[Paddlewise] Did Hobie Cat sucker punch top racers?

I heard a report from someone who went to the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt
Lake City that the Hobie Cat folks convinced Greg Barton to compete in a
tug-of-war between him and a guy in their Hobie Mirage (a peddle powered
flipper finned kayak-like boat).  The Mirage won. Later Greg and Oscar
Chalupsky together in a double were just able to beat that single place
Mirage in a tug-of-war.
I think Greg was sucker punched because a tug of war is a contest where the
more constant force (of the flapping fins) had an advantage over the more
intermittent application of force from a paddler. I also suspect that a
paddle (and maybe a wing paddle even more so) is at a disadvantage when the
kayak can't move forward during the stroke. For the contest to mean anything
I think they should have a race where the boats have identical hulls that
are long enough that their "hull speed" will not be an issue. I'd be
surprised if the Mirage propulsion system wins that race but I don't really
know what would happen.
Apparently during the two person (in the kayak) tug-of-war both Oscar and
Greg were paddling in sync. I speculated that they would have done even
better if they paddled out-of-sync such that they had at least one paddler
pulling at all times (even though paddling in sync is a faster method at
speed). My reporter said that the Hobie folks had appeared confident they
would also beat the double. They probably already had with all the double
paddlers they tried when they were testing this contest out before
challenging top kayak racers to the tug-of-war.
What do Paddlewiser's think? Do you have any other speculations as to why a
two time Olympic gold medal winner lost the tug of war to the flipper boat
or what would happen in an identical hull race?

Matt Broze
www.marinerkayaks.com
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************