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sponsons really work! (BS)
On 26-Aug-2003, Peter wrote:
You, or someone with you, is incapacitated (i.e. incapable of balancing and/or bracing for stability) and you're far from shore. Putting sponsons on the boat with the incapacitated person would allow the other paddler to tow them to safety. Good in theory, but in practice, the sponsons don't provide enough stability. Timmy's sponsons attached to an empty kayak increases the stability about as much as the same kayak without sponsons but fully loaded with gear. I wouldn't tow a paddler in an otherwise unsupported, fully loaded kayak. In rough conditions. the sponsons can increase the likelyhood of a collapse, since high initial stability on a steep wave means less stability overall. In calm conditions, sponsons may be fine, but the best thing for a disabled paddler is a contact tow. You can see them and deal with them more quickly than with a tow. If there's a third person, use that person to stabilize the incapacitated paddler and tow the duo. I've done that in a real emergency and it's not so bad. .. Without sponsons I'd juryrig a paddle with a pair of paddle floats to act as outriggers, but I'd expect the result to be harder to tow and not as secure as properly designed sponsons. That's a good approach, but I don't think it would be so terrible to tow. Folks I know who have tried it say it's reasonable to tow. YMMV. If sponsons were _significantly_ better than competing approaches, I'd support them. However, they are better in some ways and worse in others. The net is six of one, half dozen of the other. If you prefer sponsons, that's fine - use them but make sure you've practiced. They are no more or less likely to save a life than other approaches. Mike |
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