Re: Skeg or not to skeg ?

Posted by Mac on Oct 21, 2005

Kurt,

Beautiful! Is that one of your paddles just for the picture?, or did John lend her a GP?

There's a young couple on our lake who bought a pair of 14' tupperware ocean wannabes this past Spring with drop-down skegs (rudders that don't turn). We struck up a nice paddling relationship, and after many hours of paddling together through the Summer, they've moved on to better paddles, finally begging to borrow my GPs when they see me.

Know what? As their technique improved, they eventually forgot to lower the skegs, and have since removed them as they add to weathercocking in the parked position.

Now, that being said - we're flat water piddlers with predictable conditions, and I wouldn't say that nobody EVER needs additional steering. It's just, where does the extra steering come from?

When I look at those tiny SOFs dancing in the Artic Ocean gales, I realize more and more that additional steering is 1: in your hands and 2: in your seat. (And Boy, I have POWER Steering in 2:!)

Roll on!

In Response to: Re: Skeg or not to skeg ? by Kurt Maurer on Oct 20, 2005

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