Horses for courses ... or ... paddles for purposes. Designing anything is a compromise, thus different decisions yield different results. That kayak tug-o-war might show longer GPs to be "better" than shorter EPs. More HP put into the water more quickly. I know my GP is great in really shallow mud flats where I can slide it way out and have a good strong shallow stoke. Better than my EP in this case. Some work in rivers with moving water and strainers favors my EP if only because I can grab more water with a shallow vertical stroke. I can't take a wide shallow stroke because there are rocks and roots in the way. When I'm in a tricky situation like that I just pole along with my GP, being careful not to get it stuck in the roots or rock cracks. It's easier to extract the GP from the roots if it does go in that the EP, which can get trapped by the blade entering and turning a little in the roots. Think mangrove roots here. Since we are mainly paddling distances, where explosive power is rarely needed, it makes sense that a GP would be what we lean toward (once bias is placed aside.) Or a smaller blade EP, but the nice thing about the GP is you can vary the amount of paddle you are using at any one time. Carey *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Jul 09 2010 - 10:25:44 PDT
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