Assateague Island in the Wind          

            Four hardy souls braved the winds to camp at Assateague Island the weekend of  November 15.  Although there was a small craft advisory posted, the park rangers gave us a backcountry permit after admonishing us that they wouldn’t come get us if the weather socked us in the campsites.  Predicted winds for Saturday were 20 NW, increasing to 25 NW Sunday.  Observable seas in the bay behind Assateague were 1 ft with some whitecaps.  We excercised caution and selected the nearest camp site - Tingles - as our destination.

            Neysa Narena, Brian Blankenship, Lee and myself  loaded the weekend’s gear into the boats and were on the water by 10 am.  After paddling out of the protected launch area we paused to assess the situation on the open water and make sure that everyone was comfortable with the conditions at hand.  A brief push into the wind gave us enough of an upwind position to turn and head for the narrows and our campsite.  Once at the site we set up camp (there are absolutely no wind blocks for a westerly wind except tree trunks) and headed back onto the water for a paddle further south. 

            With the wind picking up on the open water, we passed through the narrows and explored some of the more protected bays to the south.  With all the westerly wind and near high tide there was more than the usual amount of water depth, and we decided to seek the elusive inside passage from Pine Tree back to Tingles.  Brian led the party into the backwater grasses, while Lee tried Telemark poling with the seperated halves of his fibreglass paddle until we found deeper water.  In the lead, Brian gave a yell and darted out of sight into some bushes, to return with several dozen yellow and purple helium ballons.  After attaching them to his rear deck, the parade continued:  over water, over small dirt road, back into water, over telephone pole (ouch!) and finally back into the bay just south of the campsite.  Back at camp we changed from paddling gear to hiking boots and took a several mile hike across the island and down the beach.  Note for future trips:  remember to mark where you come out onto the beach in order to find your way home later.

            That evening was filled with pleasant conversation around the campfire as the wind died down and the sky clouded over....

            I awoke that night to wind and sleet buffetting the tent.  Visions of our paddling gear blowing away got me out of the tent and collecting items.  I found Brian returning from moving the boats further from the water’s edge.  We quickly got back in our tents and awaited the morning. 

            Sunday morning brought WNW winds at 25-30.  Waves were only one foot, but whitecaps were omnipresent.  We discussed our options, and launched after making bailout plans.  We struggled into the wind to a ferry position across wind from Great Egg Island.  At this point we hooked up a tow line and Neysa and I ferried toward the island, with Lee backpaddling escort.  We watch Brian dissappear towards the horizon, only to later learn that he had been unable to get his Glider to turn upwind to return to us.  In fact, he portaged a pennisula in order to get back to Ferry Landing.  Neysa and I both had rudders, which helped tremendously in the ferry/tow situation.  Making the lee side of Great Egg, the three of us pointed toward Ferry Landing and let the wind blow us downwind and home. 

            This was an interesting trip, as it allowed us to see the effects of high winds on loaded boats of varying designs.  I think each of us learned something on Sunday.

Kayak Floatation

A kayak’s floatation allows a kayak to remain floating even when the cockpit area is filled with water. Flotation is provided by trapping a volume of air within the boat.  Floatation needs to be provided in both the bow and stern of the kayak.  If floatation is only provided in one of these locations, when swamped the kayak will rotate and sink down, with the floatation end sticking out of the surface.  When this happens it is impossible for a single paddler to rescue the boat, and extremely difficult for multiple paddlers to rescue the boat.  It is important that the bow and stern floatation be split to allow the boat to float level when the cockpit is flooded and the paddler is seated in the kayak. Floatation is sufficient in a kayak when there is enough floatation to allow the cockpit coaming to remain above water when the cockpit is flooded and the paddler is seated in the boat.

There are commonly two ways to provide floatation in sea kayaks.  Bulkheads can be installed in the boat to provide watertight areas of the boat, or floatation bags can be installed.  Bulkheads are the most common method in sea kayaks equipped with deck hatches.  Bulkheads can be made of fibreglass, molded plastic, waterproofed wood, or closed cell foam.  Closed cell foam is often found in plastic sea kayaks, and is held in place by marine caulk.  These bulkheads must be inspected regularly to insure that the bulkheads have not come loose and are still watertight.  Plastic boats used in surf often lose the integrity of foam bulkheads because of the pounding of the waves on the hull.  For this reason people often recommend using floatation bags as a backup to the foam bulkheads in plastic boats.

The second common method of providing floatation in sea kayaks is the use of air bags.  Air bags are placed partially inflated in the bow and stern of a kayak, and then fully inflated.  In kayaks without bulkheads the air bags need to be secured by tie downs into the hull.

Whichever method of floatation is used,  you need to remember that anything that reduces the volume of air in the bulkheaded compartment or air bag will reduce the floatation of the kayak.  This means that as you add camping gear into the bulkheaded compartment, or when you deflate the airbags to make room for the gear, you are reducing the floatation of your kayak.

