I'm building a Great Auk and am approaching the point where the deck and hull will be joined. Does anyone have any experience with the Great Auk as to tracking? I live in the Houston area and primarily do the bays and local lakes. Not to say that there is not a constant wind, but I'm not likely to be blown to Mexico or elsewhere.

I'm an intermediate level paddler and have used yaks with rudders. My preference is simplicity. I can go back and add a skeg later, right?

Rich

Why a skeg? A skeg is a device which increases tracking in certain sea conditions.

If you're paddling in open water with a strong beam (side) wind, your kayak will want to weathercock (turn nose into the wind). Even if your kayak is normally a good tracking (goes straight) kayak you may experience difficulty in keeping the kayak on course with a strong beam wind. When you're paddling forward the bow is cutting into waves and is firmly planted in the undisturbed water. However, the stern is not and a side wind can blow it away, causing weathercocking. A skeg can firmly plant the stern in place in a beam wind and keep the kayak tracking straight so the paddler can focus energy on paddling forward and not waste energy on course correction strokes.

Another sea condition which is aided by use of a skeg is in a following sea. In certain sea conditions of just the right wave height and frequency, when you are running with the waves, you may experience your kayak starting to broach (turn sideways parallel to waves) with every wave crest hitting your stern. It can be tiring and no fun, to constantly need correction strokes to stay on course. Here again, the kayak bow is planted in the slow water of the wave trough, while the stern is pushed aside by the faster moving wave crest. A skeg will keep the wave crest from sweeping the stern to the side and make the kayak ride smoother, going forward in a straight line.

It's not all or nothing either. The skeg can be deployed to different depths to adjust the tracking in varying sea conditions.

Greenland based designs are effected to a greater extent by beam and following seas, than baidarka designs.

The deep foot of the fore stem on Greenland based designs plants the bow in undisturbed water.

The rocker and footless stem of the baidarka design is not planted and much less effected by winds and following waves.

My suggestion would be to select a skeg design and install the skeg box now, which is much easier to do before the deck is installed. Don't cut out the hole for the skeg. Paddle now and decide later to finish the skeg installation or, cut out the skeg box.

I offer a new skeg design at http://www.laughingloon.com/pad.t.html#anchor3padsplan

All the best,

Rob