Re: [Paddlewise] Leg Power

Yes, that was me and I have a couple things to add.  No matter how tight
your cockpit fitting is, you can always gain efficiency by pushing with the
onside leg.  You body, clothing and pads around the seat are all
compressible and flexible to some degree.  If you rely on the friction and
compression from these alone, you will spend a signifigant amount of energy
compressing the neoprene of your wetsuit or what have you with every
stroke.  The connection of your torso to the boat through your legs is as
stiff as the bones in your leg.  As far as loosening the fitting in your
sea kayak, I wouldn't recommend it.  You can gain a significant amount just
by using the legs at all. That extra 5% is not worth compromising your roll.

Daniel 

At 07:41 PM 6/29/99 -0700, Matt Broze wrote:
>I agree with this but Daniel Key said it?
>Matt Broze
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kirk Olsen <kolsen_at_imagelan.com>
>To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net>; Michael
>Daly <michaeldaly_at_home.com>
>Date: Monday, June 28, 1999 8:19 AM
>Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Leg Power (was an apology to Jim et. al. - )
>
>
>>On Sat, 26 Jun 1999, Michael Daly wrote:
>>
>>> (I believe this is quoting matt broze)
>>> > Every flatwater kayaker I have seen pushes with the onside leg.  That
>is,
>>> > they drive with the leg that is on the same side as the stroke.
>>>
>>> Does this mean that you have to "loosen up" the fitting of your sea
>>> kayak to use the leg power effectively?   I don't get the leg push, to
>>> be honest.
>>
>>I tried using the offside leg push this past weekend when I was out on my
>>surf ski, it's a whole lot easier to figure out what your legs do when
>>you can watch them.
>>
>>I get completely mixed up trying to push with the offside leg.
>>I don't feel that I can decently "trigger" my stroke unless I can push
>>on the side I'm paddling on.  Pushing with my onside leg keeps my hips
>>solidly in place as I rotate my torso.
>>
>>I find I don't have a whole lot of lower body motion during a stroke, my
>>onside knee may drop an inch during the leg push and my hips only rotate
>>a small amount.  I do think I push down slightly on the opposite side of
>the
>>boat during the stroke in order to keep the boat level - I've almost
>>eliminated side to side tipping of the boat while paddling a straight line.


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