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What amazes me about those paddlers is the focused endurance for .62 miles. The cadence with the hard slap at the catch and the plume of about 4 lbs of water flung at the exit. The hull design creates virtually no wake to trap the boat in a trough. I admire their age and athleticism.
While many of us were laying block, felling trees, finishing concrete, lifting garden stones and earning a living, these fellows had the time to practice their craft in those prodigious boats. I think about struggling on my 29 lb mountain hog as I stopped to lift it over logs, while the young bikers climb 10% grades faster than a F150 pick up.
I hope life will be easier on them than it has been on some of us. I wonder what their posts will read like in 45 years. Dang, thats longer than some of them have been alive. It is something to admire. Somebody has to live their dreams. I notice that I use a similar wide grip, without the vigorous gyrations, which is on reason I prefer a long paddle.
200 Meter was my favorite event to race. It was fast, fun and way harder than it looked. Have a bad start and your race was over. The stroke rate was through the roof and yet you somehow had to maintain good technique.
I really miss it.
Thanks for posting
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You can say that’s living in the fast lane!
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He is beating the water out of the way for damn sure.
My Back hurts watching
Peace J
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People like that belong in a museum. Look at the water the throw up at the end of the stroke.
The closest I can count is about 110 spm. Freaks of nature.
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Do those folks ever break a paddle while at speed? Seems like you would just tumble over with the loss of resistance if you were in just the right part of the stroke.
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Dang! I hope not!
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A few years ago there was a rash of knock-off Braca paddles floating around.
They broke a lot and that did cause quite a few injuries, but to paddle a 16 inch wide boat means you have fallen out of them a few or more times.
I have 20 something year old Epic wing that has never failed in over 80 marathon races. I don’t have the same faith in the Fenn 4 I have, it has been chipping around the edges.
For Olympic or sponsored races the paddles are treated like carbon bike forks should be, they are x-rayed to look for cracks.
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I have been told by a former Olympic paddler that with wooden paddles this can be done by very strong paddlers from a standstill position, because I have seen it happen once…
For modern carbon paddles I don’t know, but I quess so.
If I ever feel some need to go that fast I know just what to buy
then and only then I might have some chance of being about 75% as fast as that guy
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Speed doesn’t mean a thing, but I have more important thing to do than paddle between 6 and 8 hours to cover the same distance I can cover in 1 hr and 45 minutes. But the forum makes a good point, I’ll just go home, cut the grass and sit in my rocking chair. For that matter, why buy a $900 paddle or a $5,000 boat and laugh at people who buy a $300 rec boat. They actually get it and made a value decision that I can appreciate.
I think you will be much slower with that hanging on the stern of the regular kayak
If navel gazing in a rocking chair or cutting the grass is more important that paddling to some, then by all means they should take care of those things first. Then use whatever time is leftover to tweet profound thoughts, tear into a thirty pack of Milwaukee’s finest, or maybe even paddle. Obviously, that $5000 and $900 paddle was bought more to show off than to use anyhoo.
Experienced paddlers clearly avoid this topic. They have the knowledge they need. The racers use a totaly different technique. All I can offer is whp0pat I learned from several years of paddling. I’m not actually fast, but by necessity, I traded power for efficiency. I have no problem reserve what I learned for my own benefit. Part of my pleasure was the process of inprovement and figuring it out on my own. I think most people actually enjoy that aoproach. Last tbing I want to do is make anyone feel inadequate. That’s essentially what most members are saying. They can figure it out.
Jyak, it is not necessarily you that is not fast, but the boat you paddle.
Plastic boats oilcan and use extra energy. Composite boats are more rigid and therefore faster.
Don’t discourage yourself please.
I was a middle of the pack racer until I got a faster boat, I did not change paddles or technique, I only got a faster boat.
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kanoniem said “I think you will be much slower with that hanging on the stern of the regular kayak”
Maybe.
But I am already much slower than that man is ---- without it hanging off the stern of my kayak.
So what’s the difference?
As long as I can paddle, I would never succumb to an outboard motor just because there are much faster paddlers than me. It is not about faster, but about having fun doing the best I can for as long as I still can to that.
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Well we feel the same way.
My post is just a joke (mostly)
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