Mark, I'm no Greenland expert, and I don't know official Greenland technique, but since no one else is jumping in to help, I'll let you know how I do it. As for the sliding stroke with a storm paddle, how far you slide your hand up the blade is really up to you. If you are paddling along easy, you may want to keep the grip narrow, like around 20 inches, and if you need some power, go out to the 26 inches you mentioned or farther. I don't like the whole forward blade tilt and the "pushing hand motion still down and across to the opposite knee" techniques you mentioned. The forward stoke I use is like what is taught by Greg Barton and Brent Reitz. However, with the narrower grip, my upper hand is kept lower but comes across staying at the same level rather the downward. When I do a partial slide stroke for extra power with a regular Greenland paddle, I end up with the wide grip used by Greg and Brent, and there is even a bit a "chicken wing" going on then. Also, starting the stroke with the blade close to the side of the boat and letting it go out a bit to the side during the stroke, just like with a wing paddle, lets the water bleed off to one side of the blade, which prevents flutter.This technique seems to be more efficient than tilting the blade forward, which then necessitates the "pushing hand motion still down and across to the opposite knee", which only wastes energy by pulling water up. I don't buy the whole propeller effect thing as being more efficient than pulling back. Duane Strosaker Southern California www.rollordrown.com Mark Arnold <mjamja_at_earthlink.net> wrote: Hope some of you can help me with a couple of questions on Greenland storm paddles. When using a Greenland storm paddle does the grip width increase significantly from that used with a normal Greenland paddle? Based on some sizing info I have read my grip width would increase from 16 in to 26 in if I moved my hand out near the end of the blade. That seems like a really big increase. Do I have incorrect paddle sizing info, or does the hand not slide all the way out on the blade in order to keep width smaller, or is that large a change in grip the correct method? Besides the sliding of the hands on the paddle how (if any) is the storm paddle stroke different from the normal Greenland stroke? Is the forward blade tilt still used? Is the pushing hand motion still down and across to the opposite knee? Is the stroke carried beyond the hip as with the regular Greenland stroke? Thanks for any info you may be able to give me. Mark Arnold mjamja_at_earthlink.net *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Mar 20 2005 - 22:03:09 PST
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