Re: [Paddlewise] bracing and power

I wrote:



>>>>>My point is that the native paddlers may do it the way they do because
that is
what someone in a position of influence thought (and their ideas remained
dominant long after they were dead) and the few who thought of a better way
weren't listened to as they were obviously, out of step, deviant, or some
other slanderous term for "doesn't believe what I believe (and most right
thinking, honest, God fearing, American's believe, DADGUMMIT!").<<<<<<<



Craig Jungers wrote:


>>>>>>>Hmm.... your last two sentences could logically apply to the current
debate as well. Most of the naysayers to Chuck's idea of *LONG* paddles are,
like me, mostly playboaters and former white water paddlers. And a majority of
the arguments were based on areas where shorter paddles make more sense. Rob
Gibbert's remarks about using the tool that best fits the job struck a chord
with me........

.......I love the fact that we can have such diversity. I would have never
thought that SOF boats and Greenland paddles would have made such inroads but
it's a wonderful niche and exciting to participate in it.>>>>>>

SEE, like I said; your last sentence reveals that those long dead natives are
still having an undo influence on paddlers and paddles today! The original
kayaking tradition is now spanning cultures and continents. There are probably
more skin kayaks in existence today than at any time in history. However,
appeal to authority is not a logical argument, but is one that is often made
because it has a certain appeal.

I admire someone who can stand up alone for what he thinks is right and face
the abuse of his jeering peers, even if he is wrong. I try to keep an open
mind on things and have even tried to come up for reasons that might favor a
longer paddle, even though I've had to stretch some to do so, and easily shot
down most of my theories in that direction. But on analysis, most of the
arguments for a longer paddle don't seem to hold much water and definitely
don't fit with my own experience with different length paddles. Perhaps my
physiology is differnent than Chucks's.

I paddled with Chuck and others for about a week after the 1984 L.L. Bean
Symposium in Maine. He was using a very long paddle back then and being a very
powerful paddler few could outsprint him at the time. Maybe he had and
especially efficient kayak at high speeds (in fact I know he did, as I
designed it to be that way). But, maybe a long paddle actually works best for
his particular physiology. Maybe he has especially strong slow twitch muscles
and few fast twitch ones. I'd like to see him get into a kayak where the hull
speed limit could not be reached (so friction was the main resistance) and
then see if he was faster in a sprint using a longer paddle or a shorter one.
Next maybe we could hook him, and several other paddlers in turn, up to a mask
that measures oxygen uptake and see if he is more energy efficient using a
longer paddle than a shorter paddle at a given speed over a given (long)
distance. Next we could compare him with the oxygen uptake curves of lots of
other paddlers using different length paddles (to find the ideal length paddle
for each of them). Does anybody know which field of science would do this kind
of research? Sports Medicine? Physiology? There might be a Master's Thesis in
it for some budding university researcher. That way we could get something
better than anecdotal evidence to argue about. Or we could agree on that
aspect of paddling and go back to just arguing if bracing a kayak is better
with a longer or shorter paddle.
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