@Buffalo_Alice, disagree that high angle is better for tracking straight. That is only true if the person doesn’t know how to paddle low angle.
I have a 125 x 26", 140 x 24", 145 x 24.5" and 175 x 24" Tsunami (notice the 140 and 175 are both 24" wide). You’ll never convince me that the longer boat is not faster. I will agree that you need to have the power to push the boat faster. You can’t put a 13 year old in a 175 boat and expect them to go faster. Not interested in formulas.
Straighter or more vertical you pull the paddle next to the hull the less the kayak will wag. It’s simply physics. It’s just a fact of leverage. Faster you go the more leverage is applied.
2 Likes
Has nothing to do with it.
All with 10-15 mph, and gusts up tp 20 mph. North, east or south winds. Wobble like a duck. Maybe the GPS isn’t accurate. If you can’t paddle straight, check your paddling form. Don’t t blame low angle, and the boat has no skeg or rudder.
1 Like
Why? 
Your GPS will not show the small movements of a hull where the bow moves back and forth an small amount like an few inches or less. My CD Extreme’s track probably as straight as most any kayaks and the CD Expedition which has an even bigger rudder still moves 1/2" to an 1" at a decent clip with as vertical stroke as I can do. I don’t think you’re even grasping the subject we’re discussing.
Shortest point between to locations is a straight line, no?
1 Like
If you say so!
No it’s just a fact no matter what anyone says. Look at the racing I posted the coxswains job is to keep the hull as straight as possible to go as fast as possible. We’re talking about a 60’ skinny hull with a rudder. Straight matters even a tiny amount. If your hulls has any side to side movement it’s slowing it down it’s producing more drag.
1 Like
So the fact that its is a straight track isn’t proof that it is straight, because its probay not straight since the GPS can’t be trusted, but anytime I put a slight glitch in the track, the glitch shows up. The best I can claim is its consistently inconsistent. I like that. Consistently inconsistent. I accept that. I then must admit that if ylu think.youre going straight. You probably are not. That works for me!!!
Let me put in a good word for the Stellar S14 and the Eddyline Sitka. The Stellar is light, fast and comes in a low-volume and medium volume models. Eddyline offers the Sitka in three sizes. If you’re going to be bouncing through and off rocks, you want to go with something more substantial, i.e. plastic. I have a Stellar S15 I love and have paddled distances and explored backwaters in it. Wish it had a skeg, though. The S14s and the Eddylines all have skegs.
1 Like
I’ve seen the Stellar boats on the Headwaters YouTube page. Beautiful boats I haven’t seen a Stellar or Eddyline on the secondhand market around here but if I do both of those are boats I’d seriously consider.
I think that the fact that all serious racers use a high angle paddling style will tell you something. The reason they do this is to minimize the degree that the bow swings back and forth with each stroke. The more the bow swings, the less efficient the paddle stroke and the more energy wasted keeping the boat moving straight. The decrease in speed is small, but it adds up over time.
The bow movement is small, generally just a few inches with most people paddling low angle and doesn’t affect the overall track. Certainly not enough to show up on a GPS track. It may be enough to observe on a very sensitive deck compass.
4 Likes
No argurment here!
I think when a 24" hull is off 1" at the bow now the stern is 1" off reverse position. Suddenly you have a 26" hull you’re pushing. I guess not exactly but it is a way of picturing how the drag builds up.
3 Likes
Being an engineer and a paddler I tend to study the few technical papers I stumble across on the internet and I remember one paper saying that the constant yaw of the bow was responsible for 11-14% of the total forward drag (for an olympic K1 travelling at a specific speed). I have several solo canoes and sometimes I wonder how this effect differs between a hard tracking zero rocker boat and a boat with some rocker.
3 Likes
Another kayak to add to your used watchlist would be the Venture Easky 15 and 15LV (low volume – a bit lighter and narrower for the mid-sized paddler).
Venture is the “economy” rotomold line of P & H (made in the UK) and it has similar proportions to their Delphin but not the rocker. Most came with a skeg though mine does not have one (only the hardware for a rudder if I wanted one – I don’t). But I have never felt the need for a skeg with this boat and I’ve had an LV for 12 years and taken it a lot of places, from windy open water in lakes and coastal conditions, to day and longer trips on big long rivers and even some narrower streams with class 1 and 2 open rapids.
Very comfortable and nimble boat that often comes up for sale used for under $600 in my area at least. Comfortable seat for long days with a back that folds down to be a a backband type support that doesn’t interfere with a spray skirt. Nice thigh braces which are handy for maneuvering in rough water – also low profile sort of Greenland style deck which reduces wind resistant and makes it possible to roll.
Also relatively light (my LV is 46 pounds, about 10 less than similarly sized rotomold touring boats.)
P & H discontinued it a few years ago and replaced it with the heavier and shorter Islay models. I have several other kayaks but this is one I would never part with for its versatility.
1 Like
That sounds like a great option for me. Thanks! I had not heard of venture before.
That’s right. Given the same boat under the same conditions, physics rules.
As the distance from the keel line to the paddle blade increases, the amount of rotational force created with each stroke also increases. Conversely, as the blade gets closer to the keel line, relatively more linear force is created.
If the goal is to move forward in a straight line, creating rotational force is a drag on efficiency. There’s no way around it.
4 Likes
I have a hard time keeping up with this. Tell the wing paddlers to go straight back.
