Date: Sat, 18 Mar 1995 18:30:24 -0800 (PST)
From: George Dyson <gdyson@janice.cc.wwu.edu>
To: MR TOM L CLARKE <MRPK81A@prodigy.com>
Subject: Re: Paddling...
In-Reply-To: <013.04598371.MRPK81A@prodigy.com>
Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.91.950318181742.29530A-100000@janice.cc.wwu.edu>
Close your eyes and pull on the paddle. The kayak moves forward, in
relation to how hard you pull. Whether the other end of the paddle is
wide, narrow, long, short, churning up water, not churning up water, or
stuck in the mud makes no difference. (Although, yes, you can pull harder
if teh paddle is stuck in the mud or has blades the size of a large
pizza...) Churning up the water is not wasted effort, and vortex
generation without flutter is probably one of the marks of a good paddle
design. Churning up the water with the boat, however, is bad news...
Now I notice that your message was not posted to the list. So now this
answer can puzzle someone else...