: 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

Yes, and thanks. You deserve credit for the clear thinking. Any chance of having a real name?