Hello Paul, You wrote: "All of us (teaching ourselves to use a GP) got rid of the gross leaf-flutter action within a couple of weeks - using the twist. What remained (and puzzled the hell out of us) was a form of very audible growl. A very occasional effect. Imagine paddling over a gravel bar, 8" under the water, and scraping over it with your paddle blade mid-stroke. It would give a sort of growling crunch that you would hear as well as feel. When that happened to us, in the middle of deep water, it was a shock and a puzzle. It must be a form of cavitation - akin to the bad things that happen to a mis-sized prop on a power boat. It happens most on a GP when you put in some extra effort - accelerating hard. Making the paddle longer makes it go away". Good to hear from you. I hope that you are doing well! The effect that you are describing is ventilation. I agree that it is most noticeable with a GP and produces a noise like drawing your fingernails over rough Cordura fabric or even the subtle crunch of walking on snow. The sound is an indication that you need to improve your catch as you have drawn air into the water with the blade. A common method to obtain a clean catch and eliminate the "growl" is to simply slice the (forward) canted blade into the water until it is fully buried and only then apply power. Think lock and load - lock the paddle fully into the water and only then load it up with power. With practice you should be able to sprint with the feeling that you have buried the paddle into mud on each stroke, getting a clean and powerful bite. Additionally, the "spear the salmon" technique, the lateral thrust so popular with wing paddlers, also works very well. With a good catch a GP is remarkably silent in use (much quieter than the wing I have been racing with lately.) I have a selection of information on the forward stroke with a GP on the Qajaq USA website at http://www.qajaqusa.org/Technique/Strokes.html . Best Regards, Greg Stamer Orlando, Florida http://www.gregstamer.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 Jul 20 2009 - 05:25:13 PDT
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