Re: Tennis Balls.

Posted by LeeG on Oct 29, 2004

no really,,tennis balls are soft,fuzzy, and the perfect fist size for grabbing. Cut a little triangle hole and two very small holes on either side then tie it on with an 1/8" line through the end pour hole. Leave it flourescent green, get a tired muddy one from the dog park, paint it clown red,,a smiley face,a monkey face, you name it. Experiment,,walk towards your kayak on a rack wearing your pfd right into the bow. That's about 1/10 the energy involved when a kayak is moving on a wave. The pfd has gaps. If a friends boat was running loose in rough water I'd be mighty shy about reaching for the toggle if the bow was a 1/4" round point. The other experiment is swinging your hand onto the bow point,that's similar to what happens when reaching for a moving kayak.

During eskimo rescues/rolling practice one kayak moves in perpendicular the upside down kayak so the immersed person can reach up and grab the rescueers bow to pull/hipsnap up. If the 1/4" rounded bow hit's 4mm Okoume glassed on one side it will break through. The original Chesapeake double has a hole on one side of the deck from another rescueing plywood kayak that had a point . I made a Chesapeake18 for sea kayak classes that had 6oz deck glass and 4oz UNDER DECK glass. Similar impact of paddler allowing the upside down kayak to land on another kayaks sharp bow. It only made a little cracking on the top but the underside glass delaminated and left a waterstain. So if you're practicing rescues with other folks and someone has a sharp bow be forewarned.

In Response to: Re: Tennis Balls. by Terry Mcadams on Oct 29, 2004

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