[Paddlewise] Forward paddling, paddle length and cocked wrists

G'Day Paddlewise,

	Heres a short report and a couple of questions,

	Friday evening saw me, with a freshly gelcoated kayak, listening to a
fearful deep booming every ten seconds from Shell Harbour beach. White faced
I set up the tent - were we really going to be trained in five foot surf?
Come Saturday, spot on 09:00, nobody turned up!! Thank heavens - the date
must have been wrong! By now the surf had dropped a bit so I pretended to be
disappointed and walked a mile in each direction. No sign of anyone, so
settled
down to odd jobs on the boat.

	As the third of four dolphin decals was pasted to within half a millimeter
of its correct position, came the amused comment "Hi are you a scientist
then" It was Margot, who may have been impressed at my efforts to be
accurate
with the dolphin! Anyway she told me people were arriving late and the topic
was forward paddling with Lynda Lehman, an Olympic kayaker and instructor of
many years experience. No trying to stay upright in the surf all day, but a
ten minute paddle in the harbour while our efforts were recorded on video.
This may have been the most instructive ten minutes of my kayaking life.

	We spent the day in a question and answer session on just one topic -
forward paddling - followed by an analysis from the video of our various
techniques. As a novice I can't and should not try to do justice to our
instructor's lesson, except that some long held beliefs were dispelled. Most
of the failings in technique were ones I'ld heard many times such as the
need to rotate the body and to lift the paddle out near the hip. Some points
shone out. In particular was Lynda's explanation as to why it was never
necessary in forward paddling to "cock" the wrist, whether or not the paddle
was feathered. And her observation that just about all of us had paddles
which were either too long or far too long, together with a clear
description
of how to set the paddle shaft length. Now this was all in the context of
forward strokes so there might be an argument for having a longer paddle to
brace better - but after a little practice I'm beginning to doubt it.

	I'ld be interested in other opinions on paddle length. Several people
have talked on Paddlewise about problems arising from the use of feathered
paddles with cocked wrists. But as I heard on Saturday it doesn't seem to be
necessary to rotate the wrist provided the paddle length and forward stroke
are adjusted appropriately. Anyway many thanks to Nick Gill and the New
South
Wales Sea Kayaking Club for organising the event and Lynda for a most
informative
session.

All the best, PeterO

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