Best foot forward?

[JimW]

Supposing some gorilla had started pushing his footpegs back in the Ocoee, and despite taking what appeared to be great care when fitting some nice big inserts through saddle to remount them, ended up with the rails in slightly different positions each side.....

Which peg should I set short, the one for my paddle side leg, or the other one?

To be honest it's less than half a notch difference with the paddle side slightly forward when set to the same notch so to put my other leg forward a notch would be much more noticeable....

[Sir Adam]

Or set it back, and use a piece of rubber and some duct tape to hold the shim (the rubber) in

[JimW]

Yeah, obviously padding one peg to make them level is an option, just wondering if there could be any benefit to an assymetric stance?

I know marathon paddlers kneel on one knee and have the other high, but I'm not sure which is which or if there could be any benefit to inducing slight assymetry when kneeling in OC1?

Maybe I've thought of a new variable no-one has looked into yet - more likely I'm going to be told some slalomists tried it in the '70's

[Sir Adam]

You do actually bring up something some folks have tried - I've been in a few old slalom boats where the left knee pad was further forward.

That said, I have no idea if the person who installed them paddled righty or lefty!

I'm sure someone here will chime in with the theory behind it...

[KNeal]

The knee on the same side as the power side (shaft arm) would be the one to have further back. That increases the eccentric loading of the torso and hip muscles for the pull stroke. So, if you paddle left, have the left peg offset back and vice versa if you paddle right. The Ocoee is a boat that benefits best from balance, so your minor offset may be adequate in keeping the boat stable.

Other, more knowledgeable, folks may be able to chime in on the offset benefits tried in slalom boats. Personally, I believe it is to allow better torso rotation toward the paddler's onside.

[JimW]

Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking, having one knee back would pre-rotate me slightly that way, but if that is to the natural paddling side I would have to rotate further for cross deck strokes (I'm not very flexible!), but if I set it up to make cross deck rotation easier it would go against me for 90% or more paddle strokes......

I think I'll have try it and see if I feel any difference. To be honest when the footrest started migrating aft all I actually noticed was that the strap seemed to have loosened on that side

[Einar]

On side lean. i tend to end up shifting to my onside, maybe offsetting the pegs will correct that !!

[Dave.E]

Your legs likely aren't an even distance in the bulkhead or straps anyways. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Dave

[edg]

Endicott has a bit of a discussion on asymmetric outfitting in "The Danger Zone". It's (very) old school wildwater c-1 focused, but still has some gems.
http://www.canoeicf.com/icf/WorldClassC ... oeing.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; technique link, and PDF p. 11 or so.

I have a Prozone 230 set up with a pressure fit (no glue) bulkhead. When I pop the skirt after flopping around, the bulkhead has always shifted so that the left (my off side) side knee is further forward.

[JimW]

Well, 3 days of paddling my Ocoee in a row and I can't really notice a difference between the footpegs

Each side felt a bit loose for a while on Saturday, but that's because I had to take the left strap out to fit the bulkhead I built Saturday morning and it took me a while to get them evenly tight again afterwards.

Bulkhead with a couple of shallow cups for my knees makes a noticeable difference though, I feel much more connected than with just thigh straps.
Took me a while to work out that my missed braces and rolls on Sat and Sun were down to the new bulkhead clashing with my PFD - luckily it's an Astral Sea Wolf/Green Jacket (SW I fitted my old chest harness to = GJ) and by fiddling with straps I can get the lower slab of foam below the pocket making it lower profile so I can actually get my head on the airbag again. Haven't needed to brace or roll since but I'm sure it will solve it!

[arhdc]

I have a couple of boats that have pegs that are not lined up quite evenly and I just set each side to where it feels right. I wouldn't worry over it.