Peter said: When stationary I can get a forward sweep to move a sea kayak about 45 degrees but when moving the forward sweep gives only about 20 degrees - less on choppy water unless I'm on top of a wave. This compares with 90 degrees rotation for a reverse sweep whether moving or stationary. My reply: The engineers will tell if I'm correct, but I'm pretty sure that a boat moving forward will resist turning, which is why long, skinny flatwater racer boats have rudders to turn with. [forgive the lousy grammer, please] A reverse sweep kills the forward momentum, allowing the boat to turn more easily. My sermon on the forward vs reverse sweep has been preached in these pages before, so let me summarize by betting that a stationary boat turns better with a forward sweep than a reverse. Which suggests that it is not the sweep that is the problem. In slalom racing there are three forward sweeps: bow, stern and full. Hardly any slalomist uses any but the bow. It starts at the bow, hence its unusual name, and ends at 90 degrees or so to the keel of the boat. This usually allows balance to be maintained pretty easily. Peter, is your balance problem related to the part of the full sweep that takes the paddle past your body? The bow forward sweep is quite strong if the legs are engaged - push the feet away from the paddle using your waist muscles. Good luck Jim Tibensky _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. *************************************************************************** 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 Jan 07 2002 - 07:59:50 PST
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