Engines Vs multiple paddles

I was at the Outrigger Canoe sprint championships on the weekend and particularly with the OC6's but also noting some previous threads on this site I was wondering if anyone has a good explanation why, if it is so important for all paddlers to hit the water at the same time, why multicylinder engines spread the firing order evenly around the crankshaft. Based on our paddling theory all cylinders should fire at once to get the best acceleration out of a car? Is it just because the engine would shake itself to bits if it did?

Hi Benneta,
Paddled outriggers for a while (I would not consider myself to be an authority) and paddling in time is essenital. The weight of an OC6 is around 130kg. One paddler alone cannot propel that weight with any great success. But when 5 paddlers (6 if you include the steerer) apply force at the same time the canoe can be propelled forward, and maintained, with greater speed. So if one paddler is out of time, they are trying to move the canoe on their own. I am sure there is a formula the RAB et al can quote here.

Granted, it is something that we didn't try - staggering the timing of paddle strokes down the canoe. Trying to paddle in time with others was hard enough. I can tell you though, when the timing was out in the canoe, it felt awful.

Try to picture you and five friends on land, having to push a heavy truck. Would you try to push altogether at the same time or push one at a time ?

all cylinders should fire at once to get the best acceleration out of a car? Is it just because the engine would shake itself to bits if it did?

you just gave the answer to your question.

Here is your answer.

i have paddled for years but not thought about this much honestly , but if you do a tug of war everyone has to pull together or you are screwed.

I guess that a car engine has 25kw per cylinder (approx) where a paddler is lucky to have .25 (also approx) so perfect timing has always been critical , years ago (In my K4 days) we had strain gauges on our paddle shafts that measured/graphed the force curves we generated and we all tried to make them the same (and bigger) for better sync

thanks all... I think we've proved that cars should start with all cylinders firing at the same time - but that's ok.
It would still be good to see an OC6 trying to paddle 153624 or a K4 doing 1243.
cheers
AB