Laurie wrote; >Hi fellow paddlers, > I can't believe the hipe about paddles that is going >on. Last year I attended a session on a beach where one of the countries top >Marathon coaches was talking about paddling efficiently. One thing he said >was that the paddle does not actually move through the water, it is very >much like having a long series of posts set in concrete under the water - >you reach forward with your left hand and pull yourself and kayak forward, >then reach forward with the right hand and pull forward again. > >If he is right, and next time you are out paddling along at a reasonable >speed put your paddle in next to a stationary floating object - you will see >that it does barely move more than a inch or so. So if he is right, then it >logically follows that the shape is irrelevant - all you need is some area >of blade that will not move through the water. Maybe a couple of table >tennis bats on the end of a piece of broom handle would be just as good as >half the fancy paddles out there. (SNIP) He is wrong. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Jul 22 1998 - 04:31:45 PDT
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