Aha, A Blog of some sort!

I’ve got the urge to write something for intermediate C1 paddlers, as nobody seems to acknowlege they exist.

Its easy to learn to roll a canoe, and people like Brian Miller, David Florence, Louie, and Jeremy Laucks whilst hardly paddling household names do get a degree of recognition for the amazing things they do; unfortunately the stages between this are somewhat hazy. I figured I’d put up what I’ve discoved so far (because I’m certainly not up to the standard of the legends mentioned above), in the hope of encouraging other canoests in the making.

0) Outfitting is key.

Without good outfitting you’ll constantly struggle, your knees, shins and feet should be immovably connected to the boat hull, the inner thigh should be held firmly by straps, and hips should be in constant but not uncomfortable contact with either hip pads or a hip hugger backrest, talking of backrests, it should be high enough to prevent your bum sliding back onto it during a long beating, normally this should reach to the small of your back.

1) Don’t swap hands.

Photo: James Weir

One hand goes on the t-grip, the other on the shaft, this should only ever switch whilst you’re stopped in an eddy, or on flat water.

2) You’ll go nowhere fast until you’re stable paddling on your offside.

Photo: Peter Kment

Offside strokes are essential for your breaking in/out, and starting from a standstill. Start by practicing on something with a strong flow, well defined eddy lines and other wise quite flat. It can be exceptionally irritating to start with that something so simple can be so hard. This is a good time to practice your backdeck roll in real conditions too.

3) Remember your knees.

Photo: Eli Herbert

Just because you have two new directions to lean in (back and forwards) doesn’t mean you should forget about using your lower body. If you want to keep your nose up lean back sure, but if you need to LIFT your nose pull your knees up sharply. Boofing things, and riding over holes is much easier this way.

4) C-Stroke is your friend.

Photo: James Weir

The C-Stroke (that is a powerstroke, followed by a quick sculled low brace which provides resistance to the rotational momentum from the stroke) is a very versatile stroke until you can keep the boat stable in white water with just your hips and a well placed powerstroke. Brilliant way to build confidence in white water. Also really useful on big volume when you have to cross “eddy zones” or Funny Water and find that you stop dead.

5) Paddle with kayakers (to become this good).

Yes, they’ll give you stick for being a canoe. Yes, they’ll do things that you struggle with effortlessly. Yes, they’ll expect you to paddle as hard as them and Yes, despite how you might feel at first that constant pressure to perform will bring your paddling up to speed quicker than you expect.

It’s not exactly groundbreaking advice, but it was all the most obvious stuff I could think of, I’ll start with the weird shizzle next.