: OK I did write 'press,' it is push, and as any (other) physics
: teacher (only 8th grade, no phd) will tell you Force is a push
: or a pull.
: Units of force are Newtons (mass x acceleration, but pounds and
: kilos are easier to think about.)
: ---The paddle applies force to the water, that force is transferred
: through your body to the kayak which then moves forward. It's
: usually done so smoothly most people aren't even aware of it.
: (experiment: 100 people handed a paddle and a kayak, then asked
: to figure out how to go faster, how to apply more force.... I'll
: bet only 1-2 people stumble by chance on torso rotation. I've
: seen whole kayaking classes--nobody we know--all shoulders.)

: If the force is transferred through your bottom, the kayak still
: moves forward and all the muscles between your hand and bottom
: are to some degree involved.
: As we all know if we can rotate our torso and transfer the force to
: the kayak through our feet, we 1. get a greater
: extension--(basically more travel distance between the paddle
: blade and our foot) and 2. involve more and larger (stronger)
: muscles. More force is applied and we move faster (I think we
: are mostly more powerful than fast. If we could convert some of
: that power to speed I think our kayaks would move faster.)

: Foot straps are a good idea. They were on the To Do list of my ugly
: foot braces, but became 'did not' (yet), pulling on a foot strap
: might seem like undoing the push, but what it actually
: accomplishes is to pull your bottom back, or rotate your bottom
: back into position for the next stroke. Basically we should be
: all feet, all rotation and extension with our bottoms just being
: pivot points.

: I liked the video of Zsolt, I'm psyched to go paddling right now.
: He's fully connected with his surf ski and pumping his legs.
: A hundred pounds of force applied to the foot braces 60 times a
: minute over 25 km is a lot, but consider the force our legs
: apply to the ground when walking? Probably about a hundred
: pounds per step.
: I think about kayaking as being similar to a fast walk.

Foot straps are a good idea on a SOT like a ski, not a great idea in a closed kayak, too big a risk of entrapment.

Bill H.