Re: How I decided which new sculls to purchase

Carl Douglas wrote:
Ted van de Weteringe wrote:
Charles Carroll schreef:
Yet why do these sculls feel so good?

And I take your point to extend mine: of course, if you have the opportunity to test, you should go with the equipment that feels best, whatever your level. What I meant was: things like sophisticated flow design and accurate stiffness numbers are not what should concern you and I.

There are no special fluid dynamics which apply only to elite scullers. If, for the sake of the discussion, we assume that what is advertised is real & not to some extent admixed with snake oil, then a sculler at any level must benefit. Surely you don't take the view that the more elderly a person is, the less alive & less ambitious they must be & so the less they need or deserve? When sliding off the increasingly steep roof of age, it matters more & more how strong & sharp are your fingernails.

;)
Carl

LOL... I like the last comment.

However, I'd argue that an elite sculler might take advantage of some fluid dynamics that are available to all, but that novice scullers might not utilize... if you get my meaning.

If Elite has a very fast, clean, long-positioned catch, he/she is going to have all the advantages of low-AoA lift (efficient) that is only available in the beginning of the stroke. If Novice has a soft, slow, short catch, he/she is never going to utilize that low-AoA lift zone as much. Thus "features" (snake oil or real) built into a blade that supposedly optimize low-AoA lift wouldn't really benefit Novice.

Now, the above is all hypothetical, and assumes that there are some "features" as described above in some oar blades. I don't know if there are or aren't. Just making a point, that's all. :-) The fluid is there for all to use, but not all use all of it.

-KC
.