The Kayak Forum is Sponsored By
|
|
|
| |
Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
terms of stability
Posted By: lee
Date: Friday, 10 September 1999, at 12:00 p.m.
I wonder if anybody else out there is bothered a bit by the use of the term secondary stability as a description of a kayaks handling characteristics. It seems to me that primary stability is a straightforward description of how much one can lean a boat before it tips over. One leans a bit the kayak tips a bit, heavy person leans and tips over before a light person does. The paddler is an inert block in this term of stability (except for the initial lean).
I've heard the term secondary stability to describe
1. the responsiveness of the kayak to be braced up from a capsize.
2. the characteristic of the kayak to settle easily to one side or the other of the centerline, a boat with a strong v hull for example
3. a description of how the kayak handles on edge in relation to upright stability,
4. Most often the "secondary" stability of the kayak is used to describe a handling characteristic seperate from the paddler.
Being one that took years to learn how to brace comfortably,even after learning to roll and launch land through surf I wonder how helpful it is to use a term that doesn't include a paddlers "secondary stability" It's just that this term is used all the time with beginning paddlers and prospective purchasers without acknowlegement of their facility with bracing.
Maybe I should be writing letters to the editor about the $700 million 747 based chemical oxygen laser that is being built for the next police action instead, amazing stuff out there.
| |
Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
|
Boat Design |
|
|
|
