I'm going to take a deep breath and suggest some explanations of this, probably only stating what others have already written but using different words to do so. I believe leaning/edging aids turning for three basic reasons: First, as several people have pointed out, the effective length of the boat is reduced when it's leaned - there's less intertial leverage around the boat's center of resistance. That's why it's easier to turn a boat on a deep high brace turn when the knee opposite the direction of turn is lifted (example - right knee lifted, left sheer drops down, boat turns left). In this case, the *momentum* of the turn toward the left must already be established before the leaning/edging is done, and the paddle blade on the left acts as an anchor tethering the boat on the left and aiding the turn. As has been said, one very important factor in turning is the initial moment of motion around the boat's center of resistance. Second, seemingly an opposite effect to that just described, if a boat is leaned toward the left while it's going straight ***and nothing else is done***, it tends to turn toward the right, as many people have observed and written. This is caused by the same thing which causes weather-cocking: the "down-side" of the bow (the left side of it, in this example) now has much more pressure on it than the "up side", as the boat is moving forward. Thus, the water actually pushes the boat away from the direction of lean - to the right, in the present example. Obviously, this would not happen if the boat didn't have some forward momentum so water pressure on the bow could differ on the two sides.....Sometimes a simpler way to explain this is that if I'm paddling a pencil, I tend to go very straight (the water pressure on the two sides of the "bow" is equal) but if I'm paddling a banana, I'll always tend to go in a circle. When teaching leaned turns, it sometimes helps to ask students to think about "paddling a banana boat". Third, and least important, a part of what might be called the "rudder effect of the keel" of the boat is diminished, as part of the keel is lifted out of the water - and this effect is obviously more pronounced in heavily rockered boats. It's a slightly different effect than the change in water resistance mentioned in the second paragraph above. Bill Hansen Ithaca NY *************************************************************************** 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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