Steve Cramer wrote in
:

John Fereira wrote:

I've never seen an Orca and P&H is often pretty slow about updating
their web site. Like someone else mentioned they rate it as having
the highest amount of stability of any of their boats.

My
wife and I paddle Wisconsin and UP lakes mostly and are looking
forward to the day when we have enough skill/confidence/strength/etc..
to go out on the big ones, i.e., Superior and Michigan. Hope we get
that far before we get too old to do it.

Do you really want a boat with a lot of initial stability if you're
hoping to develop the skills necessary on big water? A boat with a
lot of initial stability, by definition, resist a tendency to edge the
boat, a skill that you'll need when paddling rough water. Since it
will be harder to edge/tip it will be more difficult to learn how to
brace as well.

I can assure you that the Orca is not difficult to get on edge. When I
demo a boat I always do a few high brace turns, and I laid the Orca on
its side without any difficulty.


As I haven't paddled an Orca (nor even seen one) I can't argue with you but
I was speaking in the general sense. A boat with a high amount of initial
stability is, by definition, going to provide more resistance moving off an
initially stable position (center of gravity in a vertical plane over center
of bouyancy) than a boat with less initial stability.

I'm not saying that a stable boat *can't* be put on edge, but that it
requires more effort to do so. A couple of years ago I tried out a cedar
strip boat a guy built. He hadn't made a seat for it yet so it just had a
1/2" foam pad on the bottom. With the center of gravity so low it made it
very stable. When I tried a low brace turn with a J-lean it barely edged
over. I had to move my shoulders over the gunwhale to get enough weight to
the side and get it over to it's secondary stability. If I want to do a low
brace turn in one direction, then switch to the other side it would have
required a much great weight shift than a less stable boat. What that
stable boat did was allow me to get away with something (leaning over the
side rather than edging) that might cause a capsize in a less stable boat
(unless a brace was employed). I've also seen recreational boat paddlers
enter their boats by stepping into it then sitting down. Try that in a 22"
wide touring boat and you're most likely going to get wet. The point is
that if a beginner wants to develope advanced skills necessary to handle
rough conditions it probably make more sense to learn those skills in a boat
that isn't going to be so forgiving. Sure, you might get wet a few times
but that's just the boats way of telling you that you've done something
wrong, and as my father used to tell me when I was learning to ride a dirt
bike at the age of 10, "if you don't fall, you're not learning".

As far as being able to edge the Orca to do high brace turns goes...high
brace turns in a boat with high stability and low secondary are not that
difficult if you already know how to do a high brace turn. A couple of
years ago I was out playing in boats in front of my friends shop. I hopped
in a Prijon Capri (12' long, 25" wide). Even though it's pretty much in the
recreational class I was able to edge it way over with low and high brace
turns and bow rudder turns, do a sculling brace with both ears in the water,
and even roll it.