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

Craig Jungers wrote: 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..




Me:


When I was a sprint racer, starting in 1967, there were no composite
boats or paddles and the paddles were traditional spoon-bladed Liminat
or Hungarian knock-offs.  Nearly everyone had a 90 feather as well.

Many, many of us used what is now called a 'wing paddle stroke' with
those old paddles.  The torso-involved part dictated the catch and
beginning of the stroke.  How high or low the pushing arm would be was a
big variable, with the relatively higher punchers being the 'wingers.' 
The end of the stroke, however, was one of the defining characteristics
of the different styles.  My technique, and I was not nearly alone in
this, was to end the in-water part of the stroke out about a foot from
the hull.  No one ever suggested doing this, it just felt natural. 
Twenty years later, when I was teaching, other instructors would crab
that I was paddling too far away from the boat.  So I watched what my
paddle was doing in the water and noticed that, by winging out at the
end of the stroke, I was keeping the blade in the pressure wave (wake)
coming off the hull near the cockpit.  When I kept the blade close to
the boat, or even further out from the boat,out away from the wave, I
felt tippy and slow.  My theory, based only my own imagination, is that
keeping the blade in my wake was putting the blade in more 'solid' (if
that's the right word) water than if the blade were closer in.  This
paddle path in the water also was a straight line.  Following the curve
of the hull would result in an arc for the path and inhibit torso
rotation.

I have watched for this in other paddlers who do not use a wing paddle
and I find that many of the very best place their paddles the same way.

All this to say that I am convinced that the wing paddle stroke is
surely a good one for many of us, and it was being used decades before
the first wing paddle, but the wing paddle is the best tool for going
fast.  Those sprint team guys wouldn't be using them otherwise, I don't
think. 

Jim Tibensky  
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