KayakingBob wrote:
The other negative effect of something larger close to the end of the bow is the wind pushing on it making it much harder to turn the bow across the wind.
While designing the early Sprayskirts we had that problem and found we had to minimize how far forward the shade-cloth was. My latest design change (2 years ago) moved it even further back with no noticeable reduction in splash deflection and no negative effects from the wind.
Thanks for the input Bob!
I usually pedal anyway when tacking upwind so I dont se a big issue when coming about into the wind (if that was what your meaning?). One of the things I love with the Island is the pedals, it sure makes tackning so much easier!
The size of the wave deflector is very marginal compared to the enormous wind drag from the mast anyway.
I am more concerned about the "immersion drag/resistance" from the water when the kayak tries to surface.
As usual there is only one really good way of finding out the facts concerning the pros and cons of adding a wave deflector... trial and error... in my case I learned a lot from all the errors i made!! LOL!
In the future I am planning to add a furling jib and my plan is to integrate the mount for the furler with a wave deflector.... sadly no time for that at the moment so that will be a future project.
But to design a hydrodynamicly optitimized adapted wavedeflector for the TI in carbon/resin with reinforced mountning points for the furler ... well yes I sure like the idea...