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Does anyone do these races? I've been looking at races that would be good. According to Google it's 12 miles from St Donats in the Vale of Glamorgan to a beach near Porlock in Devon, and Google also reckons it's 2h25 by road. So depending on tides and how good you were at kayaking, it would be interesting.
Would need to be pretty confident and competent to paddle 12 miles in a straight line across the Bristol Channel! Which would give a small market for a race.
Phew. Thought someone was about to run me over 😳
Do people do this?
Surely it depends on how brave and reckless the driver is, the car, and traffic conditions.
Even if driving normally, pretty sure it's illegal to race on the road. Not sure how it applies when the opponent isn't on the road though.
to paddle 12 miles in a straight line
it wouldn’t be a straight line, or 12 miles…
You would not be able to paddle straight across as the tide will be pulling you sideways.
If you time it right you could neutralize the impact of the tides
Probably not as it would take you longer to paddle across than the time of slack water.
As above that's not a novice trip. Bristol channel is fairly serious as it has a big tidal range and some big boats.
Probably not as it would take you longer to paddle across than the time of slack water
If it takes 2 hours to cross and you set off an hour before high (or low) the flows should neutralize each other out. See how folks swim across the channel
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/160akik/gps_map_of_a_swimmer_crossing_the_english_channel/
I was part of a group that paddled to Lundy island years ago.
Must have taken us 6.5 hours I think, but yes, it's a bit like clay pigeon shooting. You don't aim directly at the target.
We (I say we, but I did bugger all in planning the navigation) had to aim to completely miss the island so that the tide direction would cancel it out and we'd be on course.
We couldn't actually see land either way for a while on the water so it's not always as simple as just heading for a point.
A sea kayak would do something like 3 to 4 Knts.
So it would take 3 to 4 hrs without taking into account the tidal effects. Even on a flat calm day it would take longer after you have calculated the tidal sffect and worked out the vector to paddle on.
Any wind and sea state may increase the time.
As others have said it would be a commiting trip with large ships to avoid.
Why would you want to race a car in a kayak anyway?
You’d need to be a fairly competent paddler is a surf ski or fast sea kayak to achieve that kind of pace - I used to manage 10km/hr in my racing kayak on flat water and I can just about reach 8km/hr in my sea kayak on a good day. Not impossible, but it needs the right kit and an experienced paddler.
it’s a bit like clay pigeon shooting. You don’t aim directly at the target.
Ah, that's why I was so rubbish at it...
Kayak seems to be winning this race
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Thanks 😊