Richard Ferguson wrote:
I do not buy your argument at all. If the issue was center of gravity,
the trunk of my body, where most of the weight was, did not move when I
pulled my legs out of the water. Also my legs were on the deck, just a
few inches above the waterline, so the change in center of gravity was
minimal. However, the effect on stability was extremely dramatic. (I am
less than 6 feet tall, so my center of gravity is not unusually high.)
In other words, I can't see how a very small change in the center of
gravity could effect a dramatic change in boat stability. There has to
be another cause.

Nope - with your legs in the water, your CG is definitely lower - and
near the pivot point for the cylinder on which you are sitting. When
you move your feet up into the well, now everything is at or above the
pivot point. A regular kayak keeps a significant amount of your weight
below that pivot point and makes the kayak much more stable. I know
this oversimplifies the math, but that's my .02 and I'm stickin' to it:-)
Remember that this was a sit on top type of kayak, kind of like a
surfboard with depresions for the butt and feet. Most of the kayak was
underwater even before I pulled my legs out of the water. I think that
part of what happened was that the extra weight of my legs put even more
of the kayak under the water, and that affected the hull design. It
started to look more like a submarine than a conventional boat.
Depending on the particular type of surf ski, many of them are about
like balancing on a bowling ball. Many of the competition skis are
18-19" wide, and take hours of practice to ride successfully, much less
get used to paddling with a wing paddle. The extra height above the
water gives you a lot better leverage once you get used to sitting
balanced on such a skinny boat, and they are darned fast when paddled
right.

Marsh
Minnesota