Re: Sheer Clamp Wood Type

Posted by Mark Camp on Mar 27, 2005

I defer to you about the design waterline or load waterline not likely being anywhere close to the "best-handling waterline" for kayaks. I may have got a little carried away with myself in adding that.

But I still think that it is possible for a given boat to be underloaded, from a handling point of view. The reason I think that is that there was a lengthy thread a while back about one of the big CLC designs needing more weight to be handle-able, if it was being paddled solo.

Based on various posts, a general observation here. Sometimes we drift into thinking that applying theory or applying practical experience are mutually exclusive philosophies. In an an art that's evolving in a healthy way, they complement each other. Practice learns from theory, and theory is always being refined in response to the student's discoveries of the practical knowledge of others, past and present.

We shouldn't allow ourselves to be shuffled into one or the other hostile camp by our emotions. Stubborn old fools and reckless young fools don't speak for the practical side of the art, nor do arrogant ivory tower engineers truly represent the side that seeks to divine the hidden formulas that make good design easier, or make the available design tradeoffs more clear for the owner or designer.

In Response to: Re: Sheer Clamp Wood Type by Scot on Mar 26, 2005

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