Hi,
I have dabbled with the GP for years now. It is not my primary paddle and I only use it occasionally. I have always been unsure about my forward stroke technique. For reference I use a high angle stroke.
I have read a lot and seen videos of the canted blade stroke. I paddle with my blade slightly canted and I can feel the water slipping across the surface of the top blade but I am never sure about how much to cant the blade.
I understand that the canted technique causes the blade to dive and to become more quickly submerged, but I have always been unsure about how much to cant and how much the blade should dive.
If I cant the blade much more than I currently do, the blade will dive very agressively to the point where the submered blade becomes almost complely vertical and causing my knuckles to often hit the side of the boat. This just does not feel right to me and although I am getting lots of “wing effect” I am sure, I don’t feel much bite on the blade.
How should the paddle react when I have the cant “correct?”
Also for reference, I have seen some GP videos where people of their top hand fall down towards the deck. I do not paddle like this. My top hand comes down a bit and then straight across the deck as it would with a Euro blade.
The Greenland forward stroke IS a low angle stroke. Physical laws apply.
To try and use a GL or Aleut paddle in a high angle negates much of it’s advantage and usefulness.
I use large heavily cleated tires on my 4WD truck because I live in a place that my 1-1/4 long drive gets covered with snow and mud. If I insist on always buying such tires and I insist on putting them on a small 2 seat economy car that I want for good gas milage and quick handling, I’d be told my car experts I am using the wrong tool for the job I am trying to do and NO AMOUNT of my insistence in buying tall deeply cleated tires is ever going to make them the right choice for a sports car for quick handling.
I heat with wood. A belt hatchet is a poor tool to use for splitting a dump truck full of rounds for winter heat no matter how much I like the belt hatchet. It is a very good tool, but it’s best used for what it’s made for.
Please do not take the forgoing as a rebuke but just a set of facts which need to be understood.
If you want to learn to use a GL paddle and use all the advantages it can offer, don’t insist on using it in a way it doesn’t work. It’s a low angle paddle!
If you want a REALLY good source of information on the use of the GL paddle and many other aspects of kayaking, look here.
This is exactly right. When the canted blade is biting, you want the resulting lift (really thrust) vector created by the paddle to be pointing close to horizontal and parallel to the direction of travel, so it propels you forward. There’s always a component of the vector pointing laterally and vertically, which is what drives the blade downward, and can make the boat roll as if capsizing, which has to be resisted with your hips and legs.
With a high angle stroke, the force vector becomes more lateral, over emphasizing the rolling moment and reducing the horizontal component that propels the boat, so it’s less efficient, and more annoying since you bang your knuckles, may capsize, etc.
Yes Paulo is still very active but his own site and organization is taking most of his time.
I can’t recommend Paulo highly enough. He is simply an outstanding instructor and super helpful.
I did 6 years ago, and I can;t recomend himn highly enough. Do it. You won’t be sorry.
He is very laid back in his teaching. Too much in fact because SOME POINTS THAT ARE EXTREMELY HELPFUL HE MENTIONS, BUT DOESN’T EMPHASES ENOUGH, SO IF YOU JOIN HIS SITE REALLY LISTEN TO HIS INSTRUCTIONS AND PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE DETAILS.
