"...the angular acceleration is determined by the moment arm between the (unopposed) force of the wind and the center of mass." But only because of the inertia of the center of mass. Technical arguments should not be settled democratically, but I am with Camper on this.
Learning to board sail taught me more about sailing (and flying) than text books and decades in dinghies and yachts. Paddling canoes across the wind taught me how to balance the windage of my body against the windage of the hull to maintain a heading if not a course. For lack of a skeg you must inevitably come into the wind to make your destination. I am now thinking I should try to figure out how to install a deployable skeg on my Grumman and BlueHole. Those boats should date me.
However none of this explains how my earlier contribution morphed to a sans serif font in red.
This is getting very technical, maybe it should go in the post with all the shuttle pics, it might fit better. Could we just say the increased lateral forces on the skeg help equalize the torque forces to make it run straighter? That is a whole lot shorter.
Made my first hockey puck last night working on a paddle, I knew better but I think I spaced out for a minute while measuring epoxy. Unfortunately my wife wasn't too imressed and just rolled her eyes at me. I'd give it to my son but he is bound to throw it into or through something.
LOL! Give it to him--he might develop into a major league pitcher and he can supply you with lots of CLC kits to build!
To be candid, the discussion has been interesting to me and I've learned quite a bit from it.
First, there is a physical explanation to weathercocking or leecocking, and it satisfies my curiousity to know it. I think I do, finally, but I have repeatedly discovered that I had misconceptions about it, with Laszlo's and Google's help. I may still have more to learn.
I feel that understanding that cause and effect relation not only satisfies the curiousity, but it makes us better builders and paddlers because it allows us to deal more intelligently with any situation that might arise in designing mods or using the boat.
Being a quarter back would be more like it, he can take down his 5yr sister and he only weighs 25lbs. The kid is a riot, one of the most enteraining kids I know says "kyak" all the time, smart kid knows what is good for him.
The fam went out with me to watch me paddle a round for a bit, of course after I found out my son jumped on my skeg and broke it in half. Half a skeg is not as efficent as a full skeg, but still worked for th most part. He tried to jump off the dock and onto the kayak when mom turned her back. Luckily mom grabbed him. I just would've ended upside down in the water.
I'm a technical person too, I end up fixing a lot of crap for people and when I try to explain how it works and why it broke and how I fixed it they just look bored and or dumb. I'm going to have to read this posting many more times to understand it all though.