Is Paddling in Soupy Green algae slower?

Is this green muck slower on the boat? Its was the only flat non flowing water in 40+ miles of my home. I was doing 7min loops on this pond. My speed was bouncing back and forth bewteen 7.6 to 6.9. Mostly 7.3 for 35minutes. I did this because a new kayak friend said do an Hr of power. This is to hold a speed for 60 minutes. In time youll increase the speed you can hold. Well I got so tired of the POND SCUMMMM hitting me in the face I feared some poisoning may occur. I quit early. I was also tired of the speed bouncing up and down. The speed changes were consistent for the places I was at on the Pond. Maybee it waw shallow in some spots? Or is it Scummmm thickness?? Any one a Scumm paddler?? Am I gonna die from the slime I ingested? If i suddennly develop an ability to paddle at 10 mph I'll go back and eat some more of the green stuff.

Sounds like an ideal place to train, if it is providing drag when you race in clear water you'll be flying!

As for swallowing the stuff, yep that's probably not healthy, when our river in perth gets algae blooms from nutrients running into the river in the upper reaches they ban swimming as the algae can be toxic.

so I guess your saying the algae is a drag on the boat?
If it is? That makes sense because as I did laps I slowed dramatically at the sames places (6.9mph) then speed up (7.5mph) It was very aggrivating. I want to find out a baseline 1 hr pace. Then I can track improvement.

Maybee you can answer another question. Is padddling accross a river accurate for speed readings. ( comparable to non moving water, since I'm not going into, or with the water? )

I use heart rate as my race partner now because our Columbia river has to many variables to consider speed. Up river at 5mph and down at 9mph. not a good read Thanks

QUOTE "I was also tired of the speed bouncing up and down. The speed changes were consistent for the places I was at on the Pond. Maybee it was shallow in some spots?" QUOTE


I don't think your problem is green Algae - I think your problem is "Mud Suck" (seriously!)

What we call 'mud suck' is paddling on a shallowish body of water (a vlei here in S.A.), and then the bottom rises up slightly/somewhat on certain sections of our route, and the paddling becomes tangibly more difficult, and the speed can drop alarmingly!

Your saying (quote above) that the speed changes were consistent for certain places seems to indicate 'mud suck'.

As we can actually see and feel shallow areas on our route (change in water surface/MUCH harder stroke needed/bottom surface can often be seen to be shallower), we compensate to put a few hard strokes in to get up onto/over the obstacle; maybe you could try this for those "consistent places of slowness" and report back.

PS: 'Mud Suck' is a highly technical term, so you might not find it in Wikipedia!!!

I reckon Zebra is on the money there. While the algae will provide drag it should be more consistent (like picking up weed on the rudder), so unless you are picking up big chunks against the rudder then it is breaking down and falling off the mud suck is probably a better explanation of the big changes in speed.

This thread covers the topic well.

www.surfski.info/forum/20-epic/5004-wate...boat-speed.html#5007

As for going across the river, I guess you've got to make the best of whatever situation you are in. I cant see any flaws in your reasoning but there are plenty of river paddlers on this forum that could correct me.