G'Day Paddlewise, Heres a short report and a couple of questions, Friday evening saw me, with a freshly gelcoated kayak, listening to a fearful deep booming every ten seconds from Shell Harbour beach. White faced I set up the tent - were we really going to be trained in five foot surf? Come Saturday, spot on 09:00, nobody turned up!! Thank heavens - the date must have been wrong! By now the surf had dropped a bit so I pretended to be disappointed and walked a mile in each direction. No sign of anyone, so settled down to odd jobs on the boat. As the third of four dolphin decals was pasted to within half a millimeter of its correct position, came the amused comment "Hi are you a scientist then" It was Margot, who may have been impressed at my efforts to be accurate with the dolphin! Anyway she told me people were arriving late and the topic was forward paddling with Lynda Lehman, an Olympic kayaker and instructor of many years experience. No trying to stay upright in the surf all day, but a ten minute paddle in the harbour while our efforts were recorded on video. This may have been the most instructive ten minutes of my kayaking life. We spent the day in a question and answer session on just one topic - forward paddling - followed by an analysis from the video of our various techniques. As a novice I can't and should not try to do justice to our instructor's lesson, except that some long held beliefs were dispelled. Most of the failings in technique were ones I'ld heard many times such as the need to rotate the body and to lift the paddle out near the hip. Some points shone out. In particular was Lynda's explanation as to why it was never necessary in forward paddling to "cock" the wrist, whether or not the paddle was feathered. And her observation that just about all of us had paddles which were either too long or far too long, together with a clear description of how to set the paddle shaft length. Now this was all in the context of forward strokes so there might be an argument for having a longer paddle to brace better - but after a little practice I'm beginning to doubt it. I'ld be interested in other opinions on paddle length. Several people have talked on Paddlewise about problems arising from the use of feathered paddles with cocked wrists. But as I heard on Saturday it doesn't seem to be necessary to rotate the wrist provided the paddle length and forward stroke are adjusted appropriately. Anyway many thanks to Nick Gill and the New South Wales Sea Kayaking Club for organising the event and Lynda for a most informative session. All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Peter Osman wrote: > I'd be interested in other opinions on paddle length. Several people > have talked on Paddlewise about problems arising from the use of feathered > paddles with cocked wrists. But as I heard on Saturday it doesn't seem to be > necessary to rotate the wrist provided the paddle length and forward stroke > are adjusted appropriately. Generated significant tendon pain when I "graduated" from a 235 cm Werner San Juan (monster blades) to a 245, enough I had to lay off paddling for a while ... some 6-7 years ago. Switched to a 220 cm Lightning standard sea kayak paddle that summer (medium-size blades) and have been relatively tendon-pain-free since. I believe in short paddles ... it's your technique that counts. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I paddle a 116cm Lendal Bent shaft. cu *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Duh!! Thwack!! (Sound of head hitting oak desk) > -----Original Message----- > From: Gypsykayak_at_aol.com [mailto:Gypsykayak_at_aol.com] > Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 1:46 PM > To: bob_at_sinkthestink.com > Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Forward paddling, paddle length and > cocked wrists > > > In a message dated 01-05-10 12:23:37 EDT, you write: > > << Nope, and there are times I suspect it’s a bit long. A 210 > would probably be perfect. >> > > Bob, you said it was 116......and now you say 210 would > probably be perfect. > That's a big difference. Is the 116 length correct or a typo? > > sandy kramer > *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
My take on paddle length: The Olympic style of (flatwater) kayak racing is all out power for shorter distances than we may be cruising over a longer distance. The stroke is much closer to the vertical than would be comfortable for a more leisurely (by comparison to a sprint race) all-day cruise. That's why you want a shorter paddle length for the sprint. When you are paddling flatter (i.e., shaft maybe 45 degrees off the vertical)as in cruising, you need a longer shaft to comfortably reach the water. Shorter shaft also helps in accelerating the rate of paddling (strokes per minute or however that is measured). Having said that, it has been my observation that many novices in sea kayaks have incredibly long paddles. Don't know where that comes from, I'm guessing misinformed folks at shops that sell the equipment. Paddle length is related to the size of the paddler, the kind of boat they are paddling, and the style of paddling they pursue. I'm short (5'1" [about 150cm?]), my whitewater paddle is 210 cm; sea kayak paddle 220 cm; and kayak paddle for the purpose of canoeing (I'm paddling stern as my kids are in the front, typically lollygagging and doing little or no paddling), 230 cm. My whitewater racing paddle is 208 cm. I'm not sure what you are describing as "cocked wrists". Never paddled with anything but a straight shaft paddle and only one tendonitis problem - caused by something unrelated to paddling. Don't want to go into the feathered vs. unfeathered issue (we've been there before!), but switching at that one time to unfeathered allowed me to paddle with comfort. Natalie Wiest Galveston TX *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Really quick... The best way to reduce strain on your wrists is to point your fingers forward on the top half of every stroke, and relax your grip on the bottom half of every stroke. I think the wrist problems arise from gripping too tight on a straight shaft paddle. Bent shaft paddles another way to eliminate the wrist problem if you simply cannot learn to relax your stroke. I once had to use a 200cm unfeathered whitewater paddle on a sea kayak trip because I had broken my greenland stick. I have an Pygmy Arctic Tern, which has a 23" beam. I found that the paddle was simply too short to reach very far forward during the catch phase of the stroke. Since the catch is the most important part of the forward stroke, I felt like I was losing 25% of paddling power right at the very start. However I was able to compensate for this just fine by using the sliding stroke to effectively increase the length of the paddle on every stroke. Thank god for greenland paddling techniques! The disadvantage of a bent-shaft paddle is that the sliding stroke is much harder to perform. Cheers, Kevin *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 10:24 PM +1000 5/9/01, Peter Osman wrote: > > I'ld be interested in other opinions on paddle length. I tend to like a shorter paddle. I typically use a 200cm with a fairly short and wide blade. A shorter paddle can be lighter. At the same weight it will have less inertia than a longer paddle so is easier to swing. It puts the power closer to the centerline of the boat for more efficient paddling without digging deep under the water. I use my arms to reach out for sweep strokes, not the paddle length. It is easier to get out of the water because it doesn't need to be put as deep. It provides the advantage of a lower gear combined with a solid grip on the water. I find I don't bend my wrists much. I have not analyzed why this is so, it just comes naturally. Nick -- Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 (860) 659-8847 *************************************************************************** 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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