Re: [Paddlewise] Who Took Shaun White Sea Kayaking?

On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 7:32 AM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote:

> 13 Celsius yesterday, full-on sunshine - not bad for winter here in
> syrup-sucking Canada. A gold-medal day for kayaking for sure - which is all
> I care about. Let us know if you get any details.


I suspect it might have been one of the WCP group; maybe MikeC who was one
of the three paddlers featured in that opening video.


> Some folks got out with
> Freya, the "Hoff" last Saturday after her Victoria presentation. I rather
> think we are going to see more 18 foot fast sea kayaks in the future...more
> wing paddle use and more Olympic-style, performance-oriented paddle
> strokes.
>

I rather think you're right on all those points. Not that I have anything
against any of those; after all, I do paddle a 17'11" Mariner II which is
close enough to 18' to count... and is an FSK according to at least one
Seattle ratings guide. Oh.. and I have a wing, too. Not so sure about the
performance-oriented stroe part though. Quite a few Paddlewisers are
enthusiastic enough about fast kayaks as it is but that enthusiasm should
grow as Freya makes more paddlers try to keep up.

Speaking of wing paddles: Matt Broze has a wonderful way of grounding things
in logic. One of the things Matt triggered in me is a question of whether a
"wing" paddle actually works like a wing; with low and high pressures, etc.
Since water is, for all practical purposes, incompressible, the idea of low
and high pressure should only be considered in terms of depth. I have read
accounts that a wing paddle will move a boat 3 or 4 inches farther for the
same stroke than a "regular" paddle. But since the "wing stroke" is
different than a normal forward stroke it's possible that it's the stroke
that accounts for much of the difference and not the shape of the wing
paddle at all..

This struck a chord because I've noticed that since I have become accustomed
to the wing stroke (which, for those of you who may not know what it is, is
a high-angle stroke that starts close to the hull forward and sweeps out
away from the hull in the final part of the stroke) I have noticed that if I
want to accelerate using the Lightning paddle (a Euro paddle without a wing
shape) I adopt a wing stroke automatically.

Matt has suggested that I take the  Lightning paddle and use it in a wing
stroke over a course and then take the wing paddle and cover the same course
and compare the results. Since I live on a lake where my workout paddles
cover pretty much similar water day-over-day, this would be pretty easy to
do. All I have to do is get into shape to cover the course (after a winter
of mostly holding down a sofa).

Our weather here in the summer is pretty dull which would remove one of the
variables. My plan is to make several paddles over several days keeping as
much as possible identical except the paddles. The course, the time of
start, the boat, the gear, etc. would all be the same. Only the paddles
would change. I would have to keep the strokes as similar as possible in
order to be able to quantify whether the wing is really faster under similar
conditions.

I'm going to wait for decent weather in the 70s and for the lake to reach
its summer pool elevation to do this. My wife can help with timing and
support in the summer (she gets summers offI'll keep the list updated. It
should be interesting.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************