
A Central Asian version of the Middle East’s hyper-saline Dead Sea - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190207-asias-dead-lake-where-boats-cant-float
======
gnicholas
As others have noted, the issue isn’t that boats can’t float — it’s that they
float too much and can become unstable.

The counter-intuitive title that makes this such juicy clickbait should be
changed to “a lake so salty that some boats capsize”. Much less interesting-
sounding, and rightly so.

~~~
pelagic_sky
Wouldn't a pontoon boat be able to float on top of the water? I mean, not
perfectly, but it should work.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Sure, any sort of catamaran would work fine.

~~~
Isamu
Or raft.

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dsfyu404ed
>Additionally, Karakul is so salty, it’s almost impossible to navigate a boat
on it without capsizing due to the vessel riding so far out of the water.

If people really wanted to use boats on the lake this would be a non-issue.
Sure a deep V hull might not be very stable but any low and wide flat bottomed
boat would be fine. Floating "on top" of the water so to speak is their
purpose. Humanity has been building boats that float high in the water (how
else do you deliver cargo where there isn't a dock) for thousands of years.[1]
We've gotten good enough at it that we can do it even in sub-ideal
conditions.[2]

The title is making much to do about nothing.

[1]
[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J_kPe7lgMkY/hqdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J_kPe7lgMkY/hqdefault.jpg)
(yes I know this isn't a the best example)

[2][https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/journalnow.com/...](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/journalnow.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/b5/1b5e5772-0b76-5f1d-8e8a-ac12d0e05c8f/59374c19a7a05.image.jpg?resize=400%2C294)

~~~
smileysteve
Your images indicate a confusion of deep-v vs displacement hulls; whereas what
the intention is a displacement vs planing hull.

Merchant vessels, and historic sailboats (pictured), even the WWII troop
carriers were _displacement_ hulls. Traditional navy sail ships carried
additional stones as ballast to create stability. Mono-hull sail boats use a
deep weighted keel to increase stability. On a displacement hull, the deep-vee
design increases stability when compared to a flat bottomed boat, and has more
space for ballast (at a low center of gravity)

Planing Hulls are more commonly used for recreation or speed, and are often
those those that have a "deep-v" bow. Planing hulls are designed to lift
mostly out of the water, while the deep-vee is across the beam and facilitates
cutting through rough water.

A deep-v displacement hull is great for crossing rough oceans, or keeping a
boat stable as cannons are firing, but not a great choice for fuel efficiency
or landing on beaches as a flat bottomed displacement boat.

A planing hull is great when you have a modern gasoline engine and plan to be
going > 15mph. A deep-vee allows that to come down through a wave, cut through
the wave and lift back up. [Salinity would have very little effect on the
stability of a planing hull as its stability is mostly provided by speed,
though, launching or sitting would be unstable with it's half "flat" hull]

About deadrise [https://www.tropicalboating.com/2010/04/deep-v-shallow-v-
or-...](https://www.tropicalboating.com/2010/04/deep-v-shallow-v-or-variable-
deadrise-hull)

The Vasa (Swedish Ship) is a great example of poor initial stability, center
of gravity understanding, and how a deeper keel (with more stones) OR removing
higher mounted cannons in briney water could have changed things.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)#Causes_of_sinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_\(ship\)#Causes_of_sinking)

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kardos
According to this paper [1], the salinity is 7.5-10 g/L, which is one quarter
to one third of ocean salinity. Wikipedia [2] also states the lake is
"brackish" \-- meaning less salty than seawater but more salty than
freshwaster -- but hardly a problem for boats. I guess the article is
mistaken?

The Dead Sea [3], meanwhile, has order 340 g/L of salt, roughly 10x ocean
salinity.

[1]
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003101821...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018210000672)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakul_(Tajikistan)#Lake_desc...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakul_\(Tajikistan\)#Lake_description)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea)

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m-i-l
Article mentions the Roof of the World Regatta. It provides a F--ebook link
which I'm not clicking on, but an internet search returns e.g.
[https://caravanistan.com/trip-reports/roof-world-
regatta/](https://caravanistan.com/trip-reports/roof-world-regatta/) . Short
summary - you can kite surf, and use an inflatable raft, at least, assuming
you can get there with your equipment.

~~~
0xffff2
>F--ebook

I'm no fan of Facebook, but don't you think this is a little childish?

~~~
avinium
[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/](https://www.penny-
arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/)

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benj111
"stone loach, a freshwater fish that can live on sandy-bottom lakes"

So what's the technical difference between fresh and salt water fish if
freshwater fish can happily live in very salty water?

Edit: Digging just raises further questions. The Stone Loach is apparently
European, and no mention of tolerating salt water is mentioned
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_loach](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_loach)

~~~
pvaldes
All I can say is that Loaches hate salt in water (as many other scaleless
related fishes). Maybe is another species.

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caravanistan
Just came here since I saw my name mentioned in the thread. Dave Stamboulis,
whoever he is, should be banned from media.

Karakul is not incredibly salty (there are other very salty lakes in Central
Asia, though).

It was not christened Lake Victoria by the British (that's Lake Zorkul). I
corrected it on Wikipedia but it's still in the (really bad) Bradt Guide to
Tajikistan.

The lake is not home to the ROTW regatta: last time it was held was in 2018
and there are no plans of it returning.

Karakul was never "an inhabited Central Asian crossroads."

"...its recent status as part of the Tajik National Park ensures that it will
be on the intrepid travel list of many for years to come." Not sure what that
even means.

Finally, Karakul does not look like a Greek island. At all!

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huebomont
Isn't it so salty that they float too MUCH?

~~~
arkades
A certain amount of the boat has to sink in order to stay level. If the bottom
of the boat doesn't sink, it's balancing on a knife's edge - and topples over.

~~~
Diederich
Right; I suspect a raft or any other flat bottomed boat would be fine.

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mrfusion
If there’s no other marine life that fish species would have nothing eat. Am I
right?

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mcguire
" _Additionally, Karakul is so salty, it’s almost impossible to navigate a
boat on it without capsizing due to the vessel riding so far out of the
water._ "

Tl:dr: additional salt makes them float too well.

~~~
jandrese
It increases the density of the water. On the plus side if you capsize it's
much easier to keep your head above water.

~~~
shaki-dora
But then again, one or two large gulps of water may kill you.

~~~
coldacid
That's if you land face first into the water. If you land any other way, your
face will probably stay dry.

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cimmanom
So add lots of ballast?

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Shorel
Just use a flatboat.

~~~
naz
Or a catamaran

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
You think those puppies would just fly if their nearly entirely out of the
water and just skimming along.

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IWeldMelons
Karakul means "Black Lake" in most of the local languages, except ironically,
Tajik, although it is located in Tajikistan.

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lenticular
The Pamirs are so beautiful. Definitely near the top of my list of places to
go once that region calms down.

~~~
kweks
The region is fine. Thousands of people car / motorcycle / bicycle / walk
through all the stans every year without issue. It is more and more accessible
for tourists with infrastructure ..

Don't believe everything you read on a government "do not travel" list. Heck,
you can even pop across the tadjik border and stay in Afghanistan safely.

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gruez
It's strange that despite "boat" being in the title, it's only mentioned once
in the article.

tl;dr for people wondering why:

>Karakul is so salty, it’s almost impossible to navigate a boat on it without
capsizing due to the vessel riding so far out of the water.

~~~
ignaloidas
I think the title is also misleading, because the boats float, just too well.

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mips_avatar
Sounds like a cool place to stand up paddle-board.

