasons (lack of funds, lack of space, death threats from girl friend / spouse if you buy another boat etc).
But its a bit frustrating thinking how close you are coming to have some real fun and shying away from it.
The moment the a swell that’s blown 5000 miles comes up behind you and asks if you want to play is not a time to feel worried or upset that your boat wants to run on its own, you should have a craft that you can paddle up to speed and slide down the swell and get that rush of moving fast on the ocean. Even better if you have a craft that you can drop in and carve up and down on the breaking face of big powerful waves. The ocean is inviting you to try something new. You should give in and try a craft that performs on the stage you are playing on. Use the right tool for the right job. You could get a used waveski for a few hundred bucks and surf like a god or you could get into surfskis and spend thousands but probably really experience what an open boat feels like riding swells.
mmwhahahah
You make it sound good
There is a waveski for sale near me, but it is more than a few hundred bucks.
http://providence.craigslist.org/spo/4503553883.html
I do more hiking now but back when there
was a lot more water via less crustal-rebound and my granddad was working as a scaler for Great Northern Paper Co…in pre-mechanical logging days…I/we would get in some paddling almost everyday.
EC does a LOT more than I do these days…you were probably refering to him…with nice website & picture work. I just paddle a few of my favorite areas…unless it’s a group get-together…
$.01,
Steve
Hats off to your strength in dealing…
with a non-dedicated ww boat EC! The surfzone presents the ultimate in water’s power and chaotic nature, especially when bouncing off of rock…
He’s dreaming.
Nobody is going to pay a grand for a used ski.
He is also a rank beginner. He needs to post the feet to seat measurement. Ask him what it is. Then email him back and tell him you will need to modify the foot wells and will he take $500. If he says no, email him in 2 months and ask if he would still not take $500.
I sent him an email
We’ll see what he says. I found some information on the feet to seat measurement, but why would I need to modify the foot wells?
Rudder/skeg in following seas
Makes it easier to hold your heading without constant corrections.
If the wind and swells are coming from the same direction they tend to amplfy each other. If they are coming from different directions they confuse me at least.
Waveski?
That is a very surf specific boat.
If I could sit in the darned things I’d still have a nice touring kayak.
Mine(Caribou)was fun to surf and great to get out and explore.
The Waveski will surf far better than a touring boat but it won’t tour worth anything.
Unsuited
for the task is what I think about solo canoes and waves quartering from the stern.
A few years back I ran a harrowing mile or so under those conditions on the CT river when wind and waves built up from behind. I was in a Wenona Argosy which did not have much rocker and at the time and thought that that was the problem. Since then I’ve faced the same conditions in boats with more rocker and had the same difficulty. The waves push the stern forward and the boat wants to broach. If you trim stern down the waves have more boat to grab. If you trim bow down then the bow will dig in and the boat will broach. Ya can’t win. The boat is unsuited to the task.
The best technique I’ve found is the stern sweep with a strong draw at the end, but I just barely hold my own with it. The forces at work here suggest that a rudder would, indeed, improve your control, but if that is where you are going, you might as well buy a kayak.
I go out of my way to avoid the conditions.
Peter
And I have had fairly good luck with
quartering stern waves. I can relate to Peters experience in the Argosy. For a Wenonah, its got a fair amount of rocker, but its not a pleasant ride in stern quartering waves at all.
Especially to some other boats. The Colden and Curtis Nomad are not bad at all as well as the Placid RapidFire.
I think its got to do with underwater shape. The Hemlock Peregrine is fine till it gets about 45 degrees off course… Then out go any sweeps… A sharp draw to the stern or two or three…a spanking …is required.
Swift Raven was a joy in the ocean… But its lack of speed kind of was a downer.
So I am less inclined than Peter to generalize re solo boats in the ocean.
I do like more volume to allow my head more leeway so that if I DO have to rotate around for stern spanks, my head and I don’t go over the side; that is unless I am sitting on the bottom aka pack canoe or kayak.
The ski is built for his exact height
(actually leg length). If the the feet to seat measurment is too short by as much as an inch, your knees will be too high and you will hit them with the paddle, the shorter the measurement the harder to stay upright and balance the boat. If it is too long your feet cant press into the foot wells togive you leverage to turn the ski, and your legs will lie on the ski and keep you from being able to powerfully control the ski. You can add minicell foam to the foot wells and change the strap location easily. Too short requires surgery on the ski. Not really hard but you don’t want to spend 1000 on a ski you aare going to have to cut into.
The measurement Island puts on their skis may say something like 41 inches, but works out to more like 38 when I measure where the back of my but will be and where the front of the foot wells are. So ask him to send you a picture with a measuring tape laid down from the front of the foot wells to the horizontal back of the seat, not the hypotoneuse line through space to the top of the seat back which will be longer.
Here 's a pic
– Last Updated: Jul-29-14 10:32 AM EST –
http://www.surfski.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:seat-to-feet&catid=38:waveski-basics&Itemid=79
The problem is when Island measures feet to seat they measure from the front of the foot well to the top of the back of the seat, not the bottom, so their measurements are a bit different than what their instructions tell you.
Islands are good skis to get started on. The ski he bought is pretty wide and stable ( a very relative term for a waveski). He's probably selling it because he spent the first day up side down.
If you buy it learn to undo the belt quickly before paddling out and with time you can learn to do a back-deck or if you google for it see a video called "The irish waveski roll".
I can imagine
I owned and paddled an Argosy for several years and did really like the boat for MOST conditions but I can’t imagine using that particular boat under those circumstances. I am sure it was a harrowing experience. Unless you are in really smooth water with no currents and eddies and no waves over one foot you just about gotta kneel to feel good stability.
Waveski would have been a blast
yesterday. Today, probably not so much. I may get a nice touring sea kayak at some point.
Went out again yesterday
and made a concerted effort to stay on course while quartering in trailing waves. I did pretty well. It was early morning, so there was no wind. The the swells were actually a little bigger and closer together than my last time out. I never came close to broaching, and I was able to get where I wanted to go. Add wind to the equation, though, and things probably would have been very different.
back brace
try stopping forward movement with a back brace, lean slightly into the lesser angle wave/hull but use the back brace as a minimal rudder…sense this.
then paddle up wave’s backside.