----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Kruger" <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> > Wow. Michael, the fit of your lower body in the cockpit is very unusual, yet > sounds solid and effective -- hats off to you for that. You're right, with > your style of fit, no way the feet can be pushing the kayak forward. Must be > your thighs ... and? Dave: Yes the fit is not what one typically finds in most commercial kayaks. I grew in to this sort of idea recently. After trying Bill Witcomb's modified North North Bay and Chery Perry's SOF that Mark Star built. It is different and scares a lot of folks away. I have even had folks refuse to try it on the grounds that it feels claustrophobic. It is definitely built for me. I like the concept of wearing the kayak. I don know if I am right or not but I believe a lot of Greenland SOFs were originally built this way. Entry is a bit tight. I am 6 foot and 170 lbs, 33" inseam. Exiting is not a problem and I can even do a wet entry and a roll with no real problem. As for pushing the kayak fwd it is all in the fit. The thighs are sandwiched between the massic on top and the hull on the bottom. Almost like a lap belt in a 1970's car only a bit lower. As I said if I need any additional "friction" to hold on to the boat I pull w/ the tops of my feet on the fwd deck X beam. This sort of fit is driven mostly by the desire to do a lot of the Greenland rolls and allows me to lay flat on the back deck as well tuck fwd tightly w/ no high mass over my lap so I can do fwd finishing rolls. For regular paddling I tend to scooch back a bit and my legs are totally relaxed with sufficient grip by the low deck of the boat to paddle in a relaxed manner with no additional strain. Before I modified the Seguin I always had a nagging pain in my upper back / neck after paddling for a couple of hrs, now it no longer happens. I also have been progressing towards shorter and shorter paddles. This forces more torso rotation and alleviates a lot of the neck problems to. regards: michael *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Michael Wrote: No seat at all. Not even a foam pad. Thighs are sandwiched between the hull bottom and the under side of the massiq. This allows me to paddle w/ my backside about 8 inches fwd of the aft end of the coaming/back bulkhead. No back band at all. Legs are totaly extended and flat on the bottom of the hull, relaxed except when extra effort is needed I draw back on the tops of my feet. My folders are a tight fit similar to Michaels boats, and like him, I sit directly on the floor with my legs straight ( not much room to raise my knees) . I paddle with a 1/2" foam pad or no pad at all, and contrary to what you might believe, this is quite comfortable once you get used to it ( like everything else). My toes do push against a cross section ( remember, this is a folder)., and I use a self inflating cushion at my back. This makes paddling very comfortable. A friend of mine with a Baidarka, took his comfy fiberglass seat out and tried paddling while sitting on the floor. He liked it so much, he has never used the seat again. When I was racing many years ago, I used the footbraces as essentially pivot points that allowed me to transfer power during a racing pace. Watch the leg motion of an Olympic sprint paddler and you will see what I mean. In fact, I recall using so much driving force through my legs that on a couple of occasions I separated the footbraces from the hull ( Probably my fault for not attaching them properly in the first place). Today, I still push against the footbraces (cross section) while paddling, but not for power, but rather from habit. It just doesn't feel right to me if my feet aren't anchored. Tom *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
All this rotating of the pelvis . . . too bad Elvis was not a paddler. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
That's a pretty darn good article, even sans photos. The cheek lift business is easy to key on ... and I'll focus on that next time out. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kirk Olsen" <kork4_at_cluemail.com> > Brent Reitz has an online article on how to use your legs. > http://www.wildsprint.com/resources/burning_question/bq_sep02.htm *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:39 PDT