[Paddlewise] Wing paddle and hull speed was (Re: Who Took Shaun White Sea Kayaking?)

I'm sorry to have gotten you thinking Craig. A wing will work in any fluid. As
for it being faster, Paul Hayward has a good point. If you want to really see
the difference between paddles you will need to use a kayak that has a higher
hull speed than you can paddle the distance at you which you will be testing
(with the fastest paddle) otherwise that difference will be seriously limited
by the very steep drag curve of the boat caused by wave drag (known as hull
speed). So if you are limited to using your Mariner II you might do well to
test it using a longer course and doing it before you get in better shape. The
other alternative is to find a kayak with a lot more frictional drag (much
longer or as long and much wider) or use a very narrow race boat that has a
much softer hull speed limit to push against. I'm trying to give the wing
paddle every advantage here to prove its worth. My personal opinion is that it
does allow you to go just a bit further with each stroke (but also requires
that you put in the extra energy to push the kayak further during that stroke)
so the efficiency difference is small and due mostly to the less time wasted
expending energy between strokes. Certainly a racer's edge in sprint racing
using the wing, but not as much as many claim. However, there are so many
downsides to the wing shape in what you can do with it for controlling the
kayak (and limiting your repratrare of strokes) that if there isn't much speed
or paddling ease advantage at the speeds you might normally paddle you would
be better off using the wing stroke with a non-wing paddle. If you have a
Greenland stick add it to the test mix too.
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