Kayak speed

[Chris Hy]

Has anyone measured their crusing and top speeds.

My Tarpon 120 cruises at 3.5mph and has a top speed of about 5mph (hard work)

[chaz62]

Chris,

 

your tarpon does those speeds with you paddling, speed depends alot on the paddler, style, strength, endurance etc.

I have an OK p13 but haven't a clue on speeds, I'm not that bothered, its not a racing kayak so as long as I can get to where I want to go then thats me satisfied.

 

Cheers,

Chaz

[Jeff S]

Hi Chris,

 

I had every intention of getting that particular data for my P13 on Saturday. I clocked myself up to about 6.8 mph with the wind at my back and running with a slow current. That is just from memory. I originally only cared about the distance that I was to paddle. When I got home- (I was in a hurry to make it to the church) I realized that I left the sat receiver on and screwed up my average. I was still getting a signal traveling down the A61. I won't tell you the top speed that I documented. The overall average came to 7.1 mph for 3 hours paddle (and drive home). I'll get it right next weekend.

 

I've seen various posts on another site for hull speed. The details were interesting but too scientific for my taste. Basically it's in relation to length, beam, and displacement. Here's one.... Hull Speed

 

I'm afraid I'm like Chaz. I just like to paddle

[Chris Hy]

I am not interested in speed for speeds sake but for safety's sake.

ie what tidal current will I be safe in and am I paddling at the same sort of speed as other yakkers.

[Jeff S]

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Edited April 8, 2008 by Jeff S

[Mark Crame]

There are practical reasons to know however. I troll at 3-3.5 knots for pike, that appears to be optimum for my lures.

 

However, knowing what speed you can paddle at for a sustained period is an important safety feature - if you can paddle normally in a flat sea at 4 knots then you know that you can comfortably face a 2 knot current and make decent headway and a 3 knot current can be overcome but is not desirable. If it's a 5 knot current thats likely then you know it's somewhere not to go. If you lose x amount of speed when the wind is against you or when the swell is a certain height as well then again you can alter your plans accordingly.

 

I class myself as a reasonably strong paddler now and can attain 4-5 knots sustained for a fair while and for some routes will favour one of my yaks over the other. I also know that there are certain areas at certain states of the tide where I know that I will either inch along or stay static and so plan my day's fishing to avoid expending the energy at that time. For navigation and time-keeping purposes too it is a very useful bit of knowledge to acquire.

[cannonfodder]

Has anyone measured their crusing and top speeds.

My Tarpon 120 cruises at 3.5mph and has a top speed of about 5mph (hard work)

 

kinda depends on what drugs i've had!