I’ll write you a note. Worked many
years at the Hartsfield-Jackson of state psychiatric hospitals.
Speaking of Isaac Newton
When I paddle the two miles to Copper Sulfate Cove to practice this stuff, I always bring my new chair to sit on the flat rock there and read during interludes. I mean, this freestyle schtick isn’t as exciting as drawing with chalk on a driveway, and I can’t take it for more than about 30 minutes at a time.
Usually I read novels, but yesterday I re-read the opening chapter of Glaros & Wilson’s text on freestyle canoeing, called something like “Isaac Newton, Paddler.” It explains the physics of certain canoe motions and paddle forces.
The chapter is really well-written and informative. And carving knife clear. Those authors were good, pedagogically and paddlegogically.
The flat rock is at the end of the boat ramp and Copper Sulfate Cove is to the right, filled with algae, Eurasian milfoil and the chemicals to kill them:
http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/6591103.jpg
You do realize…
that you’ve had input from the Wilson of Glaros and Wilson all along, right?
Well…
Well… identity through time in terms of selfhood and sameness (in terms of ipse, or “who” the self is, and idem, or “what” the self consists of) could get us into philosophical territory that’s even more complex than this discussion of the inner circle (although obviously not as profound as discussions of the ethics of double blading).
Looking at some of the techniques advocated for the fourth quadrant raises interesting questions of continuity and change within “contemporary paddling technique”… but in fairness, the discussion of the “inside circle” (although absent from the Glossary of Freestyle Terms) is right there on page 62 - and I don’t see anything at odds with what CEW has written in this thread 
I’d be interested to know if the way it’s been taught at symposiums has changed in the intervening years…
That’s statistically unlikely, Pag
First, it’s hard to know who’s who on this Alice in Wonderland internet, where people have an odd propensity to post under odd names instead of their real ones.
Second, none of us is the same paddler, penner or even person that we were 16 years ago.
Finally, I have met Pnet’s Wilson and I can assure you he looks nothing, and I mean nothing, like freestyle’s legendary Mary Lou Wilson.
I do agree that
he does not even closely resemble Mary Lou, mores the pity and that this is an Alice in Wonderland forum. Since you spoke of him in the third person as an author, the appearance was that you were not aware that CEW is the same. I don’t see that his current views on the Inside Circle differ from those in the FS book or not.
Pagayeur
Bow pinning is inefficient
– Last Updated: Nov-22-14 1:28 PM EST –
I just came across this thread while searching for something that would help me make sense of the term "bow (wave) pin." As I understand it, setting up the pin involves creating a wave, which inherently creates drag, which slows the boat. This is efficient?
What I find most efficient for going straight is to heel the boat and use a shallow C stroke. The top part is what I call a "draw forward" which combines a draw and a forward stroke. There is no straight part in the stroke because as soon as the paddle reaches just forward of my hip it's rotated through perpendicular and into a gently angled outward recovery - a subtle "J" stroke. Every part of this combination stroke provides propulsion, and there's no bow wake to overcome. Nowhere in this stroke does the paddle turn more than about 30 degrees from perpendicular to the boat so the C and J parts aren't really Cs and Js.
I find this stroke easy and smooth, whether paddling my Wildfire (or MR Independence, or Blackhawk Ariel, or Hemlock Peregrine, or Bell NorthStar). I also find that the more I heel the boat the more subtle the stroke needs to be. And the heel is always to the onside.
I do a lot of river paddling so I need to be ambidextrous. The "draw forward" is like front wheel drive, pulling the boat through the turns and corners. The only time draws or cross strokes (x-forward, x-duffek) are needed is when eddying out and peeling out.
I'm glad you guys had such a good time arguing about what's basically an inefficient way to make a canoe go straight. It was quite entertaining.