What a sweet blade. It feels easy on the body and allows for more reps per minute. which means more speed. Now to roll with it.
Paddle safe...
DS
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Size Definitely matters...
Once upon a time, obsessed with the idea of going faster, I purchased the mega mama Ikelos blade by Werner. It grabs like a front end loader and is hard on the shoulders. I did notice that using smallerr paddles usually resulted in going faster because I just naturally picked up the number of strokes per hour. After much trying out all sorts of paddles I ordered and received a Cypress blade...and learned that too big isn't good.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I am sure that there are other great paddles available, but the foam core Werner Cyprus seems almost the perfect size, weight and blade shape for me also.
Silbs, I had the exact same experience. I thought: surely bigger is better.
Well, a few longer paddles (20 miles) and sore shoulders later I went to a bent shaft Cyprus. Interestingly enough I found that kayak speed was not affected, actually increased a bit.
Just like riding bicycles: as a novice I used to push hard on low revolutions until I looked at the pros where they were spinning (higher cadence) low gears but still going fast.
These days I "spin" with a Greenland paddle since I find that a kayak can only go so fast and in reality very little is needed to keep it at cruising speed. Where the Ikelos might come handy is for short burst of power were acceleration is needed and grabbing a lot of water is important.
I make the analogy: Ikelos=V8, GP=4 cylinders. One uses so much less fuel :-)
3 out of 3 paddlers prefer Cypress. Great analogy, Gnarly.
I think you're right.. Still, personally I like prefer Ikelos.. Different strokes and all that. :) Of course I drive a V8. ;)
I do use the big guy for lessons to turn and move quickly as the students scatter.
Post a Comment