My last post on this subject
The original poster stated that “less-energy (was)expended getting from point A to point B”. Less energy expended translates to more efficient.
Given proper form, it is not possible for a double blade to be more efficient than a single. For any given paddler it may be more comfortable, it may be faster or in a variety of ways may be more effective however using sweeps on both sides, which is what one does with a double blade, cannot be more efficient.
Marc Ornstein
Dogpaddle Canoe Works
Custom Canoe Paddles and Woodstrip Canoes
google king island paddles
Every single kayaker in our group carries a bent shaft single for a spare. Sure its cut down. There is no need for “reach”.
http://www.tuktupaddles.com/king.html
Blanket Statement
No need for reach? It depends what you are trying to do. For example, the best part of an eddy to get a grip on isn’t always right next to the path your boat must follow as you make your approach (and then fly on by going sideways if your paddle didn’t take hold), and in all cases, eddy-turn or not, if you really want to pivot the boat in a hurry a decent moment arm is more effective than trying to horse the boat from a location close to the hull and pivot point. But you knew that.
From my perspective…
I’ve used solo canoes for many years, mainly on class 1 rivers, paddling both upstream and downstream, using both single blades and double blades. I’m seldom in a hurry going downstream, since I’m usually fishing, but going upstream is work.
What I’ve found is that the double blade is almost necessary for going upstream against current. The reason for this is that if you let the canoe get off line at all, the current will very quickly push it far off line. With the continual correction of a double blade, the canoe seldom if ever gets off line enough to cause a problem.
However, there are always problems with the double blade. If you actually need to maneuver in the current when going upstream, the double blade loses a lot of its advantages. Then you have to recover on the same side without applying forward power on the other side, and you lose your efficiency.
Double blades are more fatiguing for me, but that’s mainly because in a given period of time I’m applying power more continuously. When your recover from one stroke is actually a part of the power of the next stroke, you are continually using muscle power with no rest. Recovery on the single blade stroke is your muscles’ rest period. So my shoulders and back get a burn going with a long session of upstream paddling, something that never happens even when I’m sit and switching at full speed while paddling through long, dead pools.
I use a variety of J strokes with the single blade, but sit and switch is always my “fastest” single blade stroke. Full power on one side, no corrections, for about three strokes, then switch and full power to the other side for three strokes–that’s about all my Vagabond will take before it yaws too much. My Oscoda Coda will take four power strokes to the side before switching. And I also use a power stroke with paddle close to vertical, starting with a slight inward curve at the beginning of the stroke, flowing into the straight power stroke, which will give me a couple more strokes to one side before switching, and doesn’t seem to bleed off much if any forward speed. This stroke only works if your sitting position is very near the center of the canoe, so that your stroke starts out well in front of center. The canoe actually turns slightly to the paddle side at the beginning of each stroke in that case.
With proper form, paying close attention to form, and constantly monitoring the canoe’s angle, I believe you could paddle on one side with a good J stroke all day long on flat water, and be less tired for the same DISTANCE covered than with a double blade. And if you can do a J stroke of equal efficiency on either side and switch from one side to another after some period of time to change the muscles being used, you would definitely be less tired per TIME spent paddling than with the double blade. But for purely covering distance quickly, the double blade will do it better.
actually
– Last Updated: Sep-20-10 4:21 PM EST –
it does not work that way. A very whippy turn is provided by just being fore or aft of the pivot point in a solo boat.
There is no need to reach way forward or backward for static strokes.
Watch any FreeStyle offering on You Tube..nobody is doing any reaching far forward or back
But of course this is on flatwater. Rivers change everything.
Probably this is hijacking the whole thread but I have been wondering just why that phenonenom exists when it seems so contrary. Maybe its because of the relative real velocity of the turning ends (which are going faster) than the middle that allows more force from the water bounced off the paddle when more centrally placed.
That said a real disadvantage is that its tough to use a double blade well centered to get a tight turn..It can be done by people well skilled..and in a kayak..in the canoe a post is an invitation to shower.
I havent been good at placing a canoe within an inch of a goal with a double blade. With a single its no sweat.
Not all turns use momentum
– Last Updated: Sep-20-10 6:27 PM EST –
I've had the priviledge of listening to presentations by Rolf Kraiker on three or four occasions now, and the advantage of a decent lever arm (the distance between where the blade grips the water and the pivot point of the boat) when cranking a boat around is something he always emphasises. Yes, he solo-paddles tandem canoes rather than solo canoes, but the principle is real in any case - it's simple physics. Regardless of the boat, he is the best solo paddler I've ever seen, and I'd probably believe what he says even if the laws of physics didn't appear to back him up (which in this case they do). I've seen those snappy turns by free-style paddlers when the boat has plenty of momentum, but taking advantage of the water moving past the boat or being able to free the stems are not available options during all maneuvers or under all conditions (and admittedly, I'm not that good at heeling the boat an extreme amount). Also, when I've seen free-stylers spinning the boat in place, often times the paddle blade is pretty far from the boat's pivot point.
There was even a time when you yourself often gave advice that you had to apply your effort farther from the pivot point if you wanted more turning effect for your effort. Maybe you remember that. It made sense then, and to me, still does.
Actually, the simplest illustration of this is how a sweep stroke causes the boat to change heading by a lot, while a stroke close alongside the boat only changes it a little. .
I drip just as much water in kayaks
as in canoes when double blading, but with the smaller cockpits, the water drips on the deck, rather than inside the boat on my legs. The larger cockpitted kayaks get just as much water dripped in them as do the open canoes, unless using a skirt.
Rolf uses the greater mass of the tandem
to his advantage. I do too in a tandem with an otter style stick. Those moves have almost no speed and use the mass of the boat to propel them. Its really a haul to get a tandem to stop and start in another direction Canadian style (while looking pretty…a grimace just won’t do)
But its not about argument. I am wondering why at speed near hull speed in a small narrow solo that has the capabilities of a quick turn, why the plant of the paddle(usually wide and much shorter than an ottertail) just on one side of the pivot point has such a greater effect on the turn than one at the stems (when you are doing your best impersonation of Quasimodo)