On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:27:01 4, skimmer <skimmer_at_enter.net> wrote: > > It often happens that folks that use wee short paddles express > unwarrented expertise regarding the undesireability of using long > paddles. I think I paddle with a whee!!! short paddle (did I spell that right?). I'm never sure though because all the sea kayak paddles I own are longer than my Werner white-water paddle which I use on w/w kayaks (and which I'm pretty sure even Mark Sanders couldn't break). So it's hard to know exactly what "short" is. Besides, I've never been able to afford a new paddle. In fact, even though I own an assortment of paddles I've only actually bought one (the wing) and that was 2nd hand; does stealing another one count? Anyway, most of my paddles came with the used kayaks I bought since I've also never been able to afford a brand new kayak. So to those more fortunate (and more wealthy) individuals who have had the opportunity to actually choose the ideal paddle (and kayak) I say, "good on ya". I can only marvel. Because beggars can't be choosers, I mostly just get along with the paddles I have or else I steal one I like better from a paddling pal. So if you paddle with me don't let me borrow your paddle. 'Nuff said on that. I have a book (which I also bought second-hand; are you beginning to discern a pattern here) about the Arctic that was published in the 1960s that has some long-distance b&w photos of either Inuit or Greenland paddlers using paddles 8 to 10 feet long. It's interesting that in one of the photos the paddlers are tethered in a long line and towing a whale carcass. The only super long paddle I've used is owned by Pam (bought used from eBay) which is a fiberglass facsimile of a GP. No one likes it much. In fact, it is so bad that I've never been tempted to walk off with it. That should give you an idea. There are two great advantages to a long paddle that I can think of just off the bat. One is that if you could keep up the same cadence you'd really go fast because the longer lever arm would make the effective stroke much longer. The other is that it would be a great upper-body enhancement tool. I would not like to get into an arm-wrestling contest with Chuck Sutherland (who is actually two years older than me... I'm always surprised to find someone older than me). Especially if he can manage 5mph in his Sprite; I can only average about 4.5mph over a 3-mile course in my Express but I can sprint it up to about 7mph. A very short sprint. Just long enough to latch 7mph into the "top speed" category of the Garmin and allow me bragging rights back at the dock. In fact, that 4.5mph average might even have been a fluke. Instead of driving over to the kids' house for dinner I chose to paddle while my wife and the itinerant 6-year-old (who can now paddle solo including turns and everything) chose to drive. Dinner for a person in his 60s can be a great motivator and I covered the 3.1 miles in 41 minutes for an average (according to the Garmin) of 4.5mph. I'm not sure I would average that under other circumstances. At any rate, if all else is equal a longer paddle is ipso-facto (I've always wanted to use that phrase in a sentence) heavier than a shorter paddle. One can buy a super-light longer paddle but it will always be slightly heavier than a super-light shorter paddle. But even more important is that the combination of the longer lever and the subsequent apparent tip-weight would make using a longer paddle slightly more effort than an otherwise-identical shorter paddle. This reminds me of a story (us old guys love to tell stories). I walk with a cane and about 15 or 20 years ago a paddling friend made me a beautiful wooden cane. It was so striking that I immediately abandoned my Goodwill 2nd hand (naturally) cane in favor of the one he made for me. For about a week I did fine but then developed a terrible case of tennis elbow on my right (cane wielding) arm. When I switched back to the aluminum cane the tennis elbow went away. The increase in weight on that long lever created enough stress to cause problems. So I'm in favor of using a shorter paddle mostly because those are the paddles I have and I'm not going to go out and buy a longer one just to try it out. I might steal one, though. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Oct 31 2007 - 09:06:12 PDT
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