I'm not a physicist. What follows is an intuitive, nontechnical discussion. Looking at different kinds of wings helps one understand the significance of aspect ratio. In wings, aspect ratio is the ratio of the length of the wing to the width of the wing (distance from leading edge to trailing edge). Examples of high aspect ratio: the long narrow wings of a high-performance glider or a U-2 or a soaring bird such as an albatross. Examples of low aspect ratio: the short wide wings of an F-104, a Tomahawk cruise missile, or a non-soaring bird such as a hummingbird or a sparrow. An airplane designed for long sustained flight under relatively low power uses high a/r (long narrow) wings. An airplane designed for shorter flights under high power or for bursts of power or for dog fights uses low a/r (short wide) wings. I think there is a parallel here to paddles. For a long sustained paddle over several hours, it would make sense to use a high a/r (long narrow) paddle like the Greenland. You would be going under fairly low power, since you need to keep paddling for a long time. For a short sprint, however, I would think it would make sense to use a low a/r (short wide) Euro paddle. Certainly for a whitewater slalom race you would use a low a/r paddle. If in order to make the next gate you must plant a precise duffek and follow that a split second later with a burst of speed, you'd want your blade to be a wide one with plenty of bite. A Greenland blade in that situation would be bye-bye gate, hello DSQ or DNF or some other humiliation. Like I said, this is a nontechnical discussion. I couldn't produce a cogent technical discussion on this subject if I tried. (I flunked my differential equations course in college - and that was decades ago!) Jack Fu *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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