Technique
Intro to Technique
Technique has slowly evolved over the years from the old Hawaiian style, Tahitian, Australian even Olympic paddling. These all play a part in the evolution of today's paddling techniques. There are different philosophies, ideas about what works and what doesn't. The purpose of this book is to give an insight of paddling techniques, how it is broken down to help beginners and experienced paddlers alike to understand the mechanics of the body as it strives to accomplish an effective stroke. Keep in mind that this is "a way to paddle" and not "the way to paddle".
Before going into the breakdown of the paddling technique, we should understand that this is an endurance sport. If one is training on the one-man to compete, we must realize that we have to use our body in a way to be the most effective while keeping it in a natural and relaxed form as much as possible. There is a saying in the paddling community that goes something like this...."Be the most effective with the least effort". To accomplish this, we must use our larger muscles as the major players and the smaller muscles as the support players.
The Foundation
Let us start with the foundation, the legs. Whether paddling in a 6 man canoe or a one-man canoe, the legs play an important role. Your legs stabilize your hips and becomes a foundation to transfer the power of the stroke to the canoe. If the hips are loose, you will not have a solid foundation, 100% of the inertia created during the power phase of the stroke is partially lost due to movement of the hips and butt on the seat. Although the power transfer is from forward to back, the legs must also be pressured to the sides. In the 6 man, the knees are pressed against the hull and in the one-man, the outer part of the lower legs are slightly pressed against the foot well. Usually, the rougher it is, the more pressure applied. This stabilizes the legs and hips in the canoe, so the tilting of the canoe sideways, caused by the ocean swells will not disrupt your balance.
The Stroke
The stroke is usually broken down into different phases. The Set Up, Entry, Catch, Power, Exit and Recovery.
SET UP: There are different views as to how the Set Up should look like, we are presenting one view. The set up phase will determine what parts of your back muscles will be the major players. Because there are several different things happening at the same time, let us start with the top arm. The top arm should be reaching across to the opposite side to line up both fists so that the paddle is close to vertical if viewing from the front or back. This should be done without any leaning of the body towards the side paddling. The elbow should be in a natural, relaxed position and slightly bent. If the top arm is straight, your reach will be shortened and therefore the power phase will also be shorter. The angle of the paddle will also prematurely change during the power phase. (See illustration) If the elbow is held high, then the deltoid is working to hold it up. Upon pressing down during the entry phase, the elbow drops. This movement should be eliminated. The elbow should be in a position where one can push down strongly, without an extra movement. Remember, to be efficient, all unnecessary movements should be eliminated. The lower arm should be extended fully to get a maximum forward reach. There should not be any tension in your arms. Even your grip should be relaxed until the power phase and even then, only use what it takes to hold that paddle. Squeezing that paddle will only tighten your forearm. Imagine hanging on a bar overhead with both hands, using your fingers as hooks instead of clamping tightly. To be efficient, we have to look at every part of the body involved in moving that canoe. Moving up the arm to the shoulders and chest. Because you are reaching across with the top arm, the chest, shoulder, lats and obliques on that side will come into play as you push down to anchor the blade of your paddle. Your top hand should be relaxed using the palm of your hand to pressure the t-top of the paddle. Fingers should be comfortably wrapped around the handle using no pressure. This is the time for resting that hand because when you switch sides, now that hand will have to work a little harder holding on to the handle of the paddle while pulling. The lower arm should stretch that shoulder as you reach with a slight lean and twist. This shoulder should be forward of the opposite shoulder. A little extra reach can be gained by stretching the shoulder blade forward. This will gain you a few more inches and will come into play in the power phase of the stroke. I call this the rubber band effect. You can have a few inches of pull without even moving the rest of your body (see photo). Using this with the rest of the core muscles will give you maximum power and a longer, smoother power phase.
ENTRY: The entry should be clean and quiet with no splashing. Absolutely no power should be involved as yet. If you attack the water before completely submerging the blade during this phase, you will cause cavitations (air bubbles between the water and the blade) and will not have a solid surface of water against the blade to pull on. It is akin to burning rubber on the race track. You are making a lot of noise, smoke but not going anywhere fast. A good entry, will give you a good catch phase..
