Re: [Paddlewise] wing theory

From: Nick Schade <nick_at_guillemot-kayaks.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 19:56:21 -0400
On Friday, June 6, 2003, at 11:34  PM, Michael Edelman wrote:

> Nick Shade wrote: -
>
>> Moving water indicates kinetic energy in the
>> water that could have been kinetic energy for
>> the kayak.
>
> Not necessarily.  Water moving in the opposite direction of the 
> movement of the kayak indicates that energy was transferred to the 
> kayak. We had a lot of discussion some time ago about votex shedding 
> off the blade and how that contributes to the lift generated by the 
> paddle. And so on.

Yes, absolutely. Any water motion is energy that in a 100% efficient 
system would have been kayak motion. In real life water motion is 
inevitable consequence of applying propulsive force against a fluid, 
but that does not mean it is not lost energy. Vortex shedding may add 
to lift, but the vortex is still lost energy. This not to say that a 
paddle that creates a vortex is not more efficient than one that 
somehow avoids making the vortex, but lost energy is lost energy 
regardless of the form it takes. 100% efficiency is only possible when 
pushing against an absolutely stiff object of infinite mass, for our 
purposes the solid ground of the earth is a reasonable approximation. 
Poling your kayak would be as close to 100% efficient as is possible.

Nick Schade

Guillemot Kayaks
824 Thompson St
Glastonbury, CT 06033
USA
Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/

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Received on Sat Jun 07 2003 - 16:56:36 PDT

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