PeteCress wrote:
I do not know enough about physics and the ergonomics of paddling/pedaling to explain it.
Flat water, no wind; paddling my surf ski I can catch up with and stay with an extremely-fit, strong, relatively-young guy pedaling a Revo/Mirage Drive.... and I'm older than dirt.
My uneducated guess is that pedaling a Mirage Drive uses fewer and smaller muscles than proper paddling - which uses both the legs and the core muscles of the upper body. ..... After a 1-hour hard workout on my surf ski, my legs are so trashed that I have trouble walking back to my car. ..... Also when paddling and doing intervals, my heart rate quickly rises to over 90% of it's "220-minus-age" max.... whereas I find it quite difficult to get it anywhere near that pedaling my Mirage Drive..... I can do it, but it's not what I would call pleasant.... concentrating all the load on one or two muscles in my legs.
After reading this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=41230, I think I need to walk back my negative impressions of the Mirage Drive vs Paddle power.
I guess the confusing factor is the lack of hull speed equivalency..... maybe it would be clearer if one could put a Mirage Drive in a halfway-paddle-able hull and then A/B the two.
Lacking that, I do have to note that I can hold 4.something or even 5 mph using the Mirage Drive in my AI-2 yet cannot hold 4 using a paddle..... So my negative comments on the Mirage Drive vs Paddle power really do seem to be off-base.
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