> >* Angled the top of the paddle blade back a degree or two, remembering Nick >Shade's description of the angle providing lift, but fogetting he said to >tilt the top back (a forward tilt would seem to me to be pulling the boat >down rather than providing lift ??). Anyway, the forward tilt certainly >seemed inefficient and contrary to the way the blade wanted to pull, as Mike >McNally mentioned. (Mike, which way did you twist the blade to control >flutter?) It may seem contrary to good practice to tilt the top of the blade forward (towards the bow), but this actually makes it work more like a wing paddle. With a forward tilt, the blade will tend to slice deep and cleanly as you place it into the water. Then as the stroke progresses, the top edge becomes the leading edge as the blade moves slightly away from the boat. The result is the lift power is parallel to the direction you are trying to move and it does not pull the boat down much. There is a decent description of wing paddle technique at http://www.sfdj.com/fall/freedive/technique.html and at http://www.bcu.org.uk/marathon/kayak_tech.htm. The wing paddle tends to do this technique some what naturally. You can find similarities in the Greenland technique described at http://www.jacksonville.net/~dldecker/fskaGreenland.htm The technique feels odd at first because the grip on the water at the beginning of the stroke is slippery with the blade tending to dive. But with a little torso rotation the power phase is very natural, easy and powerful. The forward tilt reduces the ventilation at the beginning of the stroke because the paddle slices in and it reduces flutter because the vortex is force to stay on one edge. And the efficiency of the stroke is increased because you end up pulling against a larger mass of water. -- 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 Mon Dec 03 2001 - 06:47:22 PST
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