>Often the slow speed is a >sign of poor technique and the paddler may become an increasing liability >as the trip wears on (depends a lot on the nature of the trip). The slow >paddler will wear out faster, becoming even slower. > I've crosspoasted this to PaddleWise and WSK lists as I feel it may be of benefit to users of both lists (and I want to encourage my fellow WSK people to join the PaddleWise list, too.) >I have found that two things can really slow somebody down: >1. Poor upper body rotation and over-reliance on their arms After reading this I'm moved to see if I can remember what I was taught last Sunday at a forward stoke clinic by Brent Reitz. Basically the stroke was boiled down to 5 parts. One was getting the power by torso rotation, as mentioned here. This is the first thing he had us work on. 2nd part had the sobriquet of "chicken wing". It consisted of raising the elbow of the "pushing" arm, at the start of the stroke, so the 'pushing' arm was horizontal with a bent elbow as in a 'chicken wing'. 3rd was the "catch" or "insertion" of the blade, spearing the blade into the water using the upper arm, blade as far forward as possible, without leaning the torso forward. The latter causes the boat to move around as your body center of gravity oscillates back and forth. The heavier you are the more effect this has. 4 was pushing with a _bent_ elbow and allowing the pushing hand to cross over the center line, _not_ punching the arm out straight. 5 was "exit", getting the blade out of the water quickly. The stroking/ pulling hand reaches a point next to the hip and at this point the blade is quickly sliced up out of the water. If the stroke continues too long towards the rear the blade starts lifting water instead of pushing backwards. This effect was very noticeable in one of the guys taking the class in a long narrow Looksha which wobbled from side to side quite noticeably until he shortened the end of his stroke and sliced the blade out instead of lifting water.. The class worked on the first 3 parts and then lunched while watching videos of us. Then back in the water for the last 2 parts and an attempt to integrate in a short race, and then a second session of critique on the video. It was very easy to see what everyone, but especially one's self, was doing wrong when seeing it on video. Sometimes you are thinking real hard but not _doing it_ at all. It was interesting to contrast the first video with the second. You could see improvement in everyone. In the beginning most of us had very little torso rotation and everyone was much better at the end. I am noticeably faster than before the class, with the same, or less, perceived effort. Having taught quite a lot, in a different area of physical arts, I would comment that besides being a _fast_ kayaker, Brent is a good, patient, sharp eyed teacher. If you ever get a chance to work with him, I reccomend taking it. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ©2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jul 13 2000 - 14:04:42 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:27 PDT