Maybe I missed this in the discussion, but I'll say it anyway becasue it bears repeating. Only four parts of the body usually anchor the body and the kayak: heels, balls of feet, butt and lower back, the latter depending on how the boat is outfitted. Sometimes I guess the hips, if padded in tightly, might be part of the power train, too. So, I think, to transmit the force from the body to the boat it pretty much has to travel through these channels. I knew a really good slalom racer who did not anchor his feet on anything, no toe or heel blocks, no foot braces. But he had a tight backband and a tiny cockpit, so I think he got his bracing there. But look at the fastest kayakers there are - the sprint boaters. You'll not find a good one without back and foot bracing. Stefan Kaplanek, if I'm remembering how to spell his name, was a 500 meter world champion in the 60s who often broke footbraces on his fast starts. And sometimes the seat ripped right off the hull. The guy had the fastest start I ever saw. [I think he could even beat a C-1!] There are always exceptional people who succeed outside the usual techniques, but I would never teach a class on the power forward stroke without emphasizing the marvelous things legs can do for power. And my legs are pretty puny. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Sep 07 2004 - 07:11:05 PDT
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