If it means anything, you are my spirit animal! I’m a racing cyclist, 65 years old, been racing 50+ years, who’s just getting into competitive kayak paddling. Learning a lot from your experiments! PS: I’m the sprinter on our 40+ cycling team… 😅
Excellent video. I like to mix it up between your cruising stroke and the high angle more traditional stroke for a burst of speed. As a novice I'm struggling for proper paddle angle. The man who taught me a proper stroke has me paddling with the paddle at 214. This leaves me somewhat horizontal in the water as I get amidships. At 6 ft tall with a very long torso I feel like 210 might be a better length. Any thoughts?
Great video, but I disagree with your views around the “long stroke” All research done indicates that a wing blade becomes counter productive if kept in the water too long, and it actually slows you down. When I am cruising I keep the strokes “short” but pause as you mentioned and in that way don’t increase the rate. This allows your ski to glide forward without being slowed down by the blade. The analogy that I was taught is that if you go running and take very long strides (unless you happen to be one of those few with very long legs) it in fact makes you less productive. If you want to do the “long stroke” then I’d suggest a wing paddle with a minimised curvature as the blade is designed to go in as far forward as possible and exit sooner. Totally agree with your leading hand eye height approach, especially with a winged blade - the design of the blade makes it “lock” into the water and you pull yourself past the blade, as compared to a flat blade which is dragged through the water. By holding your leading hand high the blade is more vertical and therefore it works as it is supposed to do. ( Analogy: If you sit on a skateboard and use a broom handle to propel yourself forward you would hold it down vertically and propel yourself past it.) However if you paddle with a low leading hand the paddle is no longer vertical and a vector of force is in fact trying to change direction rather than propel you forward.
Depends on how much torso rotation you get. If he’s getting a lot of rotation, he’ll come out of the water later. Every paddler is different. The fundamentals matter, but individual differences provide the final arbiter. He’s finding that his ability to delay getting out of the water is helpful. So he must be getting pretty good rotation. No rules, just performance. Love his approach! 😊
If it means anything, you are my spirit animal! I’m a racing cyclist, 65 years old, been racing 50+ years, who’s just getting into competitive kayak paddling. Learning a lot from your experiments! PS: I’m the sprinter on our 40+ cycling team… 😅
Excellent video. I like to mix it up between your cruising stroke and the high angle more traditional stroke for a burst of speed. As a novice I'm struggling for proper paddle angle. The man who taught me a proper stroke has me paddling with the paddle at 214. This leaves me somewhat horizontal in the water as I get amidships. At 6 ft tall with a very long torso I feel like 210 might be a better length. Any thoughts?
Could tell is was LA. Dead bodies floating by as you demonstrate cruising stroke. 😂
Great video, but I disagree with your views around the “long stroke” All research done indicates that a wing blade becomes counter productive if kept in the water too long, and it actually slows you down. When I am cruising I keep the strokes “short” but pause as you mentioned and in that way don’t increase the rate. This allows your ski to glide forward without being slowed down by the blade. The analogy that I was taught is that if you go running and take very long strides (unless you happen to be one of those few with very long legs) it in fact makes you less productive. If you want to do the “long stroke” then I’d suggest a wing paddle with a minimised curvature as the blade is designed to go in as far forward as possible and exit sooner. Totally agree with your leading hand eye height approach, especially with a winged blade - the design of the blade makes it “lock” into the water and you pull yourself past the blade, as compared to a flat blade which is dragged through the water. By holding your leading hand high the blade is more vertical and therefore it works as it is supposed to do. ( Analogy: If you sit on a skateboard and use a broom handle to propel yourself forward you would hold it down vertically and propel yourself past it.) However if you paddle with a low leading hand the paddle is no longer vertical and a vector of force is in fact trying to change direction rather than propel you forward.
Depends on how much torso rotation you get. If he’s getting a lot of rotation, he’ll come out of the water later. Every paddler is different. The fundamentals matter, but individual differences provide the final arbiter. He’s finding that his ability to delay getting out of the water is helpful. So he must be getting pretty good rotation. No rules, just performance. Love his approach! 😊