Re: [Paddlewise] Fw: Better Edging

At 08:46 AM 3/27/03 -0800, Jolie Francine Wheeling wrote:
>Mark said:
>   I can get more angle by leaning
> > out instead of edging, but then only a little more before I reach the
> > tipping point.
>Don't lean out, Mark!  You will go over!  Keep your head centered over the
>boat, and lean the boat with your hips.  Your body should look like the
>letter "J".  This, cleverly, is called the "j lean."

Unless you're edging the boat merely as a balancing exercise with a J-lean 
titling the hull is just one of several parts that make up a 
stroke.  Typically, edging the boat is done to assist in turning and is in 
combination with some amount of lean and support (bracing) with the paddle.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of Nigel Foster doing a demo at the 
Sweetwater symposium.  The first is a low brace turn and the second a high 
brace turn.

http://caddis.mannlib.cornell.edu/tampa/tampa00058.JPG
http://caddis.mannlib.cornell.edu/tampa/tampa00063.JPG

Note that his appears to be leaning much more than edging the boat but 
isn't in danger of capsizing because he's getting support from his low/high 
brace.
It's also worth noting that the paddle support is coming from setting a 
climbing blade angle as he's moving forward.  If he were not moving he 
*would* likely capsize if he remained in the position shown in the pictures 
and was not moving forward.  When not moving forward or backward the same 
effect is accomplished by sweeping the paddle back and forth while 
maintaining a climbing angle on the paddle blade.

For the most part when I'm edging my boats aggressively by leaning out I 
*would* tip over if I wasn't also getting support with a brace.  Keep on 
practicing your bracing on the move and you'll be able to edge over further 
and further.

A good exercise for edging is to try to turn in a circle with sweep strokes 
just on one side.  Edge the boat over as you begin a sweep from bow to 
stern.  If you have bit of a climbing angle on the paddle blade it will 
have you additional support as you're sweeping back, allowing you to edge 
over with a J-lean quite a bit.  At the end of the sweep, without taking 
the boat off edge, quickly flip the paddle over into a low brace position 
and barely skim it across the surface back forward, then do another forward 
sweep.
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