Subject: Re: baidarka drip rings for narrow blade
From: James Mitchell (mariner@seanet.com)
Date: Wed Jan 03 2001 - 00:35:43 EST
The center of the loom stays dry for me, but water does run off the outside
of each hand onto the spray skirt. In an earlier hull with the small round
or oval cockpits, the hand position would have been over the peak of the
deck ahead of the cockpit and their "spray skirt"; therefore water on the
spray deck was prevented. This is a problem unique to our modern cockpits,
one of the negatives to go with the many positives of our current designs.
I just accept that my hands are going to get wet. In Puget Sound or SE
Alaska, where I do most of my paddling, I welcome touching the water; in
fact, I often stroke my lower hand into the water just to touch it, or maybe
cool off a bit. My paddle looms are sanded and oiled redcedar, which does
not require a hard grip to maintain control; in fact, the light touch is by
far the best. I very seldom get callouses or blisters from the blades.
And I am not a flexible guy. Have never been all that athletic. But the
degree of rotation involved in this stroke is just very comfortable. Now
Lew, he is really athletic; so when he does this same stroke, he FLIES.
Easily over 5 kts. I have seen him cruise at what I would estimate to be
about 6.5, although I am sure he can give you the GPS details on that. So
you see, by getting this whole body rotation into the stroke -- and by using
a paddle designed to do it -- you can get the speed, and the comfort, and
the control, and the beauty.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Stehn" <stehn@cgspouses.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: baidarka drip rings for narrow blade
> James Mitchell wrote:
>
> > Ya know, if I used drip rings as you describe and found them effective,
it
> > would suggest that I am not getting enough rotation into my stroke. This
is
> > most true with the Aleut paddle, but even with Euro style blades I think
> > this is a valuable thing to notice.
> >
> > When I am paddling properly with a Euro style blade, my "uphill" hand is
> > across the centerline of the hull on every stroke. If I am stroking on
the
> > left side, my RIGHT hand is across the centerline. If that is not true,
then
> > I am "windmilling" the paddle, keeping my hands over their respective
> > gunwales and "pedaling" with the paddle as if on a bicycle. That is
> > wasteful, uses lots of arm energy and nothing else. The body rotation I
> > described at first powers the stroke from my abs and my legs, more than
with
> > my arms.
> >
> > That rotation will carry the blade over the deck, where water can easily
> > drip down on the hull. The problem is more extreme with the Aleut
paddles,
> > because a proper stroke involves having BOTH hands over the same
gunwale.
> > You will be sweeping the paddle clear across the deck on each stroke, so
> > drip rings are useless.
> >
> > I suppose drip rings set at the throat of short blades on a long loom
might
> > be far enough away to not drip on the spray skirt, but that will
certainly
> > not be the case with the Aleut blades we have been discussing.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <dldecker@se.mediaone.net>
> > > I don't like gloves so this
> > > morning I got two rubber bands, the 1/4 in wide kind and tripled
looped
> > > them one on each side on the loom and blade transition. it worked
great.
> > > Keep 75% of the water off my skirt and my hands dry till I dug to deep
and
> > > put them in the water with the blade.
>
> Mr. Mitchell,
>
> I understand by your description that if the proper stroke was used for
either
> paddle type that the skirt should be puddle free. I can appreciate Mr.
> Decker's dislike of gloves, and I don't think that pogies would be a good
idea
> if you need to be able to make a big shift that required you to grab blade
for a
> brace.
>
> Would the "rings", as Mr. Decker described them, help with the cold and
wet
> hands thing, or does proper technique with a sliding grip rule these out.
And
> another question would be - Did the original paddles have any sort of
> modification to encourage the water to drip off before running over the
hands?
>
>
>
> --
> Jon Stehn
> jstehn@uscg.net
>
>
>
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