KAWAKS AND HPBS
Touring/Recreational/Racing Pedalcraft
by Augustus Gast
Institute of Ocean Sciences
Sidney B.C. V8L4B2 Canada
In her letter (HPV News 7/92), Nancy Sanford raised a fascinating question. Why haven’t pedal craft made a more forceful entry to mass market? We are not speaking of the slow, somewhat silly “toys” one finds rented at recreational beaches; what we mean are earnest performance craft so that real people can really go places. Perhaps a stigma associated with the “toys” partly holds back more serious boats, as the public associates pedalling with a silly way to make boats go.
One might imagine a land in which bicycles hadn’t been invented. People would get around by perching on wagons, propelling themselves with sticks pushing along the roads. These push wagons wouldn’t go very fast, and likely wouldn’t be too comfortable. But with effort they would get you there. Then someday someone would invent a bicycle, and the push wagons would retire to museums. Of course water is a different medium. Still, isn’t it strange that auquatic bicycles have been so unsuccessful (commercially) in comparison with all these aquatic push wagons and their silly stick propulsion?
Some answers to this mystery are obvious. They have to do with practicality and cost-effectiveness. Our pedal craft can tend to be somewhat awkward “contraptions” – in comparison with a canoe, say. The pedal craft may be harder to haul around, harder to launch/land at a beach, and may foul in weeds. And cost more besides! Little mystery then that push wagons still hold the market.
The pedal craft landscape isn’t entirely barren though. Other readers may also be replying to Nancy’s letter. New pedal craft keep appearing, often first seen in pages of HPV News. Yamaha catamarans are seen, and a new (to me) MicroCAT is advertised in the March `94 HPV News. Although I’ve not encountered the Mallard here in the Pacific Northwest, a craft that has been in the NW (and elsewhere) for some years now, is the SeaCycle catamaran built by:
Recreation Industries
P.O. Box 68386
Oak Grove, OR 97268
(503)653-2833
The SeaCycle can carry two persons. It cartops, launches from a beach, and permits one to easily remove weeds from the prop which swings up between hulls). I was told that over 400 SeaCycles have been made, and my direct experience is that the SeaCycle drive unit is very dependable.
Another approach, indigenous to British Cloumbia and with only limited production to date, has been based upon an open cockpit kayak with a daggerboard-like trunk just forward of the seating position. A drive unit consists of a seperate, sealed fiberglass sleeve, with pedals at one end, prop at the other. Thus, one has a boat which is as simple to transport, launch and handle as a kayak; when ready to pedal, one slips the drive through the trunk, then reclines to recumbent cycling. In shallow or weedy water, one raises the drive unit, and operates as a conventional kayak. [This boat, “kawak” (native word: “to fly”) was described in Human Power v. 9/3&4, p.19-20]
For further information, one may contact:
Current Designs
10124 McDonald Park Rd.
Sidney B.C. Canada V8L 3X9
(604)655-1822
Drive units for Current Designs’ kawaks had to be obtained elsewhere. One choice was the drive from a SeaCycle, although recent changes to the SeaCycle drive prevent it from fitting a Current Designs kawak. Two other sources for kawak drives made to fit the Current Designs boats were:
Booth Enterprize
781 Fairview
Victoria B.C. Canada V9A 5V2
604)386-9622
and
Original Car-Cycle Technology
1311 Victoria Ave.
Victoria B.C. Canada V8S 4P4
604)598-7830
Although there was limited production of the Car-Cycle drive, neither that nor Booth drive came to commercial manufacture. Thus “mass market” for kawaks remains untested. (possibilities to utilize drives from Free Enterprize (Jake Free) or from the MicroCAT have not been explored.) Here let me only briefly describe the broader kawak activity to date, including two-person capability, sailing option, a catamaran variant and a canoe variant.
Our initial efforts focussed on single-person kayak-like boats, forerunners of the Current Designs kawak. Why kayak-like rather than, say, catamaran? In part, local tradition emphasizes kayaks for ocean touring. As well, we very specifically had ocean touring in mind, travelling distances otherwise unachievable under conditions which could become quite adverse. The kayak offered both an efficiency advantage over catamaran (see HP v.9/3&4) and semi-enclosure from cold weather. Efficiency means both greater speed and the ability to maintain high speed over time, ultimately achieving greater range. [In terms of raw speed, the only competition are hydrofoil craft and rowed racing shells, neither of which offer travel over distance under potentially adverse circumstances.] Weather shelter takes account that most of a kawaker’s torso is within the boat, although the entire person is lower to the water – subject to wave and spray. The latter circumstance is met by collapsible dodgers, one of which may be pulled up over the forward portion of cockpit under moderate adversity while a second dodger can be raised from behind the cockpit to join the forward dodger in nearly complete enclosure – open only for ventilation. [Kawaking in January in Pacific NW in short-sleeve shirt, among wetsuited kayakers, is a reality.]
