Here are the results of a couple hours' experimentation with the Eddyline Mid Swift paddle and its flutter, taking into account some suggestions made here. * Varied the power of the stroke from very light to aggressive: little difference. Actually, with a strong stroke sometimes the flutter diminished, but this was probably because of the strong grip I tended to exert. I controlled for this variable by maintaining a looser grip, and the flutter remained fairly constant. * 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?) * Inserted the paddle as vertically as possible while moving at very slow speed and allowed time for any trapped air to surface, then stroked: no change in flutter. I doubt it would be considered a manufacturing defect, because the effect is entirely symmetrical, and right and left blades for this paddle have got to be separate molds. Joe Pylka mentioned flutter is greater when the shaft extends well into the length of the blade. This is the case with the Swift; the shaft protrudes from the back of the blade by a thickness of about 2.5 cm+ at the near end of the blade down to 1 cm, ending only about an inch from the far edge of the blade. I don't know how much this varies among paddles. I wonder if I'm facing a traceoff between flutter and a heavier paddle. I don't know if this is a performance drag, but it might be worth a few oz. of extra weight over the approx. 29 oz of the Swift to eliminate this distraction. I'm minded to return the paddle, if PacWave (www.pacwave.net) will allow it, and try something else. Experimenting with equipment is part of the pleasure, especially when I get such in-depth commentary from my experienced colleagues here. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Sun 02 Dec 2001, John Gibbs wrote: > McNally mentioned. (Mike, which way did you twist the blade to control > flutter?) I don't recall. And I didn't mean to say that tilting forward was bad (if done in moderation to reduce flutter) it just seemed an appropriate segway to wing paddles. Theoretically it would be better to reduce flutter by tilting the top of the blade/shaft back so as to add lift rather than pulling the boat into the water, but it could have been the other rotation that worked better. i And when using a light grip a little flutter is probably acceptable. That's where the only real test of the paddle is a comparison. 'Cause all paddles flutter (I presume from what others here have said). -- Mike McNally mmcnally3_at_prodigy.net *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> >* 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/ ***************************************************************************
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