This may sound crazy and I have no graphs or formulae to illustrate the phenomenon but you may find it worth exploring. It is what I term explosive application of power with the blade in the water with split-second rests between strokes while the boat glides forward. I have tried this at times as a variation of stroke. (BTW, I highly recommend that a paddler constantly change the nature of his/her stroke from fast cadence to slow cadence, to more pull than push, to more push than pull, to more body rotation, to less, to flexed elbows to locked elbows etc. throughout the time on the water. It rests muscle groups and it helps find what works well for the particular water conditions you are facing.) Basically the explosive stroke comes from my observation of elite long-distance runners. If you watch them you see that their feet barely touch the ground and explode off of that contact to the next step and the next step similarly explosive. They are, in a sense, resting between explosive foot plants. A jogger, on the other hand, has an extensive foot plant lasting milliseconds long and plodding. The same was true of cross country skiers when the diagonal stride was the vogue and not the skate technique. I remember one day coming down a trail and watching an elite xc skier coming up the shallow hill. His push off ski barely hit the snow before he exploded on to his lead ski's glide before exploding off the ski. A normal touring xc skier keeps his planted ski on the ground a lot longer than the elite gal or guy did. The explosive plant of the paddle blade is a real quick jab with lots of power and, in no way, an elongated pulling of the blade. When I have done it, I move out well. Trouble is that I can't sustain it. I really don't know how to rest wel enough during the glide phase before the next explosive plant of the other blade. I need to develop a zen sense. :-) Anyway, give it a try the next time you are out on the water and do work on a variety of strokes and not stick to just one. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat May 12 2001 - 08:56:33 PDT
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