Rules (ICF?) set minimum boat weights - why?
I did once believe that minimum boat weights were an attempt to ensure that there was sufficient structural strength to avoid a boat breaking up on the water, really?
If this is the case then there out to be many more rules about boat construction that are required as materials (types of), mode of construction, quality of construction and potential after-sale modifications all have a bigger impact of boat integrity than just the weight of the materials used.
It's probably possible to make a K1 boat at about 5kg (total guess) and then spread 4kg of resin on the inside to make the weight which of course would add nothing to boat strength.
So I can't see this as a reason that offers a sensible solution; maybe it's me being dim (most likely).
If it's an attempt to bring some 'weight equality' then it's even more of a total nonsense.
If that were the case then we'd have to have a handicapping system (a la horse racing).
At the end of the day there is so much variation in other kit & paddle weight etc and if you hydrate prior to a run you probably take on 300-500 g (otherwise you're not hydrating are you?).
Your kit can be bone dry or wet as well, so again this isn't really solving or controlling the major variations of weight.
At 100kg+, I'd love to see some form of 'levelling the playing field' (bad metaphor) in our sport but it isn't possible for our internal competition.
There's more to be gained in bring equality by being more 'controlling' on boat dimensions from Div 3 upwards and such like.
This is where someone replies with a killer reason about boat weights that I never knew...
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)