Search found 29 matches

by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:36 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

Penobscots? It sounds like American open canoe downriver races are less ... uh ... technically ... uh ... sophisticated than European wildwater or American flatwater most of the "top" OC downriver racers have composite boats, but they have chosen to race plastic. I don't follow racing much, but wha...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:57 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

Kaz, I sent you two PM's on that other matter.
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:12 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

Mike W, I am interested in what all paddlers say, but for purposes of this thread I am most interested in the opinion of the current WW downriver world champion. Actually, I sort of answered my question by finding several videos of European closed canoe wildwater races. All the competitors are in hi...
by Glenn MacGrady
Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:19 am
Forum: C Videos
Topic: For Dagger Encore Lovers
Replies: 6
Views: 4392

Milkman, thanks for that video. It was nostalgic for me on many levels. I paddled the Hood River in 85 or 86 with the Lower Columbia Canoe Club while I was on a business trip. Started the run in an ME and finished it -- through a rapid called only "The Big One" -- in an OCA. It was also the first ti...
by Glenn MacGrady
Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:11 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

Kaz says everyone he knows uses a bentshaft, but cbcboat reports the national team using straights -- if I am reading correctly. Not sure how to reconcile these two reports. I didn't realize there was confusion about the term "bentshaft". I am not talking about a curved or spooned powerface blade sh...
by Glenn MacGrady
Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:08 pm
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

What directly prompts my questions is a theoretical argument about whether straight paddles are biomechanically "more efficent" than bent shafts for kneeling paddlers. One theoretical argument says, yes. That contradicts my personal experience over 25 years of preferring bents over straights while k...
by Glenn MacGrady
Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:23 pm
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Technical questions re downriver canoe racing
Replies: 24
Views: 9719

Technical questions re downriver canoe racing

I believe there are WW canoe racers here. Some discussions on other forums about the efficiency of paddle types, paddler positioning, paddling technique and hull shapes made me curious about the current state of the art in whitewater downriver canoe racing. As to solo and tandem (if different) downr...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:52 pm
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: WW Boats that changed the World
Replies: 72
Views: 65978

if you think ABS in whitewater is ALL-THAT - wait till you get your first HDPE boat If you are having difficulty with the historical relevance, feel free to substitute the term "thermoplastic" wherever I wrote "Royalex" -- which should be a generic enough noun to encompass Royalex, Oltonar, polyeth...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:15 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: WW Boats that changed the World
Replies: 72
Views: 65978

The discussion of the rotomolded Hollowform suggested to me that the first Royalex canoe would have to be a classified as canoe that dramatically changed the world. Where would recreational whitewater be without Royalex? Or tripping? The first popular Royalex canoe I recall was the Old Town Tripper,...
by Glenn MacGrady
Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:01 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: WW Boats that changed the World
Replies: 72
Views: 65978

Hollowform River Chaser (1973) - first plastic kayak (me-thinks) Changed nearly everything... after it came out boater's didn't have to be near as good... this was the boat that started covering up the mistakes of the paddler. Great candidate, if we are talking kayaks. I took my first kayak lessons...
by Glenn MacGrady
Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:02 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: OC-1 to C-1 Paddling
Replies: 15
Views: 10541

.....paddling a full boat.... You heard about my uninitentional "mystery moves" in an OC1 yesterday already?? :o Hahaha! Yes, it has been one of the oldest and most mysterious phenomena in boating, and a little known corollary of Murphy's Law. You could have a perfect run ... but if you dump at the...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:06 pm
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: OC-1 to C-1 Paddling
Replies: 15
Views: 10541

My advice: don't do it. It is going to the dark side. C boating is painful and joyless. You will find yourself missing the euphoric challenges of precisely timed water avoidance, bailing, paddling a full boat, and emptying water on a scenic riverbank. All these open boat exercises build water intake...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:41 pm
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: Right-handed paddler needs help going left
Replies: 41
Views: 16227

I'm having a little trouble visualizing the issue and some of the responses. I also don't know whether the OP and responders are paddling on the left or right or what kind of boats they are in. But, nevertheless, if one is trying to move to river left across the current, there really are only three ...
by Glenn MacGrady
Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:29 am
Forum: CBoat C Forum
Topic: WW Boats that changed the World
Replies: 72
Views: 65978

An interesting topic, though "changed the world" is a standard that is perhaps a little too stringent. The responses will depend on whether one is talking tandem or solo, open or closed, recreational or racing. I will limit my views to my personal experiences with the evolution of popular solo open ...