Stan in Bay BullsLast Saturday Richard took us through a forward stroke clinic at the pool. The forward stroke he taught was one more based on a racing stroke used by the likes of Adam van Koeverden, Canada's K1 king.
After getting the paddle in the water up to the shaft at a more upright angle the business part of the forward stroke is the power phase. This part is considerably different from the stroke I'd been using. Keeping the non-working hand at eye level the paddle is pulled through the water by pivoting the torso as if doing the waltz at arms length. The paddle is kept vertical and sweeps out from the hull at an angle like one side of a "V" and taken out, as in the past, at the hips.
This explained Richard keeps the paddle out of the disturbed water alongside the hull. I';m sold on this part.
Why take the paddle out at the hips? What I've read suggests taking the paddle out further back causes the paddler to lift water and force the stern down. Otherwise I haven't seen a good explanation but Richard led me to a valid argument.
Most of the power is produced by the paddle up to the hips. As the paddle goes past the hips power is still produced but at only about 60%. A propeller driven boat has the prop in the water 100% of the time and is therefore very efficient. Our prop is the paddle and its not in the water all the time. The key to efficiency then is to have the paddle in the water when most of the power is generated and not keep it in the water when not generating maximum power, i.e. behind the hips.
I wish they would just come out and explain the rationale.
Tony, you wrote :Why take the paddle out at the hips? What I've read suggests taking the paddle out further back causes the paddler to lift water and force the stern down"
ReplyDeleteI've been reading up on GP strokes and their efficiency. One technique described is the use of a slight "upstroke" as the paddle is exiting the water. In other words, your paddle is tilted forward and as you full the paddle out of the water, you can actual use this tilt/lift to provide some further fwd force. I'm thinking that it works along the lines of a sculling stroke. So with a Euro, you try to have as clean an exit (to prevent the stern from being pushed down) while with a GP you can use this to your advantage. Here's a link to the page describing GP strokes - just in case your curious.
http://www.qajaqusa.org/Technique/Greenland_technique_from_the_source.html
Sean
Yes Sean, I've said that but after thinking about it I believe any downward tilt of the stern results in very little loss of efficiency.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)