Nick wrote: >>>>>I notice Andrew was using a wing paddle. Anyone feel there is any advantage to the wing in this sort of trip. I doubt he was going very fast and maintaining a really good wing technique day-in-day-out seems a little unlikely. Any thoughts?<<<<<<< The downside to the wing that I see is that it is not as good for bracing. Also because you always use the same stroke it can wear you down because you can't switch to other strokes for a rest. Nigel Foster's article in Sea kayaker pointed the later point out a few years ago. I think I experienced this when paddling on a long trip on Lake Powell with a old racing buddy who used his wing for the trip. As the long days wore on (we averaged 27.5 miles per day in short November days and gear laden kayaks) we went from him running me into the ground at first to him not being able to paddle as long or fast as I by the end of the week. At first I attributed this to me gaining conditioning on the trip (because I had started at a lower fitness level than my paddling partner) but after reading Nigel's article I think that the wing paddle he was using might have also been a good part of it. One of the articles said that Andrew was using a single kayak. I noticed Dave Winkworth's name was mentioned somewhere as well. Was Andrew paddling a Nadgee Explorer? Was Andrew using a rudder? A non-rudder kayak is also harder to control with a wing paddle because the stern draw stroke is awkward at best when using one. 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 02 2007 - 23:49:52 PST
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