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River travel
In the past, people here have posted URLs for seagoing
bikes, which look like pretty toys. But has anyone actually ridden such a thing? And would it be at all realistic to use for regular transport on a journey of 15-20 miles that's primarily river (specifically, the Tamar from around Gunnislake to locations in Plymouth)? My gut feeling is that upstream at least would tend to call for an engine. Anyone with real-life knowledge/ experience? -- Nick Kew |
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#2
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River travel
In article , Nick Kew wrote:
In the past, people here have posted URLs for seagoing bikes, which look like pretty toys. But has anyone actually ridden such a thing? And would it be at all realistic to use for regular transport on a journey of 15-20 miles that's primarily river (specifically, the Tamar from around Gunnislake to locations in Plymouth)? My gut feeling is that upstream at least would tend to call for an engine. Anyone with real-life knowledge/ experience? I have no real experience, but would be dubious about using one at sea. http://www.shuttlebike.com/ says cruising speed 3.5 knots (6 km/h), maximum speed 5.5 knots (10 km/h) Looking at a map of Plymouth, tidal stream is likely to vary a lot depending exactly which locations you want to get to and whether you can time your journey for slack water or have to get there at a set time. http://www.bhpc.org.uk/oldnews/Issue63.pdf has an article by someone who tried a Speed Ross on one (on a lake), which doesn't sound a huge success (he managed 2-3mph when the prop wasn't tangled in weed, and the Ross steering didn't turn far enough). |
#3
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River travel
Nick Kew wrote:
In the past, people here have posted URLs for seagoing bikes, which look like pretty toys. But has anyone actually ridden such a thing? And would it be at all realistic to use for regular transport on a journey of 15-20 miles that's primarily river (specifically, the Tamar from around Gunnislake to locations in Plymouth)? My gut feeling is that upstream at least would tend to call for an engine. Anyone with real-life knowledge/ experience? Why not go for one of the pedal powered boats out there? At least the fundamental vehicle, a boat, is designed for use on water whereas a bicycle is not. Either way 15-20 miles is a long way by human powered boat downstream let alone upstream. -- Tony "I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't" Anon |
#4
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River travel
in message , Nick Kew
') wrote: In the past, people here have posted URLs for seagoing bikes, which look like pretty toys. But has anyone actually ridden such a thing? And would it be at all realistic to use for regular transport on a journey of 15-20 miles that's primarily river (specifically, the Tamar from around Gunnislake to locations in Plymouth)? My gut feeling is that upstream at least would tend to call for an engine. Anyone with real-life knowledge/ experience? I strongly suspect a light rowing skiff would be better. Pedalling is a very efficient way of turning muscle energy into rotational motion, but even the best propellers are not very efficient in turning rotational motion into actual movement of the boat. I've done a lot of rowing (including against fast tides); I have used a pedalo but only under fairly calm conditions. -- (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ ;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers. |
#5
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River travel
On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:04:47 +0100, Simon Brooke wrote:
My gut feeling is that upstream at least would tend to call for an engine. Anyone with real-life knowledge/ experience? I strongly suspect a light rowing skiff would be better. I strongly suspect something with sails would be good too! Thinking about it, water has a much higher drag than air. If you're trying to move a vehicle through water via human power, as you say you want something with as streamlined a hull as possible, and probably nicely polished like a rowing skiff. I'm sure Pete Clinch has a bike rack for his sea kayak somewhere though :-) I'm sure you can't get a human powered boat, pedal or otherwise, up on the plane. Not a great sailor, but a fast sailing dinghy minimises wetted hull area. Can't remember if it is the leaning over which does this, or just getting it properly up to speed. And hence powered watercraft like hydrofoils/Sea Cats. Minimise wetted area and you cut drag dramatically. Veering wildly off-topic, I read an interesting article in a trade magazine recently, about the use of computational fluid dynamics in cycling. I know that wind tunnels are commonly used in pro cycling. This article was talking about simulations of a team of cyclists, for time trialling. Comment was this is not in common use now, but in a few years may well make the difference between first and second place. Who knows, I might be recruited by a top cycling team yet! |
#6
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River travel
"John Hearns" wrote:
I'm sure you can't get a human powered boat, pedal or otherwise, up on the plane. These guys can: http://www.humanpoweredboats.com/Pho...rofoilHPBs.htm James Thomson |
#7
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River travel
Truth is stranger than fiction.
Someone on the GLLUG list posts a link about some science-fiction, on evolutionary software development putting all programmers out of a job. I follow the link, then another and find: http://www.foilkayak.com/ a hydrofoil kayak |
#8
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River travel
On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:36:59 +0200, James Thomson wrote:
These guys can: http://www.humanpoweredboats.com/Pho...rofoilHPBs.htm Oh no. Its bad enough to have helmet threads on u.r.c. let alone bouyancy aids. http://www.humanpoweredboats.com/Pho...PBs/AvaAva.jpg ps. That's a joke, right? I wouldn't go anywhere near a kayak or a sailing dinghy sans bouyancy aid. And I used to have a lid firmly on the head when doing any white-water stuff. |
#9
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River travel
John Hearns wrote: Truth is stranger than fiction. Someone on the GLLUG list posts a link about some science-fiction, on evolutionary software development putting all programmers out of a job. I follow the link, then another and find: http://www.foilkayak.com/ a hydrofoil kayak Just wondering whether a hydrofil is illegal on rowing eights.. that would be seriously fast.. ...d |
#10
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River travel
John Hearns wrote:
I'm sure you can't get a human powered boat, pedal or otherwise, up on the plane. There are now hydro-wing kayaks, see http://www.foilkayak.com/ As the site states, "Hydrofoil kayaking demands a certain level of fitness", so you needn't apply unless you're a strong paddler with good wing technique, but it *is* possible. A rowing skiff may well have problems because there's too much of a return pause between the strokes, where a kayak has a closer rhythm to help make up for the reduced power of a single stroke. Another advantage of the kayak is that the freedom of the paddle allows use of hydrodynamic lift from wing paddles which are individually more efficient, but need a rather contrived technique which wouldn't work too well with a fixed rollock (I'm guessing, I don't really know anything much about rowing). The IHPVA page sends you to http://lancet.mit.edu/decavitator/ for a pedal powered foil, if you insist on doing it that way. This has the HP water record at the moment at 18.5 knots Not a great sailor, but a fast sailing dinghy minimises wetted hull area. Can't remember if it is the leaning over which does this, or just getting it properly up to speed. The leaning is just a natural reaction to the wind pushing it from the side. AFAICT best speed is on the level (aside from anything else leaning the boat tends to mask the sail as it is pushed over, limiting the power you can get from it). Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
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