Paddle flutter is rarely a defect of the paddle. It is vortex shedding off the blade, any paddle pulled straight and square will shed whirl pools off one edge then the other causing it to flutter. The solution is to tilt the top edge of the blade forward slightly. This will force the vortex to be on the bottom edge of the blade only. The result is a paddle that produces some lift and is thus more efficient, plus it doesn't flutter. Nick >Greetings from a new PaddleWise member, and a new paddler, in Roswell, GA, 1/4 >mile from the Chattahoochee River. > > > > > >After a couple weeks' paddling my new Zoar Sport kayak with the flat-blade >Carlisle I bought as a spare, I received shipment of a Eddyline MidSwift >paddle. It's nice and light, and I like the blade size, but I notice a fairly >pronounced flutter, as it gyrates a bit on its axis a couple cycles per >stroke. I'm deciding whether to return it and order a Lightning paddle or >something else. > > > > > >Is this flutter a paddler issue I can correct without implementing a death >grip? I'm trying to form the practice of holding the paddle lightly to protect >my 48-year-old wrists that get enough abuse from the mouse and the keyboard. >If it's an unavoidabler feature of this paddle, should I consider it a >substantial performance or ergonomic liability? -- 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Nov 30 2001 - 06:46:30 PST
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