Mike wrote: <Certainly, I refer to John Winters' published data on paddles in "The Shape Of The Canoe" - in particular the results of lab tests that show the increase in efficiency with the reduction of aspect ratio. > I had a look at the articles in question, and all he presented there was a quick summary of his results. I wonder if John tried different angles of attack, as well as different aspect ratios? The tilted blade makes all the difference to a high aspect ratio blade. Using it untilted, I agree that the Greenland stick is pretty near useless. We really need to get access to a test flume (like a wind tunnel, only with a stream of water, like a really long aquarium) to do a comprehensive test program. Any university types out there with access? I know the University of British Columbia mechanical engineerng department had a couple. And this will only tell us about the blade efficiency. I suspect it is entirely possible to discover a blade that would create the most possible drive force for the work applied to the handle, but it could be impossible to hang on to, unsuitable for non-athletes in a long distance situation, or otherwise useless in real life conditions! Rob. *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Jun 12 2003 - 08:54:09 PDT
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