John Winters wrote: [snip] >The big question is, does the stroke control paddle choice >or does the paddle choice control stroke? > To a large extent, if we will let it, paddle choice can control stroke. A lot of work has shown that animals automatically shift gaits to whatever is most efficient at the desired speed (when maximum speed is not necessary), and I think we've all noticed how difficult it is to walk very fast without at least a few running steps. Of course paddling isn't as natural as walking/running (no flames please!) so the appropriate changes don't force themselves upon us. One time I temporarily switched paddles with someone who had a much longer paddle than mine, with an equally large blade, and I found that besides slowing down my stroke I needed to shift to a sliding more-or-less-Greenland-type stroke to be comfortable with the long paddle. Clearly a novice paddler won't know how to find a better stroke for a given paddle, but experienced paddlers should, if they pay attention to how the paddle-body combination is working, be able to shift to something appropriate. I apologize for how wooly this sounds. Bruce Winterbon bwinterb_at_intranet.ca http://intranet.ca:80/~bwinterb All states have laws to protect the rich from the poor. Few attempt the more difficult task of protecting the poor from the rich. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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