Re: Weather Cocking Thoug

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Jul 29, 2006

I've never gotten so scientific as to distribute weight around to see what effect it may have, but I'll make a comment on dealing with a weathercocking boat...

I don't correct with sweep strokes, as it tends to wear on me. Instead, I use what I call an offset grip on my paddle. In other words, I cease holding the paddle in a centered, symmetrical way as we normally do, and pretend like the center of the paddle is off towards one end. Or in even more words, I have a lot more sticking out one side than the other. Adjust to meet the conditions, then paddle normally.

Sometimes I'm in a boat and wind conditions that leaves just a bit of paddle sticking out on the lee side. That's okay, as long as I'm going where I wanna go... I put all my power into the windward side and do "baby strokes" on the lee side. There's certainly nothing in the Rule Book that says you have to paddle equally on both sides, or even on both sides at all. I've had situations where I paddle on one side only to keep a heading.

Hey Mac, it's great to hear you're really into those GP's. I can hardly stand a Euro paddle any more myself, and love being able to provide my own paddles for cheap. Cool, eh?

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: Re: Weather Cocking Thoug by Mac on Jul 29, 2006

Replies:

• Re: Weather Cocking Thoug by Dave Houser on Jul 29, 2006
  • Re: Weather Cocking Thoug by LeeG on Jul 30, 2006
    • Re: Weather Cocking Thoug by Mac on Jul 30, 2006
    • Re: Weather Cocking Thoug by Dave Houser on Aug 3, 2006