Setting The Scene
Picture this: A breezeless morning as we walk our dragon boat to the water’s edge. The water is like glass – no wind – no current (the salt water tide coming in and freshwater river flow going out must be matched). The conditions look perfect for paddling. Almost too perfect. (ominous music inserted here)
We pass a couple of outriggers coming off the water after an early morning session. I say to them something along the lines of “Looks like a great day to paddle”. Their reply surprised me: “It was horrible! The water is hard as. It’s DEAD WATER!”
Dead water? I was confused. Seemed rather dramatic. Anyway we did our warmup, launched the boat and off we went. Within 10 strokes it began to feel like only half the boat was paddling or we were in shallow water or dragging a sea anchor or something under the boat was holding us back. (more ominous music inserted here)
I called for more pressure on the blades and the boat began to move more freely (lazy buggers). Then the brakes went on again and I could see the side glances (some accusatory) from the other paddlers as they tried to figure out what was going on.
Then the comment from the outriggers come to mind – Dead Water. There’s something weird with the water today but what could it be? So after the session, I went home and researched this so-called “Dead Water”.
Well, my friends, it is actually a thing. It may be rare where we paddle but if the conditions are just right, it can happen.
Let’s find out what this “Dead Water” is all about….
Dead water (also known as dødvann in Norwegian) is a nautical phenomenon where a vessel experiences a sudden, dramatic increase in drag and loss of speed — sometimes coming almost to a standstill — with no obvious surface waves or wind to explain it.
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