We often see the ubiquitous duct tape bow spray cover in local races on whitewater. Takes about a whole roll but still is a cheap deck
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Happy Mathematics Day! ❌📐♾️
Wind + Distance = Reality Check?
- Thread starter FartherWest
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- Jun 22, 2017
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Fun thread.
I like to paddle round trip on rivers going upstream first. The St Joseph river has quite a bit of variation in both current and wind speeds. When driving upstream against both current and wind I have found that it is best to just back off during strong gusts even if you lose momentum, since you burn a ton of energy fighting big gusts. Fortunately one can SEE big gusts coming. On a couple of occasions I remember surfing upstream with a strong tailwind while joyously assuming the current will make the trip back easy. Oops...not true! And I found myself fighting for every inch and wondering if the paddle might break...going downstream. Mother Nature is impressive. So my personal oh crap meter is more like "I wonder if I will die if I try to turn around".
Maybe I should try standing up, but I already get enough thrills when the coonhound decides to stand up and turn around; she is tall and has almost sat right out of the boat on a number of occasions if I don't spot her...since she is longer than the width of a solo. And if I accidentally splash her or whack her with the paddle (both much more likely on super windy days) I have to pause and give her a mini-milkbone since those are the rules we agreed on...so again I'll lose some momentum.
I would like to award frozentripper 5 gold stars for taking a shot at a data-driven analysis. The award may not mean much since I am an engineer and not a scientist. I did an experiment at the YMCA this morning on a cardio machine to check his assumption that 80 watts sustained may be quite high. On my favorite arms and legs cardio machine I get plenty of sweat and a full cardio workout in 30 minutes generating about 125 watts using both arms and legs. I tried using just arms and 60 watts was not at all easy even for a short time. On the flip side I think the guy that pedaled the human powered plane across the English Channel was able to generate about 1/4 horsepower (about 175 watts I think). I can't do that.
I'm also going to agree with Mike that one cannot give general answers around safe wind speeds for paddling although I do think you'll be better off if you can get an agreement from Mother Nature to not change her mind while you are on the water.
I like to paddle round trip on rivers going upstream first. The St Joseph river has quite a bit of variation in both current and wind speeds. When driving upstream against both current and wind I have found that it is best to just back off during strong gusts even if you lose momentum, since you burn a ton of energy fighting big gusts. Fortunately one can SEE big gusts coming. On a couple of occasions I remember surfing upstream with a strong tailwind while joyously assuming the current will make the trip back easy. Oops...not true! And I found myself fighting for every inch and wondering if the paddle might break...going downstream. Mother Nature is impressive. So my personal oh crap meter is more like "I wonder if I will die if I try to turn around".
Maybe I should try standing up, but I already get enough thrills when the coonhound decides to stand up and turn around; she is tall and has almost sat right out of the boat on a number of occasions if I don't spot her...since she is longer than the width of a solo. And if I accidentally splash her or whack her with the paddle (both much more likely on super windy days) I have to pause and give her a mini-milkbone since those are the rules we agreed on...so again I'll lose some momentum.
I would like to award frozentripper 5 gold stars for taking a shot at a data-driven analysis. The award may not mean much since I am an engineer and not a scientist. I did an experiment at the YMCA this morning on a cardio machine to check his assumption that 80 watts sustained may be quite high. On my favorite arms and legs cardio machine I get plenty of sweat and a full cardio workout in 30 minutes generating about 125 watts using both arms and legs. I tried using just arms and 60 watts was not at all easy even for a short time. On the flip side I think the guy that pedaled the human powered plane across the English Channel was able to generate about 1/4 horsepower (about 175 watts I think). I can't do that.
I'm also going to agree with Mike that one cannot give general answers around safe wind speeds for paddling although I do think you'll be better off if you can get an agreement from Mother Nature to not change her mind while you are on the water.
I was introduced to it over 25 years ago by a guy who was about 70 at the time. He had been a Maine Guide and probably did it most of his life. I SUP on a board also but I much prefer how a canoe hull moves through the water. This is why i'm surprised there hasn't been more crossover from the SUP board community and from canoeists who have paddled the boards. I would also think it would go hand in hand with poling.
I've never fallen out of the boat while standing but I have fallen in the boat and I've also lost my balance and saved myself with a brace. I know my day may come when I do fall in, I just hope it's not too cold and my boat doesn't blow away."Effective" is a relative term.But yes, a something of a brace is possible....surprisingly.
