Kirk Olsen" <kork4_at_cluemail.com> wrote: >>A wing or propeller paddle is shaped more like an airplane propeller. The top of the blade is curved back and the blade itself is cupped and has a twist in it. The blade is also offset from shaft of the paddle. There are some good movies of olympic paddlers using wing paddles on Fred Mechini's page http://pluto.njcc.com/~fmec You can also get a decent idea of what the paddles look like there. >> Thanks for posting this URL, Kirk. I have handled wing paddles in shops, and done some air-stroking with them, but seeing a world-class paddler use one is a revelation. Well, actually a couple of revelations: 1. Until I get my muscle mass and leanness to where they are, I bet my stroking with a wing would be pretty pitiful. 2. It seems plain to me they are using a lot more intentional paddle-slide to the outside in the last half of the stroke than I do -- I assume this exploits the airfoil character of the paddle shape. And, with that image firmly in my brain, I can believe Nick's data (repeated below my sig; thanks, Nick!) on the greater efficiency of the wing over a conventional Euro paddle. Now I want to see some movies of world-class users of Greenland sticks! Anybody got some? Or, a URL? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR -- >From Nick Schade: >> There is some good data about the relative efficiency. The wing paddle is apparently about 89% efficient and the "conventional" paddle blade is about 74% efficient. What is still an open question is why the wind paddle is more efficient. http://www.isbs98.uni-konstanz.de/fullpaper/FullRossSanders.pdf What this means is that even with an efficient wing blade, 11% of all the energy applied to the paddle goes to do things other than pushing the boat forward. >> *************************************************************************** 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 Jun 09 2003 - 20:43:20 PDT
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