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Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
Re: GGGGRRRRRROOOOAAANNNNNNNNNNNN......
Posted By: Tom Kurth In Response To: GGGGRRRRRROOOOAAANNNNNNNNNNNN...... (PeteWP)
Date: Sunday, 6 February 2000, at 8:28 p.m.
> To all who responded on the bifurcated bow "thingamajig", my
> opinion hasnt changed. In a nutshell, you cant credit these people with
> performance designs resulting in the mid to lower single digits of
> percentag improvements. Sorry thats strictly the domain of modern
> technology - that includes the use of an accurate stopwatch to say the
> least. Anything above that, say like 10% and up...ok...maybe... less than
> that and your just embracing romantic old world mysticism and the good
> fortune of serendipity.> C-c-c-c-c-c-can we end it h-h-h-h-here?
> Pete
I have a hard time agreeing with you on the lower digits thing. I'm not an engineer or an anthropologist or anybody else that has some education to back my opi- ion. What makes me take exception to your point of view are my observations as an occasional athlete and always sports fan. If you read biographies of great athletes you run across stories like the one about Ted Williams who claimed that on his best days he could not only see which way a pitched ball was rotating but could even see the individual stitches on a major league fastball. How about the one about George Brett taking infield left-handed. As any golfer or bowler knows infinitesimal changes in one's stroke or delivery can have tremendous effect on one's game. Point being, not all certainly but the occasional Aleut, perhaps the one in a generation, could have been that kind of person of exceptional talent like pro athletes of today who could and would notice the effect of small changes and because of the culture in which he lived would have the knowledge and skills to adapt his baidarka. When his proved faster or more maneuverable or whatever characteristic he was working towartds others would follow his lead.
Did they have the mathmatical or engineering skills to predict the effect their changes would bring about? No, of course not. But algebra and trigonometry were not involved in the development of the curveball or knuckleball. In fact, if memory serves, science in my youth even denied the reality of a curveball, prefering to ascribe the phenomenon to an optical illusion. Tom
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