Robert wrote: <SNIP>>>>>>>>>>>>The swimming fins were much longer than the "standard" fin I am familiar with. They described that the carbon blade bends as the swimmer initiates the kick and then "snaps" back into the straight giving the swimmer forward motion. It got me to thinking that it might be interesting to paddle with a blade that behaved in this fashion.<<<<<<< Isn't that pretty much how conventional swim fins work, somewhat like a fish. About 20 years ago, when considering building a kayak for Joel Rogers (a kayaking photographer), I thought of trying to build a rudder that would act like a fish tail (by making it thinner and progressively more flexible near the tip). The entire blade would be under water (on a rod) and trail straight back below the surface (so the flex puts the trust in the most advantageous direction as you push the foot pedals back and forth. I didn't think it would be terribly efficient but he would be able to stow his paddle and hold the camera at ready and both slowly propel his kayak as well as control direction solely with this rudder. His paddle blades wouldn't be waving around to scare the wildlife he might like to get closer to to photograph. To use this kind of sculling motion with a paddle (like a stern mounted oar on a rowboat) would require a whole new kind of stroke and be very inefficient. since most paddles are used perpendicular to the desired motion and swim fins are used more parallel to the desired motion I don't think that concept would work using a normal type stroke. I have found that a little flex in a paddle shaft is desirable if it snaps back quickly enough. A good paddle can be loaded up during the early less efficient (when the blade is not perpendicular to the direction desired) part of the stroke and unload when the blade is more perpendicular. Too soft a flex or too slow a snapback and the paddle just vibrates in your hand once it is withdrawn from the water and the energy put into flexing the paddle it is lost to propelling you. A pole vaulter uses his pole in a similar but much more exaggerated fashion, bending the pole while moving horizontally and having the pole release the stored energy vertically. The best paddle 9in that respect) I ever used was a wooden slalom paddle built by Azzila (or something like that) from Italy. It was owned by Werner Furrer Jr. who had picked it up in Europe during and international slalom competition there. He liked it so much right from the start that he tried to buy some more of them so he would have some back-ups in case he broke that one. Unfortunately, none of the other of the (I believe) six paddles he tried out (even though of the exact same model) had that same kind of perfect "snap" to them. Werner let me try it for a minute or two one day (luckily he also paddled left feather) and I too felt that there was some "magic" in that paddle. The paddle was well worn and didn't look like anything special but Werner told me he felt like he wasn't sure if he would be able to continue competing at the international level if he ever lost or broke that paddle. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Nov 20 2001 - 00:55:54 PST
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