RE: [Paddlewise] paddle sizing and Technology guides design

I don't like appeals to authority but I do have one question that kind of
appeals to authority. If Greenland style paddles are so efficient why is it
that no Olympic Racers that I have ever heard of (even pre-wing) have ever
used them or even a lightweight high tech high aspect-ratio version of them.
Did they just completely miss the boat on this because of the wrong
assumption that bigger and wider was more powerful? I probably haven't given
Greenland paddles enough of a chance to have learned how to use them the
most efficiently. I guess maybe I just don't like having wet hands from no
drip rings all the time and switched to feathered (by cutting my paddle in
two and twisting it 90 degrees before duct taping it back together over a
sleeve) like a weenie as soon as the wind blew a little in my face. However,
my observations from using them and also sprinting against a paddler equally
as strong as myself (at least when he was using the same model paddle as me)
who was also very into native paddles and their correct use, was that they
were slow on acceleration and couldn't keep up the same top speed. For other
uses they seemed just fine (although some like the "Quill" zigzagged around
so much in the water under a load they were hard to control. The falling
leaf effects flutter rate is higher on a narrower blade. The wing type
stroke pretty much relieves this flutter problem though which is one of the
reasons I use that stroke even though I don't like wing paddles for cruising
for many reasons other than efficiency.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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