Sat - November 19, 2005

CoastRunner - A New Kayak Design and New Virtual Race Entry


Coastrunner - touring/racing kayak
Bjørn Johansen from Denmark entered the 5 mile virtual race in a new kayak of his design: Coastrunner, length 5.20m (17'0.7"), beam 0.54m (21.25").

Bjørn paddled CoastRunner with the average speed of 7.03 mph over 5 miles. Earlier this year he entered the race twice with the Escape kayak reaching 6.98 mph and 7.20 mph.

From the kayak description: CoastRunner is conceived as an all-round kayak, firmly rooted in the Scandinavian kayaking tradition, where touring and racing are important parts of the activities in most clubs. This crossbreeding of racing and cruising has led to rules for touring-racers, with limits on the waterline beam. Experience has shown that the stability of the most advanced designs for the touring-racer class may be a bit on the challenging side for many paddlers, under less than ideal conditions.

The lines of the CoastRunner are based on one of the most successful designs in this class, the Escape, by the same designer. CoastRunner is however designed without regard to any specific rules. The traditional length, 5.2 m, is maintained. The waterline beam is increased about 5 % in comparison to the Escape, which corresponds to an increase in metacenter height (a measure of static stability) of 15 %. The cost of this increase in stability is a loss in speed of 1-2 %, when compared to the Escape. The pronounced flare of the midship sections increases the waterline beam with displacement, and gives the boat excellent handling qualities over a large load range.


Bjørn on Escape: I designed the boat in 1988, and it became quite popular (see pictures of the recent version in Willy Neumann production). Nelo produced the boat as a subcontractor to Kirton, and by accident marketed the boat as their own (pictures). Nelo later produced the Razor, which is very similar to the Escape, apart from the rear deck.


Posted at 11:56 AM    


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