Skegs and Rudders 

            If you have ever paddled with a group of sea kayakers, one of the things you will soon notice is that some boats have rudders.  On closer examination, you will also see that some of the boats have skegs, and some have neither.  Puzzled?  Here is some of the theory and practicality of the matter of skegs and rudders.

            Do all sea kayaks need rudders or skegs? In a flat, calm sea with no current, the answer is that neither is required.  Paddling a straight course is easy given a decent boat and a good forward stroke.  Add in a wind that comes from any direction other than from straight ahead, and most boats with begin to weathercock.  The majority of boats, if left to their own devices, will tend to go broadside  to the wind; many will round up to face into the wind, and a few odd ones will end up stern first to the wind.  Why?  Think of the kayak as a weathervane.  On a weather vane, the part with the lowest surface area exposed to the wind points into the wind.  This is because the windvane’s center of rotation is in front of  the center of effort exerted by the wind.  If the windvane was shaped the same at both ends, the windvane would be considered in neutral balance – neither end would have more of a tendency to swing into the wind than the other, and often you would see the windvane balancing between the two ends.  This is the principle at work in the kayak.  However, in the kayak there are two windvanes at work – the silhouette of the kayak above the water, and the silhouette of the kayak below the waterline.  

            Let’s assume that we have a kayak with a shape below the waterline that is neutral.  The below waterline shape would end up broadside to the wind and waves.  Since we like kayaks that give a dry ride through waves, and roll easily, our kayak will have a high silhouette bow, and a low silhouette back deck.  How will this kayak behave in the wind?  The high silhouette of the bow will cause the boat to swing it’s bow downwind.  The low silhouette of the rear deck  will not be able to offset this, and the boat will continue to point downwind.  The table below shows the effects of varying each of the four kayak hull silhouette components. To understand the table remember that the when the wind pushes against the boat, the water pushes against the boat from the other direction (we’re not worrying about waves).

This table is pretty theoretical – it assumes the cockpit is in the optimum location, that the paddler’s windage is neutral in the boat (almost never), etc. However, it’s pretty easy to see that half the possible kayak shapes will not give you a neutral boat, and the one’s that do will be out of balance as soon as you put your ten pound lunch in the front hatch and sink the bow an inch.  Since well balanced boats are extremely rare, designers add additional lateral surfaces (skegs) or control surfaces (rudders) that can be used to rebalance the boat.

            Skegs work by adding additional surface area to the underwater silhouette of the kayak.  On kayaks the skeg is located in the stern silhouette area.  (I’ve never seen a skeg added to the bow silhouette on a kayak, but some sailboats have them).  By adjusting the amount of the skeg that sticks out below the kayak you alter the below water stern silhouette of the kayak.    So if you had the kayak in row  two of the table and you put down your skeg, you could alter your kayak to become more the kayak in row one.  Which would be good, assuming you wanted to go across the wind.  If you wanted to balance the boat to go forty five degrees into the wind, you would lower your skeg only part way. 

            The speed of the boat also has an effect on how well a skeg or rudder works.  The faster the boat is moving, the smaller the skeg or rudder can be.  This is one reason that sailboats have larger rudders than boats with propellers.  When water moves across a rudder, the angle of the rudder causes the force of the water to turn the boat.  So, if you were in a kayak like the one in row two, and had a wind coming from your left,  you would turn the rudder to the right (press on your right foot) to get the boat to be neutral and go across the wind.  

Ok.  If you’ve understood all of that, you’ve got a BS in fluid mechanics.  If you see how many things I’ve glossed over or omitted for the sake of brevity, you’re designing ships for the coast guard (That’s for Bill Dodge).  So you know you need one or the other, now which one?  Skegs and rudders each have good and bad points.

Skegs – the plastic fin part – hang inside a box, called the skeg box.  The skeg box is inside the back portion of the kayak, and is usually from eight inches to 18 inches long, and about ½ inch wide.  It sits right in the middle of all that nice space in the back hatch.  Kayakers who camp out of their kayaks with skegs become very ingenious in how they pack around this major space waster.  Skegs go up and down by means of a cable from the skeg box to the side of the cockpit. The cable is usually enclosed in a tube that goes from the skeg box to the cockpit.  Pushing back on the cable lowers the skeg, pushing forward on the cable raises it, and there is enough friction in the system on most boats to allow adjustment between all the way up and all the way down.  

