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terminolgy
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Terminology
- downwind** Waves that you are able to surf on open water with a fast vehicle (long, narrow SUP, OC, surfski, hydrofoil SUP) typically go in the similar direction to your current wind. If you have wind waves and ocean swell traveling in the same basic direction then the wind waves can be surfed and assist a boat in reaching enough speed to surf ocean swell which otherwise might be going too fast to catch. If you are going for a paddle to catch wind driven waves, you are going “downwind”. ie you are going downwinding, or going on a downwinder.
- There are numerous locales around the world where either prevailing or occasional winds create excellent opportunites to catch wind waves over extended stretches of water. Local current (from tide or river flow) strength and direction factors into the character of the downwinding in each local with some of the more unusual ones found on rivers (the Columbia Gorge ) or at strong tidal current rips (Ambleside, Deception Pass)
- SS - surfski, OC - outrigger canoe
- Multiples
- SS1, SS2 - single, double surfskis
- OC1 - single paddler canoe, OC2, OC3, OC4, OC6 likewise indicating number of seats built in these canoes for paddlers
- V1 - “Va'a” Tahitian style outrigger single paddler canoe, rudderless
- C1, C2, C4 - single, double, 4 person canoes - this can be Olympic style canoes (paddled kneeling on one knee) or marathon racing canoes w/ exception of the 4 person boat which exists primarily in an Olympic style.
- K1, K2, K4 - sprint kayaks
- Dragon Boat - 8 to 20 person canoe with two columns of paddlers sitting side by side. You typically only paddle on one side, in contrast to OCs where you regularly swap sides with your paddle and paddle on each side in turn.
- HPK - high performance kayak eg surfski, SK - sea kayak, FSK - fast sea kayak etc. these are designations that were developed to provide some uniformity of boat speed classification for racing - based on width and length of boats. SoundRowers.org Classification Reference
- ama - Polynesian term for the outrigger float on the left of an OC or V1
- iako - Hawaiian term for a pole (2 per canoe) that connects an ama to an outrigger canoe (Polynesian term is “aka”)
- huli - term commonly used by OCers to mean falling in the water which is typically a little more dramatic in an OC because the OCer almost always falls in on their right side with the ama on the left flipping to the right side also. Huli is also becoming more common in usage with other types of boats to also refer to falling in the water.
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