When Watersports Become Dangerous | Science of Stupid: Ridiculous Fails

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Some things just don't go together-- oil and water, gas and matches, tequila and fireworks. So you can imagine my concern when I heard about a combination of kayaking and surfing.

Then I saw this and thought perhaps I'm worrying about nothing. And then I saw this and realized I was right the first time.

All right. If we're going to go treating a kayak like a surfboard, we'd better prep on center of buoyancy and hydrodynamic drag. To remain stable, a kayaker keeps the center of mass directly over the kayak center of buoyancy, which is in the middle of its submerged volume. Traveling out to sea, it helps to keep the kayak perpendicular to the waves, because turning sideways can mean more hydrodynamic drag and a salty roll.

When catching a wave, you must ensure the nose doesn't dig into the water; otherwise, the resulting increase in hydrodynamic drag could produce a turning effect. Waves can travel hundreds of miles, relentlessly building speed and power before smashing into your kayak, but we should be OK-- providing we remember the rules.

Hold on a minute, should we be perpendicular to the wave or parallel to it? Yes, it was perpendicular. By hitting the wave almost parallel he presents a large surface area, which leads to enough hydrodynamic drag to flip the kayak.

We are out and ready to catch a wave. I'm videoing this just in case things don't go well. That's a little negative. Confident, confident. But well-founded. Good start, but here the nose digs in, slows down, and our friends enjoy the benefits of the turning effect.

Now these guys have got it nice and perpendicular, minimal drag. Like a knife through salty butter.

NARRATOR: Maybe it's safer to avoid all that nasty drag and head out of the surf to calm open sea. There it is. There it is.

NARRATOR: Oh, look-- a delightful little fish.

2015 AP Calculus 2c | AP Calculus AB solved exams | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

How Engines Work - (See Through Engine in Slow Motion) - Smarter Every Day 166

View All

Blockchain 101 - Part 2 - Public / Private Keys and Signing

Welcome back. Last time we looked at a blockchain and how it works, particularly in the financial context. We have these transactions that we were creating that move money from one person to another. But there’s a big problem with this, and that is what’s…

LEVELS of INCOME (Explained)

People like to look at income from a narrow perspective: lower class, less than you make; middle class, however much your current salary is; upper class, substantially more than you make. But having started at the bottom and crawling our way toward the to…

What's Changed In The American Economy? | Montana On The Rise

[Applause] [Music] Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Um, I would like to talk a little bit about the changes in America that have occurred over the last two and a half years. Obviously, everybody’s gone through this pandemic, but it’s what it’s done t…