If you feel too much friction in the system  - STOP!.  You have likely encountered the most common problem with skegs.  The space between the skeg and the inside wall of the skeg box, no matter what size it is, will always be the right size for a beach pebble to wedge itself in.  People do all kinds of things to avoid this problem.  Like launching backwards off of beaches.  Or carrying their boats from the grass right into the water.  The easiest way to unjam the skeg is to have someone paddle up next to you, reach under, and tug on the loop of fishing line that you have put through a small hole in the bottom front edge of your skeg.  If you’re really smart, you’ll have attached a small bead to the loop to make it easier to find a grab.  Usually one gentle pull, with the boat upright in the water, will loosen the stone.  If you didn’t have the forethought to put in the fishing line loop, hopefully you will have packed a butter knife.  The butter knife blade will be slid by your friend from the front to the rear of each side of the skeg to free the rock.  No butter knife?  Other items can function in much the same way – sharp knives, multitools, needlenose pliers, sticks, etc….it all depends on your creativity or desperation.  Whatever you do, don’t turn the kayak over so it’ bottom up and easier to work on.  You will succeed in dislodging the stone from it’s current location, and allow it to drop deeper into the skeg box, making life worse.   On the past three trips I have been on, which totalled about 10 boats with skegs, 3 developed jammed skegs.

If you felt too much friction in the system and didn’t stop pushing, you have probably succeeded in kinking the skeg cable.  This means you will get to replace the skeg cable. Jenny has replaced her skeg cable twice in ten years. Take your boat home, take the skeg apart (no owner’s manual?  Find someone who has already done this and you trust), and take the cable to a good boat store.  Try Fawcett’s, West Marine, or maybe Boat US.  Tell them you want a stainless steel cable exactly like this bent one.  Probably about $7.  Buy two.  Save one, in your emergency repair kit.  In the boat.  While you are replacing the cable, take a look at how the skeg cable tube attaches to the skeg box.  In many boats this is only a friction connection glued in place.  If you start noticing loose glue or caulk, or unexplained water in your rear hatch, it may be time to reglue this connection.  Jenny and I have both had leaks for this reason.

The second way skegs get damaged are when they are forgotten about – such as when you paddle onto a beach, the boat rocks to the side a bit, and you remember your skeg was down.  Some skegs will bend, some will break. If you’re lucky, the skeg will be pushed back into the skeg box, and all you’ll have to do is replace the kinked skeg control line. This can also happen to rudders.   If the rudder gets bent, just unbend it.  Been there, done that.

            Rudders are controlled by your feet.  Most are set up with each footrest attached to a sliding track.  When you push on your foot, the footrest slides along the track, pulling a wire that runs back through the boat to the rudder, moving the rudder.  As part of your regular maintenance, occassionally take the footrests out of the track and rinse the track with the hose to remove any sand or grit buildup.   If you see that the rudder cable is beginning to fray, replace it immediately.  A broken rudder cable on a rough trip can be a bad thing – it means you suddenly have no footrests, and paddling becomes more difficult.  However, I take very poor care of my ruddered boat, and have only broken one rudder cable in about 3500 miles of paddling with that boat.  Replacement is fairly simple, rethreading a new cable and fastening it to the rudder and footrest.  Newer rudder designs I have seen have done away with the older spliced  and swedged fittings, making replacement much easier.  In fact, there is really no reason that you couldn’t substitute high strength (200+ lb) low stretch fishing line or leader for the rudder cable, using standard boating/fishing knots. 

            There are two cases where rudders are potentially dangerous.  The first is in surf.  If you have come out of your boat, and are either in danger of being hit by it while you are in the water, or you are trying to retrieve the boat after making it to shore, you need to stay well clear of the stern of the boat.  A waterlogged boat puts a lot of force behind the rudder “ blade”.  Keep clear.  The second case is when towing another kayak.  If you are towing with your rudder in the up position, there is the potential of your tow line snagging on the stowed rudder.  To protect against this, don’t let the towed kayak cross your stern, unless you can reach back and flip the tow line over the stowed rudder.  I have never heard of a rudder in the down position snagging a tow line, although it may be possible. 

            One thing to keep in mind about rudders is that they are always working – whether up or down.  When a rudder is in the up position, it is effectively adding to the silhouette of the stern of the kayak (remember the table?).  So, in many cases if there is any substantial wind, it may be worthwhile to drop the rudder just to reduce windage.  This was one of the ideas behind the “built in” rudder seen on certain boats, where the rudder is built into the stern of the boat.  However, since this rudder does not extend below the bottom of the boat, it becomes more and more useless as the waves get bigger.  To verify this, simply follow behind someone with one of these boats in choppy seas and see how often you see the entire rudder.

            Some people feel that rudders cause a “mushiness” in the footpegs that affects their rolling, or their forward stroke.  There is at least one company out there that makes “butterfly” rudder control systems that eliminate this mushiness, although I have never found it to be a problem in my forward stroke.  If you need the footpegs to roll, you probably don’t have your thighs padded out enough in the boat. 

            Both rudders and skegs cause drag when in use, which does slow the boat.  It is interesting to note however, that several kayak racers, and at least one very long distance kayaker have concluded that the energy they save by not having to take corrective strokes more than offsets the energy loss caused by the drag of a rudder.