[Paddlewise] wings and paddles

Jack wrote about wings and how they might apply to paddles. 

I would suggest care in treating them alike. In the design of wings one
usually tries to achieve the lowest drag for a given amount of lift (all
depending upon speed and objectives). With paddles the objective differs. We
want to maximise thrust for a given amount of input and we have to deal with
some important complications that airplanes do not face such as the interface
between two fluids of differing densities, unsteady motion and the
biomechanics of people. We also use our paddles as control surfaces and even
rescue devices. Not many pilots use their wings with paddle floats although
they do roll :-) 

Unfortunately testing paddles and paddle types in real life paddling poses a
lot of problems. Have we compared paddles of equal area? Equal weight? Paddles
designed for similar objectives? etc. etc.

Too often people try a low aspect ratio paddle designed for competition or
white-water and conclude that all low aspect ratio paddles are the same.
Ditto for high aspect ratio paddles. Before drawing any absolute conclusions
about types one should have a fairly wide range of experience. I regularly use
a paddle with an aspect ratio of 3:1 and an area of 93 square inches and 182
cm long and 640 grams. When I try other paddles I have to excursive caution
since few paddles have the same characteristics. 

Cheers,

John Winters


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