Hi all,
I was after some information on the rigging of OC12's for rough water racing.
We recently paddled 60km in flat water in an OC12 but I have my doubts about the possible stress put
on the spreaders (Wae Wa'a) with the rigging done as tight as possible with 6mm cotton sash (God forbid using ratchets that have no give!). With our canoe canoes weighing 155Kg each and an average weight of 500kg in each canoe, I wonder if some type of dense rubber block could be put between the Iako and wae wa'a to give the canoe some "give" when straddling and hitting some bigger troughs?
Any ideas?
Regards Grant
Submitted by outrigger on Mon, 09/17/2007 - 9:32pm
Wow, the silence is deafning
#1 Thu, 09/20/2007 - 12:29am
I assume by OC-12, you mean double-hull. Our club cuts truck tire innertubes into 3 inch wide strips about 6-10 feet long. We basically wrap the cross-members (4x4s or 6x6s) to the hulls with 3 to 4 of these strips at each connection point. But we never use these boats in rough open water. The rubber gives, but it also allows the hulls to move. And in rough water the boats will quickly come out of square.
I suppose you could somehow attach heavy nylon in an x pattern across the cross-members to hold them square with the hulls.
#2 Thu, 09/20/2007 - 7:46am
Double haul voyaging/sailing canoes can handle rough seas. Tommy Holmes' book "Hawaiian Canoe" talks about rigging and lashing if you want to know some history about rigging a double haul canoe with proficiency the way the Hawaiians have done it for years. I have never been in a race or practiced in rough water in a double haul but done both of those activities in flat water and it is a lot of fun. I suppose if you must go into rougher water making sure your rigging rope is newer and the lashings are done enough times over the wai would be all you can do to make sure you won't be swimming with 12 paddlers. Where in the world are you, anyway?
Mikala
#3 Thu, 09/20/2007 - 8:22am
Hi Mikala,
Where in the world am I, Australia, Melbourne to be exact. A 60 odd km paddle was organized for some fund raising.
I'll try to attach a picture of the conditions as we approached Melbourne from Geelong. (Check Google maps)
#4 Fri, 09/21/2007 - 2:12am
Aloha
Thanks for that picture and your locale. My only wish for this site is that we could all know where in the world the other bloggers are writting from. I am on the island of O'ahu, by the way.
Good luck with your V12 racing...getting ready for World Sprints?
A hui hou
Mikala
#5 Fri, 09/21/2007 - 6:29am