While range, speed and survivability figured in early kawak development, an unexpected offshoot has been how well kawaks serve recreation. In particular, it is a delight to see children take to kawak, excited by the realization that this gives them prowess to undertake adventures that would require adult effort by canoe or kayak. Let us move closer though to Nancy Sanford’s interests: How to carry two or three persons? Let us add: and do so in a boat which is cheap, easily transported and launched, and which delivers high speed with modest effort. All that? No prob! A simple answer comes from the familiar canoe. Inserting a daggerboard trunk (braced to withstand pedaling forces), placing a track for an adjustable recumbent seat, then attaching a rudder with handlines, converted a 17′ canoe to a kawak. One gives up some speed and range relative to a touring kawak, as the canoe-kawak performs more like a paddled touring kayak or like a pedaled catamaran. But one gains versatility. Bring grandma. Bring the neighbor’s kid. Bring the dog. And you’re off – with a speed that will still turn heads. Moreover, the canoe-kawak can be a formidable marathon machine. In a two-person crew, one person (forward) paddles while the other (aft) pedals. After a time, the two exchange places – sustaining high speed over long time while providing both crew with a total
body workout.
Further to the multi-person kawak was conversion of a 20′ double kayak to double kawak, with independent pedalling fore and aft. Speed is only comparable to that of a single touring kawak, perhaps because the particular double used had generous beam. The double is nicely companionable, while maintaining good speed. Handline steering may be assumed from either pedalling location. A pleasant feature is that progress may be sustained even while one crew takes a break. A safety consideration is that the boat operates entirely from either position in case, for example, one crew should be disabled. In fact, we often find the double kawak being used as a single, although without distributing sufficient cargo for ballast, the single user of a double kawak will be significantly out-of-trim.
A third approach to multiple person HP craft is the catamaran. The approach of a colleague (Mark Bowers) has differred from other made-for-pedalling catamarans. Mark affixed a kawak-like drive option just forward of the mast of a conventional HobieCat. In absence of wind, the catamaran pedals well. If wind comes up, do as other Hobies do. There is versatility to bring a friend. And overnight under the boom tent if you like. [Of course if one already owns a sailing catamaran or canoe, kawak conversion may be particularly attractive.]
The only remark before concluding is, about use of `flying amas’. By itself, a single touring kawak can be unsafe with respect to capsize. Some kawaks are narrower than even sporty touring kayaks. [An extreme to date, is a 20′ kawak with a 16″ beam. It will nearly turn over in still water.] Without a paddle in hand, the kawaker is not ready to exercise a kayaker’s skillful paddle braces. Moreover, some kawakers like to read (or even mark student papers) while pedalling long open trips. For such narrow kawaks, safety is provided by amas – light, low volume outriggers which are deployed well aft (avoiding spray) and also elevated (`flying’) so that they are clear of the water when the kawak is on even keel (thereby avoiding drag penalty). A consideration is that amas shouldn’t be too large. We employ amas of only 10 liters (quarts) displacement each. This has been sufficient to avoid capsize even in significant sea state but – importantly – it assures that in case of capsize, a kawak is quickly righted and re-entered. Practice has indicated
that time out of the boat needn’t be more than 20 seconds – a crucial consideration in cold water. Upon re-entering a swamped kawak, one only needs hit the pedals while opening an auto-bailer (as from racing dinghies); the power (speed) of kawak, even if swamped, is so great that a single will entirely empty itself in one or two minutes.
Amas are enormously valuable in another regard. They enable earnest sailing performance even in a narrow single. The combination of sailing and pedalling was mentioned with respect to Mark’s Hobie. It may be surprising we’ve not seen more of this marriage between pedalling and sailing, which is a thrill. In fact the sailing option was included since the very first kawak. A loose-footed 30 sq. ft. mainsail roller-reefs onto a tubular mast which readily unsteps to secure alongside the boat when not in service. While sailing, the drive unit provides lateral resistance and one may choose also to lightly pedal. The experience is like pedalling while coasting a bike downhill. On the other hand, where
tacking a long narrow hull can be difficult, the kawak simply pedals through the tack onto the new reach. No prob. In upcoming development work, we expect to press for more powerful sailing, involving also an ama design. One may quite enjoy the thrill of sailing-pedalling; recall too that the original goal with the kawaks was to enable one to go places. If the wind blows, use it. (If the sun shines, use that too by photoelectric conversion? Yes we’ll get around to it “soon”) Lastly, let me recall the other key design aspect of kawak. Approaching shallows, in weed, launching-landing,
or for the heck of it, one quickly turns a kawak into a plain canoe or kayak, to do whatever a canoe or kayak would do.
