[Paddlewise] Anthropometric measures (more on Greenland stuff)

From: Julio MacWilliams <juliom_at_cisco.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 13:54:26 -0700 (PDT)
John Winters pointed out that by following the anthropometric measurements
traditional of Greenland paddles, he would come up with a paddle that
would be too long.

A height of 6.5 feet is very unusual among the Inuit people, not just
Greenland. They are more or less in the same height range, and gave
the length of the Greenland paddle according to their height.

But no one has ever found out whether that relation of paddle to paddler's
height is linear, hyperbolic, or maybe a trigonometric relation. For
the same reason that the defined length for John's paddle is too long,
the same rule applied to a very short person would result in too short
a Greenland paddle.

Now that sea kayaking is a worldwide sport, it would be nice to find
new rules for ideal Greenland paddle length base on other paramemeters.
I would probably include boat length and beam in the formula, and
more importantly the distance between the shoulders.

In the mean time I recommend that new comers to Greenland style paddling
do what most do --build many paddles and when you find the best one
go ahead and give it a pretty finish.

- Julio
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Received on Tue Jul 21 1998 - 13:55:09 PDT

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