Surfski bucket, leg drive and stability

I recently tried a surfski for the first time, it felt very different than my kayak.

In the kayak I had better leg drive, better contact with the boat, and thus more stability and power (in a faster hull).

This is my surfski experience: The bucket was about 1.5 inches wider than my hips, the hard wet surface was very slippery, and the bottom was "flat" (not contoured to the shape of a human behind). This meant that every time a wave hit, the ski shifted under me. Often I ended up sitting on one side of the bucket, with the ski lurched over on that side. Furthermore, the hump touched my calves and prevented any leg drive (I'm 5' 11'). (Shortening the foot plate would have caused me to dorsiflex my feat to 60 degrees.)

I never felt like I was going to capsize. (The hull was slower than my kayak hull.) But I did not feel "one with the boat".

Granted, this particular ski did not fit me. But It made me wonder about ski buckets in general. Do they inherently sacrifice power and/or boat contact for "remountability"?

Are there other advantages to a ski cockpit over a kayak?

It seems like there may be a few dilemmas:

Surfski:

Pad the bucket with foam (locking hips in) to get good boat contact -> reduce/eliminate hip rotation.

Leave a little room for hips to rotate -> reduce boat contact: ski slips around underneath you

Lower hump -> increase leg drive, reduce boat contact even further.
Raise hump -> improve boat contact (but not in an optimal location) reduce or eliminate leg drive.


Kayak:

Hips don't need to touch the sides at all, allowing uninhibited rotation. The contoured seat prevents sideways slipping.

No hump -> maximum leg drive

When needed, the knees can be locked under the deck, increasing stability by making the paddler "one with the boat".


I must be missing some things here, please help me see the light. hehe

No need to lock your hips in, you still need to rotate but it helps to feel the sides of the ski bucket and not slide from side to side.

Have a look at how I made seats for several ski's and to eliminate ergonomic issues here. Each photo has an explanation on what I was trying to achieve.

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.348244...0002425151844&type=1

Very well done!!!!! Do you find that they elevate you much in the seat? Effect stability much?

The hump in front of your thighs supports some (quite a lot really) of the power transfer, so you will never feel as if you have as strong of a leg drive as in your kayak where the entire force apart from some bum friction is transferred through your feet.

Large movement of the knees up and down are really an indication of body rotation in a ski and not necessarily a very high load on the footboard.
I'll wager money that a measurement of actual forces on the footboard will be surprisingly low in a surf ski compared to a kayak.

The bucket you tried was simply too wide and too long for your physique.
There will be a bucket out there that you will find extremely comfortable and powerful.

You just have to find it.

Welcome to the journey.

I agree with RAB, a ski will never quite feel the same a kayak as far as leg drive goes. It still surprises me how high some of the bumps are in skis. I would sooner have a much lower one and gain a bit of volume in the cock pit for the benefit of more leg drive/ power. Nelo is the closest I've come to this. They also have a higher seat too which helps. I love how Nelo have always been about designing a boat around a person rather that trying to fit a person to their design.

Hi Elricho, while I'm sure it does lift me and effect stability somewhat and stability is an issue for me in my SES in some conditions, my Stellar SEL is so stable in comparison that I have no ill effects from building the seat as I have. Nor is it an issue in any of my sea kayaks.

There may be more to this than meets the eye.
I'm guessing here, but maybe having a hump allows a more relaxed position?
Without large forces going through the legs, it may just make a surfski easier to balance.

The Nelo is certainly the most kayak of skis with a low very hump and I wonder if I owned one if I would ever get truly relaxed in it.

There is no doubt about it's outright speed though.