: At speed the bow pressure increases and the pressure in the stern
: decreases. This makes the most effective part of a turning or
: correcting stroke in the rear quadrant. The last thing you want
: to do is lock up the stern adding resistance to your turning or
: correcting stroke.

: I like to think of pulling the stern in behind the bow when making
: course corrections because the stern moves most easily.

: Your thinking and Bills is valid for rudders but not for skegs. You
: can use a rudder to put the stern behind the bow but putting a
: skeg or built-in aft keel is not going to make corrections
: easier.

: I struggle for the words on this stuff and get frustrated with the
: misinformation being frequently repeated.

I agree with all you have said, Reg. It might help to explain what you are saying by thinking of the skeg(s) on a surf board. (I know they are called fins now, but in my misguided youth they were called skegs.)

Since rudders are on the stern of boats and skegs are on the back of surfboards people get this position stuck in their heads. But why does a surfboard have a skeg anyway and why is it way in the back? They have skegs because without them the board cannot travel along the face of a wave without slipping sideways. Yes, just like the stern of a kayak slipping sideways and creating weathercocking.

The skeg is on the back of the board because steering (course correction) is quite easy merely by shifting weight to the back. The more weight moved to the rear the faster the course correction. On a long board this involves walking a few steps to the rear. And there is the problem. I have yet to successfully walk to the back of my kayak to correct for weathercocking. ;)

Now, a modern surf kayak has the same problem of slipping sideways on a wave and the same difficulty of not being able to shift enough weight to the stern to correct the course if the skeg were to be in the stern. That is why they put the skeg(s) a little behind the center, in fact right about the area under the paddlers butt. So, what does this more forward placement of the skeg accomplish? It keeps the boat from sliding down the face of the wave while allowing for (almost) effortless course corrections.

Of course we do not want to do instant 360s in out sea kayaks, but wouldn't it be nice to use all our paddling effort to move forward rather than using some of that effort to constantly fight weathercocking. This is what the forward mounted skeg accomplishes. It stops the stern from slipping and being near the center of rotation it does not interfere with desired course corrections.

Shark