All this talk about paddle efficiency. . . Here's something I've noticed: I use several paddling styles, strokes, positions depending on the conditions. Paddling downstream after several hours on the water I use a different stroke/cadence than when I paddle heavy chop, or windy conditions, or against the current. Most of the time, I paddle at about 50% to 60% capacity. I can keep this up and maintain good form for several hours. If I need speed, I can work at 80% capacity, but only for maybe five minutes. Much more of this sort of pace and my form goes to pieces on me. A powerful, upright stroke is fine for short distances, but I find myself falling into a relaxed cadence that carrys the paddle (Wind Swift 230 cm) fairly low. From this "relaxed" stroke it's possible to make a longer reach, put more rotation in the torso and so increase the length of stroke. It's possible to put much more effort against the purchase of the blade. Racers do all these things to increase speed and efficiency. But I'm not racing. I'm just out to have a nice relaxing paddle. . . so I settle into a relaxed cadence. In terms of "efficiency" I find the more relaxed cadence is a more "efficient" style that allows me to paddle the long stretches day in and day out. ______________________________ George Bergeron, Secretary '99 Oswego Heritage Council http://www.europa.com/~heritage/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:50 PDT