: "Because of its very low wetted surface area, the Griffin
: moves effortlessly through the water and easily reaches speeds
: that rival those of much longer kayaks (but with far less
: effort!)."

: I would call BS on the above statement. I am sure it accelerates
: quickly but 'rival speeds of a long boat'? Bill nailed it. It
: takes waterline to go fast.

: I am FAR from an expert but I know from computer models and
: paddling that it's true. Assuming simiral shapes and sizes, a
: shorter boat will have less slightly less resistance below 3-3.5
: mph. Above that the advantage goes to the longer boat and a by a
: lot.

Good morning Jeff,

The problem with these things is there is no free ride when it comes to boat design, can't change physics. If you make it short and narrow, it's gotta be deep to compensate for the loss of displacement. Deep skinny hulls are just as draggy as shallow beamy hulls, you're still moving the water out of the way just in a different direction, down instead of sideways. In shallow water these narrow but deep and short hulls may actually be quite a bit slower than the more average wider but shallower short boats. The racers can tell you that there is an force that effects boats in shallow water and a deeper hull is more effected by this than a shallower one.

Short hulls are generally not as directionally stable as longer hulls, tend to wander side to side with the paddle stroke.

They are nice though at slow speeds, have much less drag up to a slow pace as you mentioned.

Bill H.