In The Meantime...

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Jun 17, 2004

When I practice the cowboy reentry, or anytime I wish to flop around on any kayak deck, I make it a point to keep as much of my weight as possible on the edges of the deck. This does two things: 1. Stabilizes the boat, and 2. Distributes the loads to the entire hull, instead of point-loading the middle of a span. I also endeavor to make all my movements as gracefully as possible; not because I am a graceful kind of guy, but because things in water tend to lack anchor points, and the fluid nature of our medium causes fluid motions to be the more adventageous anyway. In other words, an accelerating tug will usually outperform a sudden jerk between two objects floating in water, whereas on dry land the opposite is more often true. In short, I try to work with the boat, and never fight it (in the water, that is; I routinely duke it out with my yaks on shore).

But then, I have yet to try self-rescue in real-world conditions...

I believe additional, tightly fitted deck beams would make the the decks bulletproof. But then, I have to ask myself if it is worth the weight penalty? Or if technique is my answer... Fact is, I do not yet have the experience to know. But these are the thoughts this thread has evoked in my bony little head this morning. Hope you enjoyed 'em as much as I did.

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: Re: Broke my chesapeake 1 by John in Dallas on Jun 17, 2004

Replies:

• similarly speaking by LeeG on Jun 17, 2004
  • Re: similarly speaking by LeeG on Jun 17, 2004
• Re: In The Meantime... by Mike W on Jun 30, 2004