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Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
Re: Reducing beam and avoiding leg numbness
Posted By: Steve McDonald In Response To: Reducing beam (David Blodgett)
Date: Saturday, 9 October 1999, at 1:04 a.m.
> I recently finished a chesapeake yare. I have expierienced difficulty
> getting into the boat. if I were to remove the deck and the deck beams and
> make the deck beams a little sshorter say bring them down to 22 from 24
> inches. and change the camber on them. would it change the boat
> tremendously? could I easily get more room under the deck? right now I
> have like 9 inches max. like 5 where my size 12 feet are.> Also what can I do to make my feet and legs stop falling asleep? they
> start falling asllep almost emediatly after I get in. thanks alot dave-----------------------------------------------------------------
Leg Numbness:
I had bad problems with my legs going dead, until I analyzed the problem and developed a solution: A new type of foot brace. Most Kayak paddlers believe that a foot rest high enough to contact the balls of the feet is necessary to develop good power. But when your feet are cocked up and locked against such a brace, your legs have no way to properly flex and shift with each stroke. I have designed a low, bottom-mounted brace that is slightly rounded and angled forward about 20º. It is 2 1/2" deep and 12" wide and made of unfinished Sitka Spruce. It is just high enough to contact the feet slightly above the heels, in the bottom part of the arch. With this brace, the upper part of the feet are free to flex forward, over the top of the brace. This allows for much more flex and rotation of the torso, allowing full use of important muscles, that is limited with a high foot brace. This looseness and flexing of the feet over top of the brace greatly improves the circulation and I have been able to paddle for hours, without going numb. When you paddle on the left, your right leg can shift forward, with the foot pointing to the front and the left leg shifts back with the foot pointing more upward. I don't miss having the balls of my feet solidly braced, as the added power from my torso and hips more than makes up for it. It has worked for me. Try it for yourself and see what happens. My custom-contoured seat, that I fussed over for years to refine, helps out in this respect also. All such features in a boat must be precisely fitted to each individual to provide the best results, so experiment with all sorts of shapes and angles to suit your needs.
Steve McDonald Eugene, Oregon
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