Seat height and rolling --

[Pierre LaPaddelle]

Hey folks -- lots of questions/comments lately on rolling technique, and also on outfitting (knee placement. . .)

Here's a new(?) question: How does the height of the saddle affect one's ability to roll -- especially in an OC-1?

Thanks!

Rick

[Smurfwarrior]

The higher you are, the less wide your knees can be and therefor the less leverage you can apply to the onside knee. With a higher saddle I think its harder to get the outfitting to hook high enough on the thigh to keep the butt from rising off the saddle. Thats just my humble opinion based on my playing around with OC2 and C1 saddle heights and seeing how it effects my roll and stuff.

[hammerhead]

I asked a similar question relating to a closed boat, see - Seat height? from Aug 27,2011. That input should help. I have found lower to be better as long as I'm comfortable. My onside knee still moves some, but not as bad. Haven't been able to stop it from moving completely. Hope this helps! Peace...

[Pierre LaPaddelle]

Thanks, HH and Smurf. Your answers are sensible, and no surprise.

I asked the question after reading a post in the GDI FaceBook page:

The post-er mentioned trying a saddle which was 9.5" tall, ". . . which kept my hip bones at the height I needed for easy rolling."

I wondered if I had missed an important issue: "position of hip bones (???)" ie. height of the torso relative to the depth of the boat (height of gunn'ls)

It occurred to me that being higher in the saddle of a deep boat (eg. L'Edge or Option) might allow the torso to reach further around the gunn'l when positioning for the roll (???)

Otherwise, I'll go with whatever's comfortable for my little legs.

Rick

[Kelly-Rand]

I've raised the saddle in my decked boats 2", 6 or less to 8 inches and haven't noticed any difference in the ability to roll. I'm wedged into my cockpits pretty well though being 6'4".

[mahyongg]

The thought of a boat being easier to roll with a lower saddle apparently came from looking at the very last stage of the roll, the end, which is the only time during the dynamic rolling process where a lower saddle actually lowers your center of gravity and nay be helpful to "finish it". But it may actually be less important than what people think. I would say, it can also not be generalized for every boat that a lower/higher saddle makes it roll better but is a factor of the boat's longitudinal rolling axis during the process (does it shift, is the "rolling lever" round or elliptic, at which moment do the chines apply and release pressure to which part of helping/hindering the roll.

Oh my, I guess it's time to draw up some diagrams. I would also be interested if boat designers actually do design this stuff into their boats? It certainly feels like that in the Ion which rolls crazy simple..

[Bob P]

I sit so low in my boat that my range of motion (side-to-side) is somewhat limited. It's a good thing that I never fall over.

[mahyongg]

Yeah, Bob.. that sounds like it really is good since rolling could be impossible.. unless your boat is a quake or C1 ;D

If you picture the rolling motion of the upper body vs. the boat, the point where you "fold" over the gunwales indeed does make a difference.. physical, for the application of force, the mechanics of your upper body placement vs. your legs are important (angle front to back, and up/down, as well as attachment point to the boat which is most times best just at your hip bone..