Background:

Anyone being part of the kayaking community has heard the various claims on what properties a fast kayak must have.

Intuitively we all start out with the idea that narrow kayaks are faster than wider kayaks.

One day during lunch break at the beach, the local expert tells you that long kayaks are faster than short ones. Yes - longer must be faster you nod in agreement. If you're a slow learner (and brave) you might ask "why does longer imply faster?". The expert will do some handwaving and mumble something about the waves generated by the kayak. It's actually pretty obvious you'll be told and besides the tide seems to be turning so let's get moving.

You'll also hear that kayaks with low stability are faster than kayaks with high stability because racing kayaks are unstable.

Then you'll meet someone with a Kevlar kayak, who tells you that light kayaks are faster than heavy kayaks. There's a reason why carbon kayaks costs 30% more than similar boats in fiberglass. Oh and remember - plastic kayaks are inherently slow.

At this point you start wondering what the truth really is. You go home and start googling for some real answers. Soon you'll discover that there's something called...

Hydrodynamics:

If you're lucky, you find some of the good webpages on kayakdesign and hydrodynamics:

Reading the various sources on kayakdesign on the net, you'll find the name John Winters turns up quite a bit. Now I'll be the first to be skeptical when so many claims seems to be based on the work and writings of one authority only. And to tell the truth, John Winter does seem to base a number of his own claims on one apparently hard to get source in Taylor, D.W., The Speed and Power of Ships, 1943. However in the end, since most of us aren't naval architects and can't verify the various claims by ourselves, we'll have to trust what our guts tell us. As for myself, I wonder where on earth the canoeing world would be without the likes of Winters.

Data:

The best overview of seakayaks is available as The ISKA Buyer's Directory. But if you want to know how the various kayaks perform you should look at the reviews conducted by Seakayaker Magazine. Each review contains a range of measured and simulated data for a kayak. The data on resistance is calculated using a program written by, you guessed, John Winters. The table below lists some of these data:

Physical characteristics Paddler weight 68kg Paddler weight 91kg Resistance with 113kg payload
Name Length Beam Waterline length Waterline beam Wetted surface Waterline length Waterline beam Wetted surface 2 knots 3 knots 4 knots 4.5 knots 5 knots 6 knots
Futura II 5.75 0.51 5.57 0.47 1.96 5.58 0.48 2.12 1.01 2.12 3.69 4.88 6.63 11.51
Epic Endurance 18 5.44 0.54 5.24 0.48 1.85 5.26 0.49 2.01 0.97 2.03 3.55 4.73 6.47 11.27
Nordkapp H2O 5.47 0.54 4.40 0.52 1.64 4.53 0.53 1.80 0.90 1.89 3.54 5.27 8.07 14.36
Seda Glider 5.82 0.54 5.21 0.49 1.89 5.26 0.51 2.06 0.98 2.06 3.60 4.76 6.53 11.52
KajakSport Viviane 5.81 0.55 5.26 0.53 1.81 5.33 0.54 1.99 0.96 2.01 3.53 4.80 7.19 13.38
Nelo FW 2000 5.63 0.44 5.40 0.36 1.69 5.45 0.38 1.89 0.92 1.93 3.40 4.62 6.12 10.08
KajakSport Artisan Mill. 5.56 0.56 4.67 0.53 1.69 4.73 0.54 1.85 0.92 1.92 3.54 5.11 7.76 13.81
Bergans Ally Folding 5.56 0.73 5.37 0.52 2.09 5.39 0.54 2.26 1.07 2.31 4.01 5.27 7.05 11.97
PH Bahiya 5.33 0.52 4.37 0.52 1.67 4.45 0.53 1.83 0.93 1.94 3.67 5.41 8.29 14.39
PH Quest 5.36 0.56 4.42 0.53 1.68 4.49 0.54 1.84 0.93 1.94 3.61 5.30 8.04 14.16
VCP Aquanaut 5.36 0.55 4.57 0.52 1.79 4.63 0.53 1.94 0.98 2.02 3.88 5.04 7.42 13.30
Current Design Andromeda 5.26 0.52 4.19 0.51 1.63 4.26 0.51 1.79 0.92 1.91 3.63 5.33 8.16 14.03
Point65N K1 R 5.10 0.56 4.41 0.50 1.67 4.48 0.52 1.83 0.93 1.92 3.61 5.07 7.57 13.13
Point65N K1 VR 5.08 0.56 4.56 0.52 1.76 4.60 0.53 1.91 0.96 1.99 3.66 5.13 7.56 13.25
Prijon Barracuda 5.08 0.56 4.78 0.52 1.77 4.81 0.53 1.93 0.95 2.05 3.69 5.06 7.29 14.45
Feathercraft K-1 Exp. 4.99 0.66 4.45 0.53 1.87 4.50 0.56 2.04 1.03 2.21 4.15 5.76 8.07 13.71
KajakSport Viking Ex. 4.98 0.55 4.45 0.53 1.71 4.51 0.54 1.86 0.93 1.95 3.59 5.20 7.84 13.81
VCP Avocet 4.92 0.56 4.15 0.52 1.63 4.22 0.53 1.78 0.92 1.95 3.79 5.37 8.13 13.10
Prijon Calabria 4.42 0.64 3.96 0.61 1.67 4.01 0.62 1.80 0.93 1.99 3.95 5.07 7.57 13.13

Lengths are given in meters(m) and areas in square meters(m2). Resistance is meassured in pounds(should be converted to Newtons). The columns can be sorted.

I admit that the listed kayaks were selected from a somewhat Eurocentric point of view, as I've only converted data for kayaks sold in Europe. I only had access to 12-15 reviews, so my choice was limited in the first place. I will however be happy to include other kayaks if someone would email the data (preferable converted to SI units). The powerful Google calculator is easy to use for converting between the units. Try for example to search for 19.75 sq ft in sq m.

Comments:

To get a feeling for how these calculated results compares with experimental results, read the article Hydrodynamic Drag of Small Sea Kayaks by John Winters(among others).

If you haven't seen numbers like this before, you might be surprised how small the difference in resistance is between the various kayaks. Then again, if you read the articles by John Winters, you propably expected these results.

In general kayaks with long waterlines have more wetted surface than kayaks with shorter waterlines. There are exceptions to this rule, as demonstrated by the Nelo FW 2000. Nelo manages to keep the wetted surface low by having a very low beam and a very rounded hull.

You gain a little from a long waterline, when the speed exceeds 4 knots. Below that speed you lose a little because of the extra wetted surface.

Weight matters.

Further readings:

The programs(Excel spreadsheets) used by Sea Kayaker Magazine to produce the results, are freely available at the download page of Mariner Kayaks.

Changelog
Changes Date
First release. 9-10-2003
Added data provided by Ravn Hamberg. 10-10-2003
Made the table sortable and added a few links. 19-10-2003
Fixed broken links and tidied up the CSS. 7-3-2004
Added Epic Endurance 18 and Nordkapp H2O 16-5-2004
Added P&H Bahiya 20-12-2004
Added Futura II 21-11-2005