Ask Carroll

[Cranked]

Thanks Legian and Nick, I hear what what you are saying but currently I have two distinct paddling techniques.

The return movements for both are the same (elbows high, a straight line close to the rails), however on the power part, one is done with a straight arm and the elbow is in the water; this one is powerful (at least I put a lot of power into it, whether its effective is another thing). I use this one for paddling out and, with a slightly faster repetition, for catching waves.

The other has my elbows out of the water at all times and is a much quicker repetition. Its small quick, shallow strokes that accelerates the board more quickly but is more exhausting and only good for a 5-10m sprint, a bit more if I''m avoiding a large set. Don't use this for the last few strokes when catching a wave ATM as it seems to drain too much from me and so affects getting to my feet.

Given my current techniques, I'll have to re-read your posts a few times to try and figure out my corrective strategy.

Nick Carroll wrote:
cranked I should have mentioned "feel" in paddling, it's something I work on a lot with my super grommet squad

when you're paddling effectively, you won't necessarily feel as if your hand is slipping through the water past your board -- you'll feel more as if you're lifting the board past your hand. As if your hand is locked in cement. The deeper you can get your hand in the water, the more you'll get toward that feeling. Just try for that every now and then while paddling out too, go from relaxed to power and back again.

Got the feel for the catching a big handful of water (etc.) when swimming, just have to apply it to paddling.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick I keep getting this pain in the chest, and a rib/sternum connection that cracks loudly when I stretch it. I mean like a horsewhip crack.

It's more discomforting than painful and not really affecting me, but what do you reckon it is?

hmmm shit eh at a very random guess I would think you have something tangled around something else. like a tendon around a joint or bone spur. its probably not where it appears to be and may be associated with the end of one of the small thin muscles that thread up from the upper leg and into the mid-back. Those muscles tend to associate themselves with the whole rib cage/spine machinery and can easily find themselves in a funny spot, especially in a middle aged body which is used to certain movements that may have been OK in years past (when the body had a bit more collagen in it) but are reaching a sort of use by date. I suggest you see a bloody good physio or osteopath, not one of the cheeseburger kind who surely litter the Byron region, but someone who has some real chops, and get them to assess you.

[MrMik]

Regarding paddling technique: Should one keep the fingers together or slightly apart?

[Nick Carroll]

mr mik the hand should be relaxed, so fingers slightly apart. You'll catch a bit more water that way too.

[Beanpole]

Nick I need a haircut, do you think I should go the ponytail cut, hack randomly with scissors, clippers, or simply wait and let my daughters have at it?
I've become a little attached to these shoulder length locks but they have started to irritate me lately.

Unfortunately Newtown's faux-50s barber shops are a little beyond my means.

A lot of them seem cheaper than my regular non faux barber. He charges $22 bucks. I've seen quite a few for less than that. It would feel like cheating though.

In fact today I cut through a side street to avoid being seen buying a delicious Vietnamese salad roll from my favourite bread shop so that I wouldn't be seen by the owners of my second regular coffee pick up who also are Vietnamese and do lunch stuff. This took me past a bunch of new food shops and a super wizz bang coffee joint. So I tried them and they will now become top of my list for coffee. Life can quickly get complicated but better.

Nick I have a spur on my spine where my shoulder blade joins it. This can affect my paddling. Any ideas?

[PeepeelaPew]

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[Trev]

My wetsuits seem to dry mostly from gravity. I hang them up and the water drains down and the arms and legs are the last to dry, so I know it's true. So why the fcuk, on the coldest days of the year, does gravity slow the fcuk down when I need it to work its magic the most, and why the fcuk is my wetsuit always wet and icy?

My old university they were trying to measure gravity waves with big expensive equipment. I reckon you'd be a shoe-in for the Nobel Prize for physics if you just attached the equipment to my wetsuits on a cold winter's night and measured how much less of a gravitational field there is.

Legion, hang your wetsuit in half, over a hanger, Then gravity drains the water from both halves a lot more quickly.

No no. Don't thank me. I'm happy to help.

[PeepeelaPew]

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[godsavetheking]

Hands off Legion, my patent for a waterproof suit carrier type thing with removable water-soaking sponge insert has already been lodged. Soon, watersports lovers around the globe will be able to dry their wetsuits inside without clogging up (and stinking out) the shower.

[alakaboo]

Few ideas:
a wetsuit bag full of hydrophilic crystals - dries out the suit then you bake in the oven or leave in the sun to reuse
metal dressmaking frame that attaches to the roof rack- dries while you drive home (will need to deal with stretching)
PVC body shaped frame with holes drilled in it, computer fan at one end blowing air throughout

[godsavetheking]

Few ideas:
a wetsuit bag full of hydrophilic crystals - dries out the suit then you bake in the oven or leave in the sun to reuse
metal dressmaking frame that attaches to the roof rack- dries while you drive home (will need to deal with stretching)
PVC body shaped frame with holes drilled in it, computer fan at one end blowing air throughout

do rip curl h-bombs dry quicker if you leave them running, I wonder? my ski boots have a plug in thingy and that works pretty well

or you could risk the ridiculing and buy a Hangair. jury's out on whether they actually work, mind you

[Cranked]

All good solid ideas from the new Neoprene Valley. Fcuk it was cold, I hung my wetsuit in the weak, watery sun whilst I contemplatrd a second surf, but after it seemed to dry off for a for a while it started to get wetter, that, combined with my growing confusion as to how to paddle a surfboard, led to me scuttling off home instead. I for one will be keen to invest in the IPOs when they come out.

[Nick Carroll]

My wetsuits seem to dry mostly from gravity. I hang them up and the water drains down and the arms and legs are the last to dry, so I know it's true. So why the fcuk, on the coldest days of the year, does gravity slow the fcuk down when I need it to work its magic the most, and why the fcuk is my wetsuit always wet and icy?

My old university they were trying to measure gravity waves with big expensive equipment. I reckon you'd be a shoe-in for the Nobel Prize for physics if you just attached the equipment to my wetsuits on a cold winter's night and measured how much less of a gravitational field there is.

well as you will know legion, gravity is a "weak force" in the universe and thus is only partly responsible for your wetsuit relieving itself of water.

I've had wetsuits left in cool dark places over summer and come back to 'em in May and found the arm and leg cuffs still fcuken damp.

Use the human mind to your advantage and chuck it in the washing machine on spin cycle before hanging up. That'll help a bit at least.

['llo-and Behold]

I know the answer.
Let the bribes to divulge begin.

[foamy]

Giving the arms and legs of the wetsuit a good squeeze, using your best cow milking action, after 1/2 an hour or so of hang time, makes a bit of a difference.

[PeepeelaPew]

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[PeepeelaPew]

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[PeepeelaPew]

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