Re: [Paddlewise] Strokes

At 10:16 AM 7/26/2002 +1000, Peter Treby wrote:
>Found this at "Katabasis", Ray Killen's website, as part of BCU 3 star
>requirements:
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>"Turn the kayak quickly by means of a low brace turn and by a bow rudder." 
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>I'm OK with the low brace turn, but my impression of using a bow rudder on a
>long sea kayak is that it is not very effective. No doubt I need to learn the
>technique correctly. Anyone find a bow rudder a useful stroke? And how do you
>do a good one?

I love doing bow rudder turns.  It's a very graceful stroke and, depending
on the boat, can be used to turn the boat 180 degrees or nearly that.  The
nice thing about bow rudder turn is that it doesn't slow down your momentum
much.  If I'm paddling through a narrow, windy section of water I often use
a bow rudder.

To do an effective bow rudder, initiate the stroke with a forward sweep on
the opposite side of the direction you want to turn.  The paddle is then
placed such that the power face is almost parallel to the side of the boat
just in front of the cockpit..  There are two schools as to where the
offside hand should be.  Some say that the offisde hand should cross your
face so that the paddle shaft is entirely on the same side of your body as
the direction your turning .  Others say that  keeping the offside near
your offside shoulder is sufficent.  The top edge of the paddle blade
should just slightly be tipped outward.  Tip it too much and the blade will
pull away from the boat and slow you down.  If you don't tip it out enough
it can dive under the boat and cause a quick capsize.  The key to an
effective bow rudder turn is the edging of the boat.  You should edge the
boat  in the opposite direction of the paddle.  As you can probably tell,
this puts you in a fairly vulnerable position if you edge too far as you're
not in a good position for a brace with the paddle in the opposite side.
On the other hand, if you work on deep high braces where you're putting in
your head in the water, it's still doable.  A couple of friends of mine and
I were intentially edging too far on bow rudder turns the other night so
that we fall to the opposite side, then high brace back up.  It's important
to make sure that you're not opening up your shoulder if you do this.


BTW, you can practice deep high braces by doing what is called a "queen
annes salute".  Assuming you're going to brace on the right., hold the
paddle as if you're getting ready to high brace then bring it over to the
left side so that paddle shaft is vertical.  The offside blade should be in
the water on the left side of the boat.  Now capsize to the right.  When
your body hits the water, do your hip snap and brace back up.   When a lot
of people are first learning to brace they don't really commit to a capsize
before bracing.  A queen annes salute pretty mcuh forces you to have a
strong brace or you're going to be upside down.


>
>"Move the kayak sideways in both directions by means of a sculling draw, draw
>on the move and a hanging draw"
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>Just what is a hanging draw? I occasionally use a stroke to move the kayak
>sideways while on the move, by placing the paddle blade vertically in the
>water beside me, and slightly angle the leading edge away from the boat,
>drawing the boat sideways. Is this a hanging draw? It's a useful stroke when
>paddling under piers and jetties, to avoid leaving gelcoat on clusters of
>mussels.

Essentially what you're doing is a hanging draw.  To do it correctly you
should rotate your torso such that you're facing in the direction of the
draw.  The paddle shaft should be almost vertical and very close to the
side of the boat.  With a vertical shaft and the blade very close it also
puts you in a vulnerable position.  If the leading edge isn't tiltled
outward it's easy to "trip over" the paddle.

A draw on the move is basically just reaching out to the side, placing the
blade in the water, and vigorously pulling the paddle straight toward you.
If you need to quickly avoid something directly in your path it's the
stroke to use.

It's also a good idea to practice a sculling draw with the paddle shaft
vertical and close to the hull.  Like the hanging draw you should also be
rotating your body so that you're facing the draw.

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