Thread: which book to buy

Ok.... I'll bite ;-)
I come from the opposite direction to Allan - hardly set foot in a kayak until i was in my 20's.
All my teen-age paddling was in canadians (or 'canoe' if you prefer).
Agree with all of Allan's points regarding windage, although with exception of long, straight-
keeled touring boats, most kayaks of my experience tend to weathercock in a cross-wind.
A canoe or hybrid can often be 'balanced' by moving forwards or aft to adjust pitch.
The two person boat is no problem if the paddlers get on well, and are prepared to work
together on where they want to go, and what they want to do next.

A well designed canoe, carefully paddled, can stay more or less dry up until the point that
waves are breaking over the sides. A mate & I paddled his 14' Rosco from Nudgee Beach to
Bishop Island (now the Port of Brisbane container terminal) in weather that had speed-boats
turning back to shelter. Shipped maybe 2 or 3 litres of spray, tops. A kayak in the same water
would have needed a spray deck to avoid swamping. The extra beam of a canoe gives a
greater sense of stability in calm waters for beginners. The open top doesn't present the
common mental barrier of "how do I get out if I capsize". To my mind, a canoe is easier to
use in a range of activities on flat water - touring, fishing, general fiddling about.
Even surfing is possible with care in small waves.

Whatever the boat, volume is the killer for kids in wind.

Having sung the open canoe's praises, we've only (as a family) owned one. Once the kids
got too big for all 4 of us to fit, I switched back to kayaks to give them independence
of movement. There wasn't much around at the time in the way of boat designs for kids.
After weeks of searching I located just 2, and didn't like either of them. So I designed a
series of kayaks for my family. Very easy to do with software now available.
The boats grew as the kids did.

Design #1 - 73" x 17" - was a shrunken & decked approximation of a sailing skiff design.
Very short & unstable. My daughter has good balance & had no worries.
My son hated them.
dabchick at clayton.JPG

Design #2 - 90" x 30" - was designed around my growing son's desire for more stability.
Also a shrunken & decked version of a sailing boat. It was 'fat' enough to support my 100kg.
But it was beyond my 8y/o daughter's strength to paddle in any sort of wind on any sort
of water - just blew across the surface.
25 Oscar & Rach in CB90.jpg circumnavigating katarina.JPG

She had no problems with design #3 - 130" x 17" - longer, narrower & lower.
Designed for people in the 25 to 45 kg weight range, and to handle choppy water.
Pygmy Canoes offer a similar design, maybe a bit larger.
30 Rach in CB130sm.jpg

All the above boats have since been out-grown & gone.

Hope that gives more food for thought anyway.
cheers
Alan J