Subject: Re: baidarka Feathered paddles
From: James Mitchell (mariner@seanet.com)
Date: Mon Feb 28 2000 - 22:15:13 EST
Glad to hear you confirm some of what I have been discovering about dealing
with carpal tunnel. Thanks again for the input!! It will see some good use
soon in our local club!
----- Original Message -----
From: wayne steffens <wsteffen@mr.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: baidarka Feathered paddles
At 10:02 PM 2/27/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Yeah, Wayne... good input! I would think that lowering the grip strength
by
>making a larger loom helps a lot. Have you tried making the loom in a tall
>oval? Wolfgang Brinck shows that in his book. I make mine about 2" high
>using a kind of squashed oval shape. It is very relaxing to hold,
>automatically pulls the paddle into position, and really helps you maintain
>orientation in a roll. Allows you to hold the blade very loosely, relaxing
>your fingers.
Yes, its much more relaxing for the fingers. My current paddle (and for the
past 3-4 years) is about 1.5 by a little over 1.25 inches. My next one (if
this one ever breaks) will be even bigger. This one was slightly larger
around before but I've sanded it a couple times now. I wanted it even
bigger but it just looked so fat, so I trimmed it down. I could definitely
lengthen the long side of the oval even more without it becoming too
difficult to grip.
>
>Your Greenland blade should be about as easy to pull through as it gets.
I also makes by blades quite narrow for that reason. I dont go fast but at
least I paddle with less pain. But the pull is still what gets me (see
below)
>Only other thing I might suggest -- and I do so quite hesitatingly as it
>appears you are way ahead of me in using these blades -- is to minimize the
>amount of elbow bending involved in your stroke. Now I am using the Aleut
>blade so it will be a bit different, but I form a "box" between my
shoulders
>and the loom, and basically lock my elbows during the stroke. OK, not
>totally, but enough so that I am forced to rotate my entire trunk into the
>stroke (shoulders parallel to loom) rather than "windmilling" with my arms.
>In working with a couple intermediates who were complaining of carpal
>tunnel, this approach worked. It delivers all the power of the stroke into
>the legs, helping lessen stressin your lower arms. Also, since elbow
>movement necessitates wrist movement, it minimizes both.
>
>One more tip that I have been using with paddlers who need help on this, is
>to leave the loom unvarnished. A matt surface, slightly rough to the touch,
>can help the paddle adhere to your skin. A varnished or slick paddle
surface
>will cause you to have to clamp tighter to the shaft to control flutter and
>maintain the proper blade angle. If you are using composite blades, I
often
>coach paddlers to take some emery cloth and sand the glaze off the surface
>of the shaft under their hands. The less grip you need, the better.
>
>Like I say, you are probably way beyond this simple instruction, so I hope
>you find them helpful rather than insulting! Good luck on your paddling!
I'm not insulted. Although I have been using Groenlandic paddles for years,
I've never made a point of fine tuning my technique and I'm sure I can
benefit from it to a degree. I'm a hack; I just built a stick and got out
and used it, the last couple of years almost all my paddling has been in
surf (just no time for leisure paddling but I never miss surf if I can help
it!). I'm no purist when it come to equipment or technique (can I say that
here?) but I'm always open to ideas that will help me paddle without
aggravating my problem. I always try for the torso rotation but I've never
ingrained it so that its second nature. I usually start out rotating then
get lazy. For me the problem is mostly one of grip on the "pulling" blade,
I think. I just cant grip the paddle lightly enough on the backstroke, even
with a larger loom, even though I'm pushing with the other end more than
pulling with the backward moving one. And yes I always open and relax my
hand on the forward stroke. If I could figure a way of keeping the hand
open on the back stroke, I'd be fine. Its kinda hard to hold onto the
paddle that way though.
Wayne
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