That’s it.
I find it really helps me get a little better torso rotation when I look back over my offside shoulder on the cross back.
It also lets you closely monitor your ferry angle and keep an eye out for pesky, submerged rocks that might snub the stern stem of the boat during your ferry.
Cross FarBack
If loading the powerface, the stroke is a Cross Far Back. The onside Far Back is often combined with a Back Stroke via a blade flip or palm roll.
They got it!
The Cross Post start with the same accelerating, sweeping forward, initiation as the Cross Axle, but the onside heel starts the bow carving into the maneuver.
The paddler is almost forced up off the seat to plant the Cross Duffek over the raised offside rail which pitches the bow; increasing the carve and freeing the stern to skid more freely.
The high offside rail forces a vertical paddle shaft, which increases the turning force of the draw. The torso rotation of the plant and the loss of any bracing component that can be achieved with a Cross Axle results in a more powerful cross draw to the bow.
That concludes discussion the five most useful FreeStyle maneuvers: Axle, Post, Christie, Cross Axle and Cross Post. Since Marc has escaped the banjo [layers in SC, perhaps he’ll discuss the Wedge?
the core of it is a running pry
It moves the boat the same direction as the cross axle and cross post.
So why use it?
Why use the wedge?
– Last Updated: Nov-21-10 9:54 AM EST –
The wedge is my preferred maneuver when I need to turn toward my off side, on a very narrow stream, while hugging the inside of a tight bend. It gives the bow a strong nudge, keeping it close to shore and out of the downstream current. It also places the paddle in position for a solid forward stroke as soon as I round the bend.
A sweep is too broad in this application and often allows the bow to drift out a bit too far.
In practical use, on moving water the heel will be moderate. Heeling to the gunnel leaves scant chance for recovery if the blade catches on the bottom or the back of a sleeping gator. Keep your grip hand loose because you'll need to let go fast if that gator does grab the blade. There's no bracing with this one.
So how's it done?
With a bit of forward momentum the paddle is placed vertically and neutral, anyplace forward of the center of rotation. For practical purposes that will be anyplace forward of your knees. Neutral means the blade is neither angled toward nor away from the hull or more accurately the keel line. Vertical means that the grip hand is stacked directly above the shaft hand or even a bit outboard of the shaft hand. The boat is heeled toward the on side. As soon as the paddle is placed, the the forward edge of the blade is angled a bit towards the hull (inverted jamb). Another way of looking at it is to angle the blade a bit in the direction you want the boat to go.
Immediately the paddle will be shoved up against the gunnel by the force of the water and the boat will be "wedged" toward the off side. Depending upon boat speed and paddle angle, the effect may be dramatic. Practice away from gator holes until you feel comfortable with it. You can conclude with a forward sweep if required, although in real world application a simple forward stroke is likely to be more appropriate.
Tips:
The farther forward you place the paddle, the stronger the turning effect will be.
Coming up on your knees speeds things a bit more.
Hold the shaft away from the gunnel until you feel the pressure loading on the blade. That will act a bit like a shock absorber.
For exhibition purposes the wedge can be quite dramatic. With a bit of speed, the boat heeled to the rail and weight shifted forward, the wedge induces a sharp, carved, skidded turn, which has been know to take the boat right out from beneath the paddler. Conclude with a sweep for a nearly 360 deg. turn if desired.
Marc Ornstein
P.S.
To answer Kayamedic; Often when paddling upstream I want to keep so close to shore (so as to keep the bow out of the current) that there isn't adequate room between hull and shore for paddle placement on the off side.
Some of you may have experienced
the fish finding effect of this stroke.
Its one of my favorites for a good turn without too much heel of the boat. Often I am careful about pack ejection and tipping of the boat over. Of course in the summertime with a boat empty its just plain fun and who cares about an ejection move?
But on a trip as its the quickest (though a post is close) turning move and has the potential to turn the boat the most , it can do reasonable 90-120 degree turns with out radical heel and if you are in the shallows even without the whole blade in the water.
Practice sloowly at first. When the blade bites the water with the angle and the blade is forced into the boat the gunwale tends to get pulled down. Going slowly reduces the force. Nowadays when playing I go back and after setting the angle with the leading side of the paddle toward the boat I just push out on the paddle enough to almost but not quite counter the force you feel of the paddle pushing against you. Its like cushioning yourself against a blow.
If you have a sticky sterned tripping boat you will have to come forward a little. All turns need some loosening of the stern going forward.
It is a wonderful stroke
for those who like to combine canoeing and pole-vaulting.
We are trying to avoid pole vaulting
My very first wedge should have been called a wedgie.
Not only did the boat turn violently but I did launch right over the boat and the paddle and land squarely on the dock.
