Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
By:Bill Hamm
Date: 9/30/2009, 7:09 pm

: Hi vk,
: Try holding the paddle so that the blade is tipped forward (canted forward(
: at the upper edge. Each GP seems to have an angle range (cant) where they
: work very well. The flutter is caused by the waterflow across the blade
: switching from edge to edge when the paddle face is perpendicular to the
: blade path. Canting the blade makes the waterflow to go in a single
: direction on the blade.

: It doesn't take much of a cant angle to eliminate flutter to the greatest
: degree.

: That cavitation you see is actually ventilation tracking down along the blade
: edge and off the tip. I get this if I apply too much force to a stroke at
: the beginning. If you try varying the power applied to the paddle, light
: at the start, strong in the middle and eased off at the end of the stroke,
: that should eliminate ventilation.

: That singing or squeak makes a good indicator that I haven't got the cant
: angle and stroke force a bit wrong.

: Mike Savage
: South West Cork

Btw, the first time you try this beware, the paddle wants to knife under water, can catch you unaware and cause problems. Once you're used to this it becomes quite natural.

Bill H.

Messages In This Thread

Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
vk1nf -- 9/30/2009, 10:12 am
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Mike Savage -- 9/30/2009, 11:03 am
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Thomas Ziegler -- 10/1/2009, 1:16 pm
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Bill Hamm -- 9/30/2009, 7:09 pm
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Ken Blanton -- 9/30/2009, 11:30 pm
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Bill Hamm -- 10/1/2009, 10:40 am
Re: Paddle: GP Advice - Wobbling and Cavitating
Brian Nystrom -- 9/30/2009, 2:49 pm