a kayak design to challenge the norm

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Tiny Turnip, Oct 18, 2014.

  1. Tiny Turnip
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    Tiny Turnip Senior Member

  2. Kayakmarathon
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    Kayakmarathon Senior Member

    Death Trap

    This is a very dangerous kayak:!:. The ease with which it submerges, poor visibility underwater, moving water, and underwater hazards (boulders and branches), makes this kayak a death-trap.
     
  3. philSweet
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    philSweet Senior Member

    Squirt boats have been around since at least the 80's. They are pretty common around here. We get dozens of them in the RV park each year. I have to keep telling guests they can't play in the swimming pool with them (I'm a camp host). It's basically what the surfing scene looks like when it gets transported from sunny California into the cool, rainy Appalachians.
     
  4. Tiny Turnip
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    Tiny Turnip Senior Member

    Yeah, I'm no kayaker, Phil, but it seemed to me that this was an evolution - deliberately so low volume that he can paddle it down underwater... It was making the underwater bit the central part of the activity - a new (very) niche sport - rather than just an incidental aspect of playing in waves/rapids that really intrigued me. Dunno how dependant it is on the particular conditions round the rock in the film. Most of the boats we see in the Lakes / Scotland tend to be very short, and have a toe bump, rather than the very thin, flat hull here.
     
  5. SamSam
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    SamSam Senior Member

    I've seen that, sort of, a long time ago with people purposely getting sucked into whirlpools. Their boats had more volume, so when they got out of the whirlpool, they would pop up like a rapidly surfacing submarine and almost leave the water.
    http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?334

    I wonder if it's a purposely designed boat or if maybe just a kayak designed for a much lighter person.
     
  6. bpw
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    bpw Senior Member

    Nothing new here, squirt boats where actually precursors to the modern whitewater play boat. Never been very popular because it's a really challenging/scary sport.

    I have an old school squirt boat sitting behind my moms house, probably 20 years old.
     
  7. SamSam
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    SamSam Senior Member


  8. Petros
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    Petros Senior Member

    white water kayaking is inherently dangerous. If you want safety STAY OUT OF WHITE WATER RiVERS!!!

    I have been around it most of my life, never really understood the attraction, it does not look like fun at all. I have done it, and rafting a few times. Much prefer sea kayaks. Been around sea kayaks too (built my first one when I was 15, have built some 14 or 15 more since), it is a very different sport, the only thing they have in common is the word "kayak". Whitewater kayaking should be called a rock sled, since the modern ones do not allow much true kayaking anyway, it is more like a ride down a rocky wet roller coaster.

    So calling the boat "dangerous" seems silly, being in white water, going over water falls, and bouncing down wet boulders, is not exactly safe activities.
     
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