Well, the Subject line kinda says it all. I was out on the north end of Lake Washington today just tooling around and met a guy who was out of gas. Another casualty of high petrol prices I guess. He had a canoe paddle and was going from side to side, back and forth, trying to make his way back to the launch. He thought I was nuts to offer a tow, but I told him if it got too tough I would just cut him loose. Fair enough. I measured it out later and it was 1.25 miles. Not sure how long it took, maybe an hour or more. On a long slog eventually you kind of get in the zone and just try to get the most efficiency out of your strokes. It's almost a trance I guess. I had probably gone 3/4 of a mile when I noticed that I was leaning more than usual. Yep. No doubt about it. Gunnel under the water on almost every stroke. I think the combination of less friction on a lean and a more natural paddle stroke gave me the extra percentage of efficiency. It just felt "right". After I cut him loose, he was really grateful, amazed, amused, and impressed. Wish I would have had a picture of it all. I continued up the slough and felt as fast as a skidoo. I practiced my new found lean and flew! Paul Montgomery paul_at_paddleandoar.com http://paddleandoar.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 Mon Jun 18 2007 - 19:09:45 PDT
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