Paddling advice for long, flat, skinny boats

[gumpus]

I'm sure it's different for all of us. It's certainly a harder effort for me now at 47 than it was as 27. Back then I could fairly easily spike my heart rate to 190 and now it seems I have to be on the verge of death to get over 170.

The activity makes a difference for me too.

With a heartrate of 120 I'd expect to be putting out around 130-140 watts on my road bike and I could maintain that for hours, but it would feel like work.

Last night I went for a 3 mile run at a slow pace of 10:30/mile and my heart rate was 140-150. I can't run and keep my heart low, even at slow speeds.

In the canoe 120 bpm feels like an effort but a sustainable one. Something I could do for a few hours if I needed to cross a large lake or paddle into a stiff wind. It wouldn't be very fun but I could do it.

The other day when I was playing around with using a bent shaft backwards the stroke mechanics were changed and that same 120 bpm felt like twice the work. I wasn't using my core as much and instead was relying more on the smaller muscles of my arm and shoulders. It required more effort from these small muscles to raise my heart rate and, despite the same heart rate (120) it felt significantly harder (and more painful) than my normal paddling stroke.

How long do you think you could have sustained your effort at 120 bpm?

Alan

Interesting stuff. I could have maintained 120 bpm for some time. It encourages me to focus a little more on cardio at the YMCA. I'd like to have a cheap standalone heart rate monitor so I could get a better feel for just how lazy I am paddling.

 

[Tsuga8]

So I've logged some more time in my Advantage now, including in wind, current and waves. @tketcham and others had recommended adjusting trim to avoid weather-cocking. Do you slide the seat on the fly, or adjust ballast? If the former, how do you deal with the foot bar? I adjusted my footbar for level trim in calm conditions. If I slide the seat all the way up for a headwind, I'm chewing on my knees or need to put my feet under the bar. All the way back for a tailwind and I can barely reach the bar with my toes. Am I missing something obvious?

I was out with a friend on the tidal Hudson on a day with a fair bit of wind and tidal movement. I got blown around a lot , including sideways, despite trying to use drybags full of water as ballast. Much of the trouble came from our route, which necessitated turning at various angles to the wind, as well as shifting wind patterns (the Hudson is notoriously inconsistent in wind direction). It was often too rough to stop paddling and mess around moving dry bags too much, especially the heavier one. I was rather embarrased that my companion seemed to be having a much easier time of it in a 10ft Ocean Kayak compared to the Advantage, and that was even with probably 20-30L of water in the bags as ballast. (I was even more embarrased when I dumped myself out of the boat trying to haul the larger dry bag into the boat after filling it. Luckily we were in a side creek in about a foot of water depth. The stories of the Advantage dumping fast once you get past the primary stability are well warranted!)

Finally, on sit&switch vs single-sided, I can see the speed efficiency of the former. The boat likes to go fast. But for paddling with others in slower boats I found an otter- or beavertail and pitch strokes or underwater returns useful for a more relaxed pace. At slower speeds it seems like the sit&switch loses some of the benefits - the boat is designed for a pace alongside that paddling style, it seems to me.

 

[tketcham]

So I've logged some more time in my Advantage now, including in wind, current and waves. @tketcham and others had recommended adjusting trim to avoid weather-cocking. Do you slide the seat on the fly, or adjust ballast?

Both, depending on conditions. I didn't (still don't) try to get perfect trim in windy conditions, for me it's more about making things better than doing nothing.

I slide the seat forward some to pitch the bow down a bit or rearward some to lower the stern a bit, but usually don't slide the seat to the limits of travel. And yes, it screws up the foot bar ergonomics but I have long legs so the difference isn't too bad as long as I'm not paddling into or with the wind for too long. I also trimmed the seat and set the foot brace for calm water with a day pack just in front of the foot bar. I can slide the pack forward or place it just in front of the seat frame (or toss it behind me) as needed.

If I have to deal with wind for a longer stretch of water I reset the foot bar (near shore), which is a bit of a hassle using the older Wenonah "safety pins" and especially using little thumb screws and nuts. I now use Northstar's footbrace system in my canoes, which allows the foot bar to slide and the knobs on the locking bolts are easy to loosen and tighten. (And if I was going to buy another crusing canoe I'd order it with an integrated seat/footbrace system that slides as a unit.)

To use the Northstar footbrace in your Advantage, you could use pieces of aluminum angle as adapters between the rails pop-riveted into the hull and the Northstar rails. Just drill holes in the angle to match the holes in the rails. That's what I'm going to do with my GRB Newman Classic; I have the parts, I just need to take the time to get it done.

 

[Alan Gage]

I set my seat and foot bar for good conditions and try to have enough knee bend that if the seat needs to be slid back I have some room to play with. It's not ideal but good enough for what will hopefully be a short stretch. If I'm tripping it's usually easy enough to shove the pack that's right behind my seat a little further back to help with trim. I honestly can't remember having to slide the seat forward much for head winds. They handle so poorly when bow heavy that I usually just make do with 'normal' trim.

I set my normal trim by incrementally moving the seat forward a little at a time until the bow feels like it's starting to pin and the stern feels loose. Then I move the seat back just a bit until it feels normal.

Alan