JeffBC
Posts: 5799
Joined: 2/12/2012
From: Canada
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam
There are ocean kayaks that you sit on top of and they're VERY stable. You folks are thinking of a traditional white water kayak that has the spray skirt. I have a feeling that this is what you will be using Hibbie..
Actually, both sea and river kayaks use skirts. We have two 18' sea kayaks. The skirt is intended to stop rough seas from washing over the deck and filling the interior. As I noted, it's pointless to use the skirt on smooth water unless you know how to roll.
To the stability thing, that's a tricky question. We have round hulled sea kayaks. They are long, skinny, and round on the bottom. Just as you'd expect, they FEEL really tippy. But that's not anywhere near the whole story. The resistance to rolling ramps up heavily as the boat rolls. In addition, when you're properly braced in a kayak it is a part of your body. You're not just sitting in it. Your feet are pressing on the rudder pedals and your thighs are pressing against the thigh braces. You and the kayak are one. That means tipping over is about as likely as tipping over when you're standing up on dry land.
Flat bottomed sit on tops like the one pictured FEEL very stable because their initial resistance is very high. However that resistance drops abruptly at a certain point. In addition, in waves, flat bottomed kayaks don't just bob up and down along the waves like a round hull does. They stay flat to the water surface meaning they are actually rotating back and forth over almost 90 degrees of motion. Finally, you're not braced in a sit on top... not very well anyway and in some cases not at all. That means your body and the boat are two pieces not one and that changes everything.
I'm only pointing all this out because it's really not correct that kayaks are "tippy" -- not if they are fitted correctly. We have the worst of the worst... round hulled long & slim sea kayaks and yet rolling one over once braced in it just isn't something to worry about. The real truth is that these things were designed to hunt in some really rough and unforgiving water. Honestly I'd rather be in a sea kayak in a really big storm than in... say... a 40' yacht thingie. The sea kayak would just bob up and down on the waves mostly unconcerned by it all.
All that [useless] trivia being said, it does remind me that you should probably pack a few towels or somesuch. Our kayaks are ours and so we added foam to the thigh braces so that they fit our legs properly. These probably won't fit you properly but it's nothing that wadding up some old sweat shirts or towels wouldn't handle. The boats feel and are MUCH, MUCH more stable when you can brace your feet and thighs properly.
edited to add:
THIS is a proper "sea kayak" (and in fact, the one I use). The sit on tops are recreational boats intended for casual fooling around.
< Message edited by JeffBC -- 8/29/2012 1:13:42 PM >
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RE: Kayaking - 
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