With the boats at cruising speed, paddler #1 makes a conscious effort not to push on the footbraces (or move your feet completely off the pedals) while paddler #2 pushes forcefully on alternating footpegs. After two to three hundred yards, switch. How much effect did pushing with the feet have? (If you have a ruddered boat, lock the blade to allow for the firmest footpegs you can achieve.)
What most paddlers find:
The pushing paddler moves ahead of the non-pushing paddler.
Lessons to learn:
Our goal is to transfer the force applied to the blade into the boat. The most direct route for that force transfer is through our bone structure into the footpegs. When you don’t push on the footpegs, your butt tends to twist in the seat, your lower back gets torqued, and energy is lost to the twisting that would otherwise go into propelling the boat forward.
Further experimentation:
Sit on a bench, in your normal paddling position, and have a partner hold your blade at a right angle to you. Now apply force to your blade (as in sweeping) and note how much energy you can exert against the blade before your lower body twists away from the blade. Next move the bench against a wall and push your feet against the wall while sitting in your normal paddling position, again have your partner hold your blade and compare how much more force you can exert compared with not pushing with your feet. You can quantify the difference by holding a bathroom scale between the blade and your helper’s hands, so that the helper can read the scale as you push against it. There is some potential for injury with all that pushing going on, so be careful of your helper – and be sure the helper is careful not to let the blade slip.
- With the boats at cruising speed, push only on one footpeg; left foot pushes, right doesn’t push at all. Does the boat turn? If so, in what direction?
- Straighten your legs and drop them to the hull of the boat while maintaining alternating foot pressure on the pegs. How does this affect your forward speed? How does it affect your ability to edge the kayak?
- Next, let the knee of your non-pushing side “pop up? so your legs will be “bicycling?. Is this more or less effective than keeping your legs flat on the hull?
- Move the footbraces one or two notches closer than normal. Then try it one or two notches further away, and repeat the above experiments. How do the different footbrace positions affect your ability to rotate, apply power, and edge the boat?