Ow. I was going too fast. Don’t do this near things that can hurt you.
Wedge
– Last Updated: Nov-22-10 8:38 AM EST –
On Post and Cross Post the outside, away from the turn, heel starts the bow carving if the hull has headway, deflecting the bow into the turn like a chisel. The offset initiates a yaw couple that starts the stern skidding.
This is easy to understand if you look at another person's bow. Level the hull has equal angles on both sides. Than have your partner heel to one side. The up side bow plane lessens, the downside bow plane has much more surface area in the water.
The paddle placement for the Wedge greatly increases the deflection or offset into the turn as it increases both the angle and the surface area deflecting the bow. We want to load the powerface keeping our control thumb up on the top grip. This places the backface towards the hull. There are two reasons for that somewhat awkward orientation. Sometimes we use bent paddles which must be so oriented and we want our hands positioned for a concluding Sweep.
The Wedge, like the Christie, is a turn of last resort for long, skinny, rocker-less flared hulls like the Lotus BJX. When heeling won't lift the stems to turn, the Wedge will always start a yaw couple.
One of the tricks to all Wedges, onside or Cross and both reverse variants, is to slip the paddleblade forward to position feathered, then rotate it into the wedge with leading edge against th hull and following edge flared out to increase bow deflection. Bringing deflective force on gradually significantly reduces the tendency to exit one's hull over the paddle shaft.
For tight twisty streams
this actually is my most used maneuver, even more than the axle. I recently finished an eight mile trip here locally in which I kept track of how many times I used all the various maneuvers. Of course, the heel is not to the rail, and the paddle not planted very deep, but it affords a quick, tight turn; the paddle placed tight to the hull when there is precious little room to plant the paddle away from the hull. Works great coming out of an aggressive side slip and then into the wedge for avoiding dead fall.
Practiced it last week
We were out poling, but the water got too deep, so I was paddling solo in my big tandem boat. That boat is so wide that I tend to slide over into the chine - cross strokes aren’t an option. Its amazing how fast a wedge will spin the boat. With a bit of a sweep at the end, I could easily come around 180 degrees. TommyC1 suggested that I come up on my knees (to move the plant closer to the bow and free up the stern?) – almost went over on that attempt, but the turn was relatively stable as long as I didn’t get too crazy.
When I’m in one of my solo boats, the wedge just isn’t a move I think of using. The cross axle is my default for an offside turn. The wedge definitely has more of a “wow factor” – as long as you don’t screw it up and do that pole vault move.
The wedge got me hooked on Freestyle
A long long time ago one of my whitewater club instructors got Karen Knight to come out with a trailer full of Fire boats and give us an intro to Freestyle class.
It was interesting technicaly but pretty mellow until almost lunch time. Then we attempted the wedge and I went flying out of the boat and into the perfectly calm water.
Also is quite dramatic
when your paddle catches the unseen submerged log. You will find that the distance you body is flung out of the canoe increases exponentially with the speed of the boat at paddle impact!
Thats why slow is good
That allows you to keep in the boat and keep your teeth!
Helmet anyone?
Right
I think that term “inverted jam” is very appropriate. I have generally found myself in the inverted state every time I have attempted a jam.
Paul Mason, who spent a lot of time paddling bow with Bill in a tandem, really shines at using a bow jam, as opposed to a cross bow draw, to yaw the bow during whitewater maneuvers.
When your blade contacts a barely submerged rock, however, the results are pretty dramatic.
Path of the Paddle
watched it last night - there’s never anything on TV. And the best line:
“I don’t know, looks pretty tricky.”
The Six
We’ve concluded the basic FreeStyle Package, Six maneuvers that give paddlers three Onside and three Offside maneuvers.
FreeStyle Maneuvers include an Initiation that starts a yaw couple, a Heel to free the stems, may start the bow carving and may include pitching the hull, the turning Stroke, usually a Duffek or Cross Duffek but may be a Reverse Sweeping Low Brace or an Inverted Pry, and a Conclusion to complete the maneuver.
There are several more Reverse and Cross Reverse maneuvers, and the Cross Wedge, but Marc is back in state and attached to the Web again, so he’ll take us through the more esoteric content.
You forgot to mention
the “Splash”.
No Splash!
tyle paddling is how one puts on one’s underwear. Ig one sits on a chair or the bedside, swimming will be the order of the day.
Practice standing up to put on indies, sox, trousers, then, somewhat later, shoes and later yet, lacing anf tying them. Underwear Yoga works just fine to develop balance!
Charlie’s next commercial venture:
an Underwear Yoga DVD. Charlie, are you going to be the spokesperson? Or are you going to hire an actor to portray you? Chuck Norris? Groucho Marx?