Last week I was able to finally get speed versus effort comparisons for all four of my kayak designs so I can make a video talking about one of my favorite subjects: speed vs efficiency.
There’s a lot to say here and I will elaborate more when I actually do a post before we release the YouTube video, but just for the heck of it I thought I would throw up a quick comparison between my fastest and slowest kayaks being paddled at a relaxed pace.
Here you are seeing the East Greenland Kayak first and my F1 kayak design last with a speedometer, and then aerial footage.
What’s interesting here isn’t that the East Greenland Kayak isn’t faster, it’s that it isn’t slower. Generally when you get into longer kayaks they drag a lot more at normal cruising speeds than shorter kayaks due the higher wetted surface, although the specific design and shape of the boats can easily overcome that generalization.
My East Greenland Kayak is a bit of an exception because it actually has a pretty moderate waterline at 16 feet and the somewhat cigar shaped hull helps to minimize wetted surface.
Of course things change between these boats when you get to the higher speed ranges but they don’t diverge all that much until you get to max effort. I’ve got a video of that as well.
To avoid being accused of fatigue bias, I paddled the East Greenland kayak first, then my other two boats, (sprinting each twice) and the F1 last.
Of course none of this is scientific because the cockpit geometry of a modern kayak allows for more efficient power delivery, so it’s not purely a hull comparison. Paddler weight also changes things.
These kayaks also have completely different weight balance and hull shaping and it’s interesting to see the difference between the wakes they throw.
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See the original post and discussion here.
