Kayakers, Recently, I heard about the golden ratio, which is a ratio that is found in an amazingly high frequency in nature, math, geometry and art. This ratio is: A divided by B equals 1.618. A very interesting website about this ratio is HTTP://golden number.net/. I was looking around to see if I could find this golden ratio in kayaking, and of all places, I found it in the Greenland paddle. Based on Greenland anthropomorphic sizing, my paddle should be around 88 inches long, with a loom of around 20 inches, which leaves the blades 34 inches long. If you divide the length of the blade by the length of the loom, the ratio is 1.7, which isn't the golden ratio of 1.618, but it's not far, and anthropomorphic sizing is only an approximation. By the way, the golden ratio is found in body proportions too. If the loom length was increased by 1 inch to 21 inches and the blade length decreased by a half inch to 33.5 inches, which still makes an 88 inch long paddle, the ratio becomes 1.595, which is pretty close to the golden ratio of 1.618. Of course, with the Greenland paddle, loom and blade length have a lot to do with hand placement and leverage on the paddle. Interesting? Duane Strosaker Southern California *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Duane, My Superior GP has a length of 89" and a 21" loom. The ratio for that is 1.619. My other GP is a little shorter at 87", also with a 21" loom. It's ratio is 1.571. Interesting observation you've made. Steve Holtzman *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
If you find enough numbers to divide, you will eventually come up with two that form an interesting ratio. This is especially true if you are willing fudge it a bit. Sometimes there is such a thing as coincidence. If it is interesting the ratio of blade to loom is an approximation of the Golden ratio, it should be equally interesting that the ratio of blade width to length is no ratio of any particular note. But, for some reason, it is only the ratios that work out to something almost interesting that appear to be interesting. Nick On Mar 12, 2005, at 5:32 PM, Steve Holtzman wrote: > Duane, > > My Superior GP has a length of 89" and a 21" loom. The ratio for that > is > 1.619. My other GP is a little shorter at 87", also with a 21" loom. > It's > ratio is 1.571. > > Interesting observation you've made. Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.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/ ***************************************************************************
Nick Schade said: > If you find enough numbers to divide, you will eventually > come up with two that form an interesting ratio. This is > especially true if you are willing fudge it a bit. Sometimes > there is such a thing as coincidence. > Excellent point. I hadn't even considered it. I guess all the noise from the monkeys typing a new novel here blinded me to common sense. Steve Holtzman *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I don't know what we can do about it, but we'll have to be aware that with the elementary teachers increasing their work-to-rule steps that there will be some who may not want to sign forms and/or help us out on a Saturday. I hope not since the science fair is not organized by the school boards, but in-school fairs are certainly an extra duty. John *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Sorry about this folks. I hit the wrong address. I volunteer helping to run a science fair for kids and should have sent to that list. John John Waddington wrote: > I don't know what we can do about it, but we'll have to be aware that > with the elementary teachers increasing their work-to-rule steps that *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Duane wrote: > If you divide the length of the blade by the length of the loom, the ratio is 1.7, which isn't the golden ratio of 1.618, but it's not far, and anthropomorphic sizing is only an approximation. The reason this works out approximately is that in a typical GP, the length of the loom and the length of the blade very roughly reproduce your shoulder-to-shoulder and your shoulder-to-hand measurements, which, very roughly, can be used to derive the golden mean. Those dimensions were among many quantities in the idealized human form that Da Vinci used to derive the golden mean. Sometimes there is a reason why the golden mean pops up, and sometimes it's coincidence. I don't know if anyone has explained that the Da Vinci proportions are anything more than the latter. 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/ ***************************************************************************
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