I was out yesterday with a friend in a very stiff breeze. A 12km circular route which normally takes me an hour and twenty minutes took us over three hours, even allowing for the fact that the half which was off the wind was done at double speed.

On the outward section we were doing an extreme ferry glide (90% upwind 10% crosswind) to transit between our departure point and the windward point of an island three km away.

The wave direction was a partial issue, but the main issue we faced was that as soon as we turned our bows slightly off the wind we were bein blown onto a beam reach.

The sea state being what it was, any finesse like edging was out of the question, and it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

During the hour it took to make the crossing I kept thinking that being able to deploy a small skeg in the bow of the kayak would have held the bow in place as the boat came off the wind onto a slight angle and allowed the the stern to swing away a little downwind, and make the ferry glide a lot easier and less of a strain on my left arm.

A general picture of the result of the outing is that I now resemble Quasimodo, with a normal right side and a gigantic distorted hump of muscle on my left shoulder.

What I am interested in knowing is if anyone on this forum has ever installed an additional skeg in the bow of a kayak and, if so, how did it work?

Et

PS. I am posting a picture, because I know if I do more people will read this post. ;-)