Re: [Paddlewise] Different paddles, different stro

On Thu, Jul 23, 1998 at 05:34:29PM -0400, Michael Neverdosky wrote:
> rsk_at_gsp.org wrote:
> > > 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.

Then perhaps you shouldn't make accusatory claims without the evidence
to back them up.  (I *do* save every message, by the way.)

> 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??

The quote you are misremembering is

	"[...] Many of the innovations in boating have come
	from racing: in particular, the duffek stroke, squirt boating, and
	the sweeping changes in PFD design over the past couple of years all
	came from slalom racing."

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

I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed to find that you cannot
be trusted to keep your word.

> > > 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.

That's true.  But it's not the point under contention.  You
asserted that it "is not training and practicing".  It quite
clearly *is* "training and practicing", even though in some
cases it may be sloppy training and practicing.

> 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?

Because that's what it takes to get good enough to compete at that
level, let alone medal.  I don't see how this comment is in any
way relevant to the discussion.

> > 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.

I have made no such statements.  Your claim that I have done so is false.

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

Of course that's what it says.  Note that it does NOT say that
these are the *only* techniques that they teach.  That's a deliberate
omission on my part, because I have been to many of these places
and am well aware that they also teach certain techniques that
have come from other parts of the sport (e.g. rodeo).

---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
rsk_at_gsp.org
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