Verlen Kruger Catamaran

[Darrells]

Matt,
have you ever seen an upclose picture of the way Verlen attached his catamaran sticks between his boats?

[jem]

Yes. Basically a kevlar tube mounting through the coaming and deck.

[Darrells]

I am thinking of trying that out. It would be a great way to stand and cast.

[jem]

If you're building two.

[Darrells]

Could two different designs be tied together? Say a Northwind and a Freedom.

[jem]

would depend on how it sits in the water.

[Darrells]

Matt, I just finished reading " All Things Possible" by Verlen. In it he basically says that he can take the Sea Wind with a canoe paddle and rudder and paddle circles around most kayaks. Seeing as how I am about to start your Northwind I am seriously thinking of building a rudder for it. I laymens terms (be gentle I am a Redneck) explain to me how a single blade can be that much more efficient than a double blade.

[jem]

Verlen speaks in terms of distance paddling. He advocated that with the rudder and a single blade, more energy could be focused on propulsion rather than perfect double blade technique, fighting the blade in the wind, etc.

[Darrells]

So, Let's say on a 25 mile race, the single blade with a rudder MAY be a better choice than a kayak paddle? Simply because you can concentrate on padling instead of steering. Is this what you meant?

[tx river rat]

Darrel
After reading the book and a couple more,I think Verlan was a great paddler but he was just use to the single blade. If you read where Steve and Verlan were coming up the Grand Canyon ,there were several places he couldnt go and Steve with his double paddle was still moving forward. Also Steve would run of and leave him paddling. In one article I read that was a big bone of contention between them Verlan being to slow.
Ron