Waxing the boat will make it go slower as the wax will repel the thin
layer of water called "Laminar layer". Laminar flow must be maintained
for the layer to make proper contact along the hull to form a so called
slip stream. Only way to do this is to compound or wet sand the hull to
make the laminar layer stick to the hull surface.

Also, compare long boat to short boat. 13'2" race boat can attain, make
many more moves than a short boat. Hense, make far more use of the river
than any drop and spin boat that only sits in holes throwing ends.

Keenan & Julie wrote:
in article , BCITORGB at
wrote on 6/17/05 10:05 PM:


i initially thought michael was nit-picking a bit... but, in matters
technical, i've found he is worth listening to... after all of this,
i'm with him...

although, keenan, i think you're quite right when you assert "a shorter
boat shaped like a cigar is probably faster than a longer boat shaped
like a square"... too right!


LOL. I think I'm just not understanding that people actually enjoy arguing
about such things. When it comes to paddling I'm more interested in what
people see or do while paddling than whether or not you can go .000032
seconds faster depending on whether or not you wax your boat.

There's more to the simple truth of this matter than cigar vs square. If the
damned boat is the same design only longer, it goes faster.

If the boats are of different design, then obviously the difference in
design is going to have to be taken into account, not just the length.

Beyond that this whole discussion sounds like geeks on steroids to me.