CATCH: The catch is obtained when the blade is fully submerged in the water. The angle of the paddle will affect the quality of your catch. If the top hand is not over the bottom hand on the set up phase, you will not get the depth needed for a good catch. Imagine the blade under the water at an angle compared to near vertical and pulled along side the canoe,( see illustration). Ideally, you want a solid surface of water on both sides of the blade so you have obtained a good catch (anchor) to pull the canoe forward to the blade. If there was a leaf floating at the point of entry and you completed your stroke, that leaf should still be right next to your now exit point of the blade. In other words, your paddle did not move through the water, but was anchored in the water and you moved the canoe forward up to the paddle. POWER: You have a good catch, you are relaxed and coiled ready to uncoil and power the canoe forward. The first action is the rubber band contracting (shoulder blade being pulled back), smoothly followed by your lats, obliques, erectors, chest and shoulders. All this is done with slight pressure of the legs in the foot well, anchoring your butt against the back of your seat. By having that solid foundation, you will feel the power of the stroke transfer immediately to the canoe. During this phase, it is important not to push the top arm straight while using the abdomen as the major mover. This can be seen when paddlers power as they crunch forward and then sit back on the follow through. After the power crunch forward, the body is committed and there is no power to be generated after to continue the stroke. You will have a short burst of power and being that the top arm has straightened, you will have a premature angling of the blade, losing the maximum surface on your blade for a good anchor. One can get away with this technique on a one-man, although not as effective as using your back muscles while straightening up slightly. In the 6 man, if paddlers are doing both techniques, the timing of the body may appear in rhythm, but the application of power will not work together and can be felt. The major movers are the lats and erectors. The abdominal muscles and obliques are support movers. (use illustrations, time sequence)
EXIT: The exit of the blade is controlled by the top hand. As you exit the blade, it should be clean and quiet like the entry. There should be no lifting of the paddle while still in the water, this will cause drag. The blade should slice through the water and exit to the side. The top arm will straighten a little and drop to move the blade out of the water. The bottom hand stays close to the gunnel or hull of the canoe.
RECOVERY: Again, keep in mind that the larger muscles are the major movers. The arms are just an extension of the body. On the recovery, feel the twist of your shoulder moving your bottom arm forward, so there is no arm strength involved, it will just stretch out to the set up position. Relax during this phase. Do not lift the paddle out of the water and overly bend the bottom arm doing so, you will overwork the biceps. The lower hand should return along the gunnel or hull on the same path as the power phase. Again, we are looking for efficiency. If the bottom hand moves away from the gunnel or hull on the return, you will be using the deltoids to lift the paddle sideways. Movement is just forward and back, the shortest distance is a straight line, take advantage of it. To accomplish this, the top hand will create a small circle to return to set up position. In doing so, do not think of the arm as being one section, but two sections. Shoulder to elbow and elbow to hand. If the top arm is moved as one piece, you will over work the shoulder and create move wear and tear on your rotary cuff area. (see illustration) This is where your paddle length is important. If your paddle is to long for you, your top hand will be higher and more stress will be directed to your shoulders. Also, having your hands to far apart will decrease your leverage.
Reading the Bumps
Now comes the fun part, how to use the ocean. It is like playing with the ocean. The more you play out there, the more efficient you become with reading the bumps and making use of everything that comes your way. With practice, you will be able to see where you should be to take advantage of the condition. One must always be looking and scanning the ocean in front while paddling. Look left, look right, look straight ahead. Usually, what you see in front of you is duplicated directly in the back of you and that is what pushes your canoe, you are now on a bump. It is like a game, you are chasing the peaks, avoiding obstacles (burying your nose into a bump in the front, slowing you down), pushing towards the lower section of that obstacle to get to the peak in front of it. Usually, ocean swells come from several directions. The Hawaii Kai run is one of the most popular. You have the land swells (larger swells, heading towards shore), and the wind swells (smaller swells heading in the direction of the wind), usually towards Black Point. To catch the land swells, you usually have to pick up your hull speed on the wind swell then turn to jump on the larger swell. This will be your challenge, moving back and forth from land swell to wind swell and back while staying on a good course and getting stalled as least as possible (missing the bump). Remember if you miss a bump, there should be another right behind you, so don't let up. Dig deep and get a good anchor, don't over power and cause cavitations. The slower the hull speed, the slower the stroke. All you are doing is preventing the canoe from being sucked back as your nose is in the trough and the bump lifts the rear of the canoe. You will feel the canoe start moving with the next swell with well placed strokes. Pick up the reps as the hull speed picks up, know when to ease up and when to push. Be efficient, why work hard to push your nose into the bump in front, slowing you down while you still paddle. It would be more efficient to ease up, maybe even stop paddling, you will go only as fast as that bump takes you. When you see an opening (right or left), then push to pass that bump to get to another ahead of it. Feel the ocean, feel the canoe, feel your body and your balance, your posture. Ask yourself, what side should I be paddling on in certain conditions? If I am leaning too much, how does that affect my stroke, my power? Should I be paddling on the other side? Out with the 6 man mentality of 14 on the right, 14 on the left. You are in a different craft, you are the steersman and the stroker. You have the freedom to do what you want to do.
