The Kayak Forum is Sponsored By
|
|
|
| |
Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: DISTANCE TO PADDLE
Posted By: David In Response To: DISTANCE TO PADDLE (BERT)
Date: Tuesday, 24 October 2000, at 10:29 a.m.
: Recently I have been involved in planning and organizing trips for small
: groups of sea kayakers and have never given much thought to how fast I can
: go.I'm not a numbers freak and I paddle for other reasons,when I get there
: I get there and thats OK.When your planning for a group these calculations
: take on importance.
: Does anybody have an idea how fast sea kayaks go.I'm not talking about
: olympic class paddlers on surf skiis just intermediate to experienced
: paddlers in medium
: and high performance sea kayaks in calm conditions (I can factor in wind and
: current penalties).Anybody have a idea in miles per hour? I'm Canadian but
: still don't know what a kilometre looks like.
: Thanks BertBert
I disagree with the generous estimates given prior. You cannot realistically go any faster than an average of 2.5 miles per hour, or 2.5 knots, which is just ever so slightly faster (1.0 knot = 1.1 mph). I have carefully studied this with beginner paddlers when I teach. We have a 2.5 mile paddle we use as a first hour's outing, and have repeated it with hundreds of students. Also, we have paddled next to sail boats, keeping pace, and asking them their crusing speed. Often we find we are cruising at 2.0 mph, not 2.5. The main rule, is easy does it. No beginner can kayak much faster, nor can an older paddler with a big fat touring boat. With a current behind you or toward you, this number can go as high as 4.0 - 5.0 and as low as 0.5. Winds with or against you, same kind of thing. Plan no more than 5 hours of paddling per day, which is about 12.5 miles. That will knock the wind out of most novices, who will find that their hands develop blisters between the thumb and first finger (on the webbing), shoulder pain from improper strokes, occasional tennis elbow or wrist numbness from overuse...you get the idea. Anything more than about 3-4 hours the first day is pretty ambitious. If you set a faster pace, yeah, people might be able to keep up, at the risk of overuse injury. And there are always the faster, stronger paddlers, put them at the back of the pack, and put your slowest, weakest paddlers in front, to pace the group. That might hold some people back, but it insures no-one is being pushed beyond their limits. Many sea kayaking troubles involve beginners being lead into conditions beyond their ability by experienced kayakers.
Fact is, unless someone is expert, you won't make many miles. If they want mileage, tell them to get a sailboat. If they want speed, tell them to try whitewater. Let flat water paddling be filled with lots of stops, observing and "grokking" the scenery. It just ain't all that fast a way to get around.
Hope this helps
David
| |
Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
|
Kayaking Technique |
|
|
|
