Re: [Paddlewise] "Regular" paddle stroke

At 09:55 AM 6/13/01 -0400, Rick Sylvia wrote:
>A week ago, in a class, the instructor talked about placing the paddle in
>the water at your toes, and removing it from the water at your hip.  He gave
>a quick explanation of the physics of taking it out at the hip rather than a
>longer follow through, then went on to another topic.  I meant to ask him
>about it back at the take-out, but forget, now I can't even remember the
>quick explanation.
>
>So.... what are the physics here?  Why do you lose efficiency if your stroke
>extends past your hip?  It was something about water compression versus
>lift?????

Did the instructor also cover the sweep stroke?  When doing a sweep stroke 
the most effective part of the stroke is the last half. If you're doing a 
forward sweep, the greatest turning motion is achieved when the paddle 
blade is the water from about the cockpit back towards the stern.  Unless 
you're keeping your paddle very close to the hull during the forward stroke 
you're going to be turning the boat more if you keep the blade in longer if 
it goes much past your hip instead of just propelling it forward.

Have you ever watched a real beginner that is having trouble keeping the 
boat going in the direction they want.  Usually, they're always turning to 
the left (often because the angle of the blade on the left is tilted 
forward more than on the right).  They'll try to correct by paddling more 
on the left side but they're usually very short strokes from about their 
knee to the cockpit.  They're getting very little turning motion because 
the paddle never goes back towards the stern with a nice arc so they keep 
on going in the same direction to the left of their desired course.  Making 
a wider arc with the paddle and extending the stroke farther back will 
result in more turning motion.  Keeping it close to the hull, and stopping 
it before it starts turning the boat will more efficiently paddle the boat 
forward in the same direction.


***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************