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Du er her: Pål Krogvold - English version > Paddling technique > Forsiden
Paddling technique
If you want canoeing to be fun and enjoy it as a motion sport, paddling technique is very important. Most of the canoes you see, zig zag along on the water in slow motion, and if you watch them from the shore it is almost impossible to tell where they are heading. This is not because canoes are slow, but because they are usually paddled by people without the right technique or with an inefficient technique. Two people in a good two man canoe (C2) should, with the right technique, be able to keep up with a person in a one man sea kayak (K1). With a good canoe I mean a modern canoe like the ones from amongst others, We-no-nah canoes.
25. okt 2005
Sist oppdatert: 8. nov 2005
Going straight:
The most important thing to learn is to make the canoe go straight, and this is where most people fail. Let us start with a perfectly windless day and two people paddling in a canoe to cross the lake. Rule one, each paddler paddle on opposite sides of the canoe and syncronized.
If you start paddling like this, with the stern paddler paddling on the right side of the boat, the boat will start going to the left after a few strokes. This is something that cannot be avoided unless we use some kind of corrections. There is several ways to counter this. The first one and the worst one, is the method most people use, which is called the breaking stroke (pry stroke). The principle of the stroke is that the stern paddler uses the paddle as a rudder, very often prying off the stern. This straighthens the canoe, but breaks the speed, thereby giving the stroke the name. When the stern paddler starts paddling again, he or she is usually out of sync with the bow paddler, and the boat has slowed. The second and a much better method is using a stroke called the J-stroke. That is a stroke where the stern paddler adjusts the angle of the paddle in the water during the stroke, thereby adding a steering component in the stroke to counter the turn. If this is done in every stroke, the tendency for the canoe to turn is stopped before it starts. By using this stroke the syncronization can be kept and there is no breaking between the strokes. You can feel the glide of the canoe through the water and the paddling is much more enjoyable. The third method is the method used by the marathon paddlers and is the method I usually use. It is often called “hit and switch” by the people not liking it. The method’s main principle is that steering strokes like the J-stroke are less effective than a regular stroke and therefore we try to use only regular strokes. By taking for instance 8 strokes on one side of the canoe, and just as the canoe starts turning, switch and paddle on the other side for 8 strokes, the canoe will go almost straight with only a slight zig zag. It is much more effective and much faster than the other methods. An important thing here is that just as, or rather before, the stern paddler can feel the boat starting to turn he calls a switch. The common method is that at the end of a stroke the stern paddler calls “hut”, you take one more stroke on that side and then both paddlers switch sides. You can see how it is done on the pictures. When you do the switch correctly it takes no extra time and does not break the rhythm of the stroke. If the canoe is turning towards or going in an unwanted direction, you always want the stern paddler paddling on the side the boat is turning towards. If regular strokes are not enough to straighthen the boat or getting it in the wanted direction, the stern person takes one or more draw strokes. A draw stroke is a stroke where you plant the paddle out to the side of the canoe and draw the canoe towards the paddle. Usually we take the stroke at about a 45 degree angle or less, thereby also moving the canoe forward.
The regular power stroke we use in a canoe is shown on the composite picture. We plant the paddle in the water and draw the canoe to the paddle. We want the paddle to grip the water and not slip. You know you have the right grip on the water when there is no turbulence around the paddle blade during the stroke when the canoe is up to speed. The power comes from muscles in the back, stomach and shoulders and not from the arms alone.
The right technique and steering strokes for tandem and solo canoes can be learned by practice and studying the DVD that comes with Kanoboka.
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