[Paddlewise] A new way to teach the forward stroke?

From: Niels Blaauw <niels_at_nibla.nl>
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2011 23:07:34 +0200
I've been teaching the forward stroke for about ten years now. I think 
the stroke itself is fine, but my justifications  were shaky. I thought 
up a better explanation of why our normal forward stroke is the best. My 
explanation is at least consistent with the laws of physics, which can't 
be said for the explanations I've heard so far and used myself.

The summary of my thoughts would be: "take it easy: Use gravity". To 
explain more elaborate I need a paddle - so I made a 10-minute video 
about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aB0rdn4UnQ

I know that Paddlewise has some passionate paddlers and some people who 
know their physics. If any of you could spare 10 minutes to watch it and 
give me an informal peer-review, it would be much appreciated. I plan to 
use this explanation on my students this summer, so by proving me wrong, 
any one of you could save 20 people from ending up with a wasted evening.

Some notes on the video, to save myself from answering the questions 
afterwards:
- My native language is Dutch. Forgive me my funny accent, grammatical 
errors, and confusing "force" with "energy" in some cases. Especially 
that last error embarrasses me - just not enough to do it over.
- I'm talking strictly about a _touring_ stroke. My explanation does not 
apply to any competition-stroke.
- My examples of failing explanations, in the first minute of the video, 
may be strawmen. If so, please let me know.
- The last minute of the video is a product-placement. Since the product 
has never been sold, I hope you guys can forgive me.
- The occasional howling in the background is my faithful canine 
companion Kira. The outdoor-shots with her in the picture were cute 
enough to stitch together into a seperate video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N85gqVvlWU

As I said: comments, arguments and corrections are most welcome.

Niels
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Received on Sat Apr 23 2011 - 14:07:46 PDT

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