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Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
By:Hyok
Date: 8/28/2007, 12:57 pm

Hello all, after 14 months of building, with having a baby girl in between, I finally got my kayak done earlier this year. However, due to time constraints, it was only last month that I was able to finally launch it. I've been out twice in it, and there were a couple of things I noticed that was different from my 21" beam Greenland.

Of course, it was much more stable, which is exactly what I wanted, so that I can do some fishing from it. However, the tracking and turning was a bit disappointing. I don't know if it was where I was padding (Upper Newport Bay), where there is a constant flow of water, either to the ocean, or up from the ocean during high tide, but the boat seemed to veer off course very easily, and then it was difficult to correct course.

I couldn't carve turns very well either. Must be due to the rounded chines. Strangely enough, when I leaned the boat, it didn't seem to have a prefernce for which direction it wanted to turn. With my Greenland kayak, when I edged it, it would immediately carve a turn away from the side I edged to. So, correcting course was very easy. But this past weekend, I sometimes would have to make multiple sweep strokes to one side.

I'm thinking of adding a skeg...but I just wanted to see what everyone else's experiences have been.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
Hyok -- 8/28/2007, 12:57 pm
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning *Pic*
John Monroe -- 8/29/2007, 6:34 am
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
Hyok -- 8/29/2007, 1:17 pm
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning *Pic*
John Monroe -- 8/31/2007, 3:43 am
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
Hyok -- 8/31/2007, 1:00 pm
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
Bill Hamm -- 8/28/2007, 6:43 pm
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning
Aaron -- 8/28/2007, 7:04 pm
Re: Strip: Great Auk Tracking and Turning *Pic*
Andy Waddington -- 8/31/2007, 8:10 am