I've found that the most powerful part of the stroke is the beginning of it. As Brent Reitz puts it, "the plant", spear the paddle into the water so that the whole blade is submerged _before_ you do any pulling on the paddle. Then pull 'til the hand is next to your hip and slide the blade, sideways, out of the water. This results in a moderately short stroke, and the paddle comes out of the water sideways/edgeways not lifting water on the flat of the blade. I've found that if I pull really hard with lots of force my stroke makes more noise and more vortices are generated and lots of energy is used up, but I don't go any faster. The highest boat speed is when form is close to perfect, force is moderate and stroke rate is high. Pulling too hard is a waste of energy. You should be able to tell by the sound of the stroke. If it starts to sound loud, don't pull so hard. Fair winds and happy bytes, -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net Go Sea Kayaking!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dictated on a Mac G4 Cube using MacSpeech iListen ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave you hit it right on the head with your discription. I have found that the paddle needs to be placed just "so" before entering the water. There should be a certain pattern to the sound of the blade slicing into the water. LOUD sounds are bad. To much wasted effort. A pop from the plade leaving the water does not make me go faster and seem to increase effort. The paddle sounds are more slicing than splashing or popping. Your discription was right on...... It took a GPS to figure this out. I got a GPS instead of knotmeter since I can use the GPS for other things. I ended up getting a shorter paddle as a result of my "tests." I think it will allow me to get a bit extra speed for the same effort. Dan McCarty *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
_before_ you do any pulling on the paddle. Then pull 'til the hand is next to your hip I've found that if I pull really hard with lots of force Pulling too hard is a waste of energy. Can I assume that you are also pushing with the opposite arm, even though you don't state it? I'm just starting my second year, but I've read that you get the best form and power when you "push", not when you "pull". Or, maybe it's when they work together. In any event, I've struggled with that, because it's a lot more natural for me to pull than push. But, I've been trying to acquire a comfortable, almost second nature, push, rather then trying to muscle my way through the water with only a pull. Aside from the fact that push versus pull is only one of many factors related to form, am I headed in the right direction? Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
re: push - pull I like to focus on the push part because you can relax your grip to pretty much zero grip and move the fingers a bit to get ready for the next pull soas for it to put pressure evenly on the fingers and not cause blisters. Why not use gloves? I've always found it easier to work without gloves. When at an engineering school demonstration some IE's were demonstrating how grip strength goes down when you have a glove on. Their research showed that you will be using about 30% more hand energy when you wear gloves. I know this for a fact, because I've done alot of shoveling and other laborious tasks. So why do some people have to wear gloves anytime they use hand tools or they will get painfull blisters? * note: this is applicable to paddling... I'm guessing it's because they haven't needed to develope strength in the ring and little fingers. It's also important that you're comfortable with the amount of energy you are exerting with your hands. Think of a wt lifter doing a world record bench press. I can guarentee that if the lift is completed, that the pressure will have been applied with the most wt focussed at the one and same pt on the palm that he would use each and everytime he does a heavy lift. Now take the wt down to something he can pump all day, like paddling, and the lifter will easily be able to apply a greater amount of power from different areas of the hand/palm. In the same way, someone with weak ring and little fingers will, when the dominant 1st and 2nd fingers are sore, apply pressure with one and only one area of the ring and little finger. And so the weak fingered amongst us will say, "You can't tell me I'm not using my whole hand, 'cause I have blisters on every finger." But they're wrong. They're not using their whole hand and developing little finger strength would allow them to work without gloves at a 30% energy savings. Dr Glove, the Claw, Jack Handy, From Hands End, just ranting away here... -- Mike McNally mmcnally3_at_prodigy.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
on 2/1/01 9:00 AM, Mike McNally at mmcnally3_at_PRODIGY.NET wrote: Snip > and not cause blisters. Why not use gloves? I've always found > it easier to work without gloves. When at an engineering school > demonstration some IE's were demonstrating how grip strength goes > down when you have a glove on. Their research showed that you > will be using about 30% more hand energy when you wear gloves. I > know this for a fact, because I've done alot of shoveling and other > laborious tasks. Snip Mike, I always use neoprene gloves when kayaking and have for years. I also put "Sticky Wax" on the paddle shaft. My research shows that this combination is 30% more efficient than paddling bare handed. :) Rex (This farm boy from Montana has also done a lot of shoveling and other laborious tasks.) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 1/31/01 7:12:53 PM, Rick.Sylvia_at_ferginc.com writes: << Can I assume that you are also pushing with the opposite arm, even though you don't state it? I'm just starting my second year, but I've read that you get the best form and power when you "push", not when you "pull". Or, maybe it's when they work together. In any event, I've struggled with that, because it's a lot more natural for me to pull than push. But, I've been trying to acquire a comfortable, almost second nature, push, rather then trying to muscle my way through the water with only a pull. Aside from the fact that push versus pull is only one of many factors related to form, am I headed in the right direction? >> One BCU coach got me to think of pushing with the offside arm while the one-side arm stayed rigid. This forces the paddle out away from the boat during the stroke, reducing the chance of lifting water at the exit. Also it's harder to push too hard and it seems to increase the cadence and speed while the perceived effort remains the same. I would guess that you had a very good teacher, that taught you so much about forward stroke technique. Jed *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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