Re: [Paddlewise] Different paddles, different stro

rsk_at_gsp.org wrote:

> I am a slalom and downriver racer.
> 
> > Did you not make a statement that nearly every important inovation of
> > recent years came from slalom racing?
> 
> I made no such statement.  If you believe I did, I invite you to go
> back through past messages, find it, and quote it verbatim.  If you
> can do so, I will retract this statement.  Otherwise...

I don't save every message.
Somebody have the one from a few back where all sorts of things like
paddles, life jackets and squirt boats are atributed to slalom racing??

> > If I am wrong of either of these points then I appologize.
> 
>  ...I await your apology.

Keep waiting.

> > But just running rivers is not training and practicing.
> 
> It's not?  Please explain.  I think it's excellent training and
> practice, and in fact, it's *all* the training and practice that
> a great many paddlers ever do.  It certainly seems to fulfill
> this function, as most of them get better as time passes.

Simply running the river over and over with sloppy techique only
makes that slpooy technique permanent.

Why is it that every (nearly every, but I have never heard of an
exception)
olympic gold medal winner has worked with a coach for a long time?

> > I didn't notice that this was a 'whitewater' list.
> > Maybe that is another  bias I need to keep in mind.
> 
> I have made no claim that it is so.  Its charter specifies paddling,
> but neither restricts it to {whitewater, flatwater, etc.] nor rules
> any of them out.

But you make major statements that completely leave out the possibility
that people in different paddling areas than yours might even exist.
 
> > Are you saying that there is no technique that was deveolped by nonracers
> > that is being taught and is good? That IS your implication.
> 
> Again: I do NOT imply.  You have made that statement up out of thin
> air and falsely attributed to me.  For the record, I have never said
> any such thing.

Now this one I DO have;
"I didn't specify equipment: I specified technique.  And while I don't
know what your background is, I can tell you that every whitewater
instruction program I'm familiar with (e.g. Zoar, NOC, Riversport,
Four Corners, etc.) teaches techniques developed by racers, *not*
because they're racing techniques, but because they're optimal
and because they work.

---Rsk"

If that doesn't say that they are teaching technique from racers then 
we are speaking far different versions of english.

Again, lots of good stuff (equipment and information) come out of racing
but that is not the only source of good information.

michael

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