A good habit to work on while catching bumps and ocean swells, is to skim your paddle on the right. Every time you are moving on a decent bump and don't need to paddle, skim, feel the water. This is done with the handle on your right thigh, resting it about a hand span from your top hand (top hand between both legs), holding the blade about 60 degrees from the rear of the canoe. The blade should be as flat as possible to avoid drag. This habit and skill will save you from a huli as long as you are paddling on the right. Being so, always switch to the right if on a decent swell. This will eventually set you up to popping the ama while riding a swell or wave.
Popping the Ama
Popping the ama is considered unnecessary by some, but it has its good points. Not only is it a lot of fun and breaks the monotony of just paddling, it gives the paddler more confidence in his skills and balance. This move can be useful dropping down a large swell, instead of going straight down and burying your nose up to your feet, you could pop the ama and make a bottom turn before plowing into the back of the swell. Being that the ama is out of the water, you will be able to turn without the ama catching and causing you to huli.
Learning to pop the ama can be fairly simple if certain steps are followed. First of all, one should start off in flat, clean water (expect to huli a few times). Paddle on your right to pick up hull speed. Skim the paddle on the right as explained earlier. With your feet, the inside of your right heel is wedged against the foot well, while the outer side of your right calf is wedged against the outer side of the foot well. Pushing your right knee out and switching your weight to your right bun will lift the ama. Make sure that the handle of the paddle is resting on your thigh. That way, your left hand is relaxed and only holds onto the top of the paddle. Get that paddle out and away from the canoe. The closer the blade is to the canoe, the weaker the leverage. 60 to 70 degrees is sufficient, making sure the left hand is between both legs. Keep on paddling and skimming, popping while skimming. Pushing down on the paddle, will push the ama back down. After you have mastered this, you are ready to try catching small waves and holding that ama up as long as you can. Do be careful to pick a small day,
Waikiki is good, but keep an eye out for surfers.
Large Waves
If you are forced to paddle out towards a fairly large wave that is about to break....ouch!!! One of our biggest obstacles out there, other than whales breaching. We on
Oahu
have our favorite stretch from Black Point to Kaimana that have broken many one-man canoes. One good thing to observe about that stretch of water is the deeper sections and the shallow (reef) sections. The surf usually breaks at the shallower sections, so you may be better off paddling like crazy to get to the deeper section ahead of you when faced with a wave breaking towards you instead of paddling out towards the wave hoping to make it over. If you chose to do that, and are going at top speed over the wave, make sure you hop off your canoe before landing hard on the backside of the wave after punching through. Paddlers have gone airborne and damaged their canoes when landing on it. If you will make it over ! the wave before it breaks, slow down just as you go over it, but keep that paddle deep to keep you from getting sucked backwards. If the wave is breaking in front of you, another choice is to jump off, ama side and get a good hold of the front iako and your paddle. Kick as hard as you can and try to push your canoe through the white water. If the wave is big enough, it will take you and your canoe with it. I shiver just thinking about this, but it is all worth it right....do be careful of broken iakos or any other sharp parts that can cause you to get stitches. Been there, done that. Tunnel vision is the worst thing to have while paddling this stretch. Always pay attention and keep a watchful eye for the sets while approaching the shallower sections, it may save you hundreds of dollars to repair your canoe and better yet, keep you away from the emergency room.
