Re: [Paddlewise] Greenland paddles

>>  Another puzzle. The Greenland stroke is
>> wide (well away from the side of the boat) as such does it not tend to
>> cause more turning and thus waste energy that would be spent on propulsion
>> forward?
>
>The Greenland paddle flies through the water, the lift component that
>is used to push the boat forward is more important than the side
>component used by the drag of the blade alone.
>
>You can try to paddle with a 2x4 piece of lumber, which effectively is
>a Greeland paddle that does not have the foil shape yet. That experiment
>should convince you of that the key to Greenland paddling is the foil shape.
>
>A good scientific way to improve Greenland paddling would probably be
>to experiment with NACA foils, and decreasing angles of attack towards
>the ends, like airplane propelers. Maybe one could get to the most
>efficient Greenland paddle for Greenland racing, if there ever is 
>that discipline.
>
>- Julio (having a lot of fun with this discussion :-) )
>



OK yall have worn me down, I just can't paddle with a paddle that the
blades are crooked, so I paddle with unfeathered paddles buuuuuttt the wind
was a bear so I went to but a little dipper but at $180 I freaked and
yanked a 2x4 out of the back of my pickemup truck pulled out my 8" pocket
knife ( I left the small one at home) and wittled me a paddle. Because the
2x4 is 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 I could not make a blade bigger than that with out
some glue and all I had in da truck was 16 penny nails. I don't know if
them greenlanders had 2x4's up there but we do down here and they make good
paddles. They help with shoulder problems, wrist problems, back problems,
money problems and coordination problems. So what do yall's paddle do for you?

Dana
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