Has anyone tried either the SpeedCoach Mobile or ipaddle? Do the properly count stroke rate?
No, But Used Boat Coach For Droids
Until the excellent tracking feature was discontinued.
Re: Stroke Rate: SpeedCoach Mobile
Hi - I’m the developer of the SpeedCoach Mobile app, which is now called “CrewNerd” (it’s a long story).
I’m not a paddler, myself, but when I was developing the app, I got some help from Peter Newton, a former US National Team member (sprint kayak & canoe). With his help, I was able to capture high-quality acceleration data at a variety of stroke rates & pressure levels. Because rowing, kayaking and canoeing have very different stroke rate ranges and acceleration levels, the app lets you select your activity so it can tune the stroke detection algorithm accordingly.
There’s also an advanced setting that lets you change the stroke rate sensitivity, so that more recreational rowers can reduce the amount of acceleration required to register a stroke.
CrewNerd is available on both iOS and Android, and there’s a free trial option on both, so you can try the application out under real conditions before you buy (on iOS, see the “CrewNerd Lite” app for the free trial).
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@performancephones.com.
Thanks,
Tony Andrews
Performance Phones, LLC
CrewNerd
Hello Tony,
Thanks for your replay.
Some background: I solely paddle Olympic kayaks for recreational purposes and some races. After “a long time” of trial and error, I successfully adapted a SpeedCoach to my kayak rotating seat to read stroke rate very well, so I really understand how complicated is to capture the “kayak stroke” vs. “rowing stroke”
Anyway, how accurate is the reading at high/short kayak stroke rate? I did tried another app and I wasn’t very convinced…
Thanks again!
Xavier
Vaaka
I haven’t tried CrewNerd but it looks interesting and quite inexpensive as compared to dedicated cadence sensors. I’m using the Vaaka cadence sensor with my Garmin Forerunner 310XT and it been completely reliable in the year I have had it; works extremely well.
http://www.vaaka.co.nz/#xl_xr_page_vaaka%20kayak%20cadence
Greg Stamer
1 Like
effective ?
is generalizing possible ? that paddlers using electronic aids are faster than paddlers who are not or is every competitive paddler using an electronic metronome ?
For Around $10.00 and a ZipLock Bag
The cheap compact musical metronomes are just as good.
Vaaka
Greg,
Thanks for the reminder, that’s a good option…
Hi Greg,
I know it has been a long time since you have used the Vaaka sensor, 10 years by now! I’m a curious paddler, having used a Greenland paddle for 3 years, and started paddling with a wing paddle in a surfski this year.
Have you ever used the Vaaka on a Greenland paddle to measure cadence and distance per stroke?
And if that is a yes, have you been able to test out different stroke styles to test for efficiency based on cadence, distance per stroke and heart rate?
What would the target metrics to train for be with a Greenland paddle, e.g., the target cadence for a paddle of 20 km? For kayak races (e.g., 1000 m or marathon), the top athletes will—according to Dr. Brendan O’Neill of Vaaka—be within a range of +/—2 double strokes per minute. That seems to be the physical limit of the human body. For 1000 m or 3 1/2 min in an Olympics race, the cadence for all athletes will be between 53-57 double strokes per minute.
It would be fascinating to see similar values for a Greenland paddle by an experienced paddler with some racing experience at distances of 5 - 20 km.
Much of the knowledge about cadence based training I have comes from Dr. Brendan O’Neill’s podcasts, e.g. PPP Episode 19: All Things Cadence with Dr Brendan O’Neill - TC SURFSKI
And the book on cadence based training Vaaka has published.
Are you aware of anyone else having done such tests? I’d love to see that happen. My own experience with the Greenland paddle is too limited to produce meaningful results: three years of extensive rolling exercise and very limited forward paddling.
There is an old blog post from 2013 where you are quoted being slightly faster with the Greenland paddle in wilder conditions during the Iceland circumnavigation, where Freya had switched to a wing paddle: Gnarlydog News: Technique: Greenland paddle speed
And in that blog post Maligiaq is cited having won a surfski race in Florida with the Greenland paddle. That must have been quite a sight, the other athletes equipped with wing paddles - and then Maligiaq with a stick, beating them in a race!
Thanks for all your work to spread the word about the Greenland paddle when people were unaware of that paddling tradition.
All the best from Copenhagen,
Raju Bitter