Re: [Paddlewise] paddle sizing etc

Michael Edelman <mje_at_spamcop.net> wrote

>We've been playing fast and loose with this idea of "slippage". Now
>there *is* such a thing as a zero-slip canoe paddle; it's called a canoe
>pole, and my friend Jeff Potter could tell us all about it. But a pole
>is used in a very different way from a paddle specifically because of
>the much higher resistance. You couldn't paddle the way we're used to
>with a "zero-slippage" paddle. The effort would be way too high.
>
>So human biomechanics dictate that our paddles can't produce too much
>resistance.

Why can't you paddle with a pole the way you do with a paddle? If you give 
me a pole that is as long as my paddle (from hand to hand to centre of 
effort) and a fixed point to place it in/on/against then there will be 
virtually no difference between it and paddling in water except for a 
little slippage. Biomechanically the distance between pushing hand, pulling 
hand and fixed point (centre of effort) are the governing factors. 
Admittedly finding something to place the pole against equivalent to the c 
of e's usual acting point might be a little difficult. The length of a 
usual poling pole and the depth needed to find something to work again 
dictate a difference in action - the DEPTH of the WATER.

Now we come back to my comment earlier about effort in the push as well as 
the pull - if the upper hand placement, lower hand and the centre of effort 
distances are all considered then the pushing hand is pushing with a force 
of a certain amount, proportional to the pulling hand. I'll let you work it 
out, simple levers.

Alex


Alex (Sandy) Ferguson
Chemistry Department
University of Canterbury
New Zealand


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