> was surprised at how much heavier my new choice of wood was-Yellow ceder. > Beautiful straight grain stuff and stronger that the red ceder. Because the > yellow ceder is stronger I could make the overall paddle more delicate. But > the weight is still noticeable. A had a paddle made with douglas fir. It was a good muscle builder to paddle with it. The one is use primarily now is made out of a redwood 2x4, encapsulated in fiberglass and with epoxy tips. It is very light, and definitely lighter than any $300+ fiberglass paddles that I have seen in stores. > 2 These wooden paddles are very buoyant. With a normal paddling cadence, > I'm guessing, about 75% of the time a third of the paddle is in the water. > This part in the water is floating pushing upward. What are the dynamics > here-does it tie in with throw weight? With a good Greenland stroke, the blades enter the water at negative angles and pull down. Look at it like an inverted wing. That should more than compensate for any buoyancy. The buoyancy of the Greenland paddle makes it easy to make a static brace, the one in which you put the paddle behind your neck and lay face up on the water to rest and watch the birdies. > One other observation that I found > interesting is that women far out number men in their acceptance and use of > this paddle I'm sure they are not just trying to please me, I'm 83 and > very wrinkled. They are very naturally graceful and the body / kayak > movements are not the twitchy spastic motions used with a europaddle. Women have a natural tendency to use more their stronger hips, and less their arms. That means that women have a natural tendency to make very good and efficient Greenland strokes. For men it is a skill that has to be learned. - Julio *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jul 17 1998 - 15:38:44 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:58 PDT