: I was looking for that and couldn't find it. I thought it was 10
: mph but didn't want to quote that. Honestly I find that hard to
: believe but at the same time these were very small round hulled
: boats with very skilled paddlers so it may have been very
: possible.

: I can find nothing that shows that a SOF would be inherently slower
: than a hard shelled boat. There maybe a reason and I just have
: not found it.

: The key to a SOF being fast or slow is going to be its hull shape.
: My 15' Curlew design will kick myr butt if you try to paddle it
: at or above 5 mph for any length of time. The resistance just
: gets very high very quick above 4.5 mph. Yet my Long Shot I can
: paddle at 5 mph relatively easy. I am not in great shape and I
: can't maintain that for long but I can paddle at that speed for
: a while. The difference there is the hull shape.

: There are LOTS of variables and I just getting a grasp on the
: basics. I am just not interested in racing so I am not
: interested in digging into the finer points. But I just think
: SOF is automatically a slower boat.

Hi Jeff,

Don't have to be interested in racing to enjoy going fast. Btw fast is seriously relative here, as we are talking little tiny differences in actual speed. But when paddling a fast boat you really can feel the difference. The difference in top speed you can feel, though it might be 2 mph :) Try feeling a 2 mph difference in your car, makes much difference when you are providing the push.

Bill H.