Re: Arctic Hawk v.Shearwa

Posted by LeeG on May 14, 2007

Dave, I paddled a Merganser/Shearwater 16 and Chesapeake 16 in and through the surf about five years ago. I'm overweight for the Shearwater/Merganser16 but was very pleasantly surprised by it's handling in waves. The Chesapeake will get up and get scooted more quickly than the Shearwater but once the bow is buried the pivot point shifts noticable forward and it's broach time. The pivot point in the Shearwater/Merganser pretty much stays under your butt so the control is retained a lot longer before a broaching is irretrievable.

More than one time I was angling down a wave with a broach approaching but instead of losing forward speed and going into a broach I could lean into the wave/brace and feel a STRONG curve taking me back over the wave before it broke. It's not exactly maneuverable as much as it felt like the kayak was on a deep arc back over the wave. Like the whole kayak was connected to the same curve, middle and ends with me at the bottom of the curve.

The Chesapeake on the other hand would lose forward speed and trade it for speed in the direction the wave was going resulting in a FAST bouncing broach.

The Merganser/Shearwater looks like there's a lot less boat than a comparable length Cheasapeak,,and a lot less in the ends but it turns out the ends buried less than the Chesapeake16.

In Response to: Re: Arctic Hawk v.Shearwa by Dave Houser on May 14, 2007

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