Re: [Paddlewise] Switching paddle types

At 1:29 PM -0400 9/16/02, Rcgibbert_at_aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 9/16/2002 9:47:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
>schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com writes:
>
>
>Why not? Can you take a "euro" paddle and maintain the same depth 
>and maintain an adequate indexing with a round or oval shaft as 
>opposed to say, a GP that has longer blades that aid in indexing? 
>Possibly, but the GP itself would be far more natural at it than a 
>"euro." Fast cadences with a sliding stroke on a GP are relatively 
>simple, particularly in the inquired of conditions Ralph asked of, 
>moreso say, than a "euro". Again, the blade length/width assists in 
>the hand position.

Yes, I can. Could you explain what you mean by "natural". Sliding 
strokes with a euro are very easy, you just slide your hands. You 
don't even need to open your hand.

>
>>  >
>>>In bad winds, a GP, in my opinion, is much less susceptable to 
>>>wind. It stays
>>>lower along the deck for one thing and the edges are much finer and offer
>>>much less surface to be grabbed by the wind. When one goes 
>>>vertical the blade
>>>is typically deeper and is still much less of a target for wind. For sea
>>>kayaking I've not gone back to the other side. I find no reason as GP's are
>>>again, in my opinion, emeinently more useful.
>>
>>I am confused about why a euro does not stay close to the deck like a
>>GP. What is it about the euro that makes it so this technique is not
>>possible? And again, why can't you use a sliding stroke to reduce the
>>exposed area of the blade?
>>
>
>
>Next time you take to sea Nick, try a sliding stroke with a "euro" 
>where your hand goes up to the throat of the blade and the other 
>blade is buried deep. Then try it with the Greenland. Incidentally, 
>in all the paddle technique primers I've read and been instructed 
>from one of the more common issues is not to bury the (euro) blade 
>too deeply. Additionally, If you slide the stroke on a "euro" and a 
>foot or two of shaft are submerged it seems to me the blade would 
>also be much harder to retrieve than a GP. It seems then to follow, 
>that the "Euro" on a sliding stroke would then be less effective as 
>it would take longer for the next stroke exposing one to harsher 
>conditions and negating the need for such a practice in the 
>conditions discussed in the string.

Can you explain how the burying a blade deep is good for one kind of 
blade and not for another. Why do you feel an extended paddle grip 
would force the euro paddle to go any deeper than a GP. A low stroke 
will not deeply submerge any blade. Why would a GP be easier to get 
out of the water if it just as deep as the euro?

What is it about the geometry of the GP that makes the geometry of 
its stroke any different from a euro? Since it is hard to grip the 
blade wouldn't you expect that the euro would actually not go as deep 
as a GP?

>
>>
>>If the advantage of a GP is a low stroke posture and the ability to
>>do a sliding stroke, I don't know why these advantages are not
>>available to the euro.
>>
>
>
>They are. But low stroke posture isn't the only "advantage", just 
>one attribute of that particular paddle (GP). Again, try a sliding 
>stroke with a "euro" in high winds and rough seas and do it with a 
>GP, assuming you are competent with it and tell me what is more 
>naturally conducive to that maneuver.

This is the old "if you don't agree with me, you must be doing it 
wrong" argument. If you can't explain the difference how do you know 
it exists.
-- 
Nick Schade
Guillemot Kayaks
824 Thompson St
Glastonbury, CT 06033
(860) 659-8847
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