Wishing you the best…
on your path of recovery. While I don’t know you personally you do strike me as someone whom will indeed be back in the boat.
Keep the faith milady.
Wishing you
a speedy recovery and an early spring to get you back in the boat soon.
Peter and judy
The easiest is the on side
Side slip on your normal paddling side. It’s natural to be off at first and generate a turn. Ie bow rudder or axle. That’s OK. Just bring the paddle farther back by your hip. It’s common not to be back far enough.
Best wishes
When I was recovering from cancer a friend gave me a bumper sticker I still have on my car. “Tough times don’t last, tough canoers do!”.
Turtle
one thing…
about all sideslips: a little patience is required to learn them well but the pay-off is worth the effort. A good place to learn Sideslips is on still water. The reaction of the hull is much more acute in this situation. We used to talk of the “Sweet spot”, an exact spot at which the paddler feels the hull start to move diagonally vs. turning. One can develop a feel for the Sweet spot over time as it varies with hull types, speed, payload, wind, current, et. al. With just a bit of practice this very useful stroke can become part of a paddlers muscle-memory and a great tool in one’s paddling arsenal.
I’m glad you mentioned “diagonally”.
We call them side slips and the inference is that the canoe moves sideways. The movement, when viewed from the front or rear appears to be sideways, but is in fact diagonally.
The other tricky (interesting) thing…
… is that the location of that sweet spot varies with the speed of the boat. The faster the boat moves through the water, the farther forward the sweet spot is located. A more practical viewpoint, since the boat’s speed through the water lessens during the time the side slip is performed, is that the sweet spot is initially quite far forward of center, but progressively approaches center as the boat slows down.
I believe that is known as the
Peripatetic pivot point. Hopefully someone who understands that,(CEW)will elaborate on that or correct me as appropriate.
Marc youve been at Midwest
to witness the two go at it. Charlie and Tom MacKenzie.
The latter states it does not move once the canoe is in motion. It does move from the transition from still to moving. I always thought as Eric did…
Best wishes
Kim,
Best wishes for quick recovery!
Dave
It most certainly moves
when doing a prying side slips. It moves forward as the canoe slows. We’ll explore that topic soon. I’m not certain about the drawing SS. I’ll have to wait until the pond thaws (or I make it to Florida) to experiment.
I agree with the prying sideslip
The two position pivot point makes no sense to me.
Otherwise I don’t think that the paddle once placed would have to move. Prying sideslips show that you do have to move the paddle forward while maintainingg the angle to keep the boat pointed straight but moving on the diagonal
Kim,
sending you best wishes for a complete, speedy recovery. Hope to see you back in the boat next spring.
Paddle moves forward
as the boat slows with a drawing sideslip as well. At that point I’ll usually transition into a sculling draw if there is more lateral distance to be made.
Yes, speedy recovery Kim.
Yes I do too come to think of it
Some of this stuff is like walking. After a while you don’t notice the individual steps, but try to write a description of how you walk!
about the diagonal thing…
The vast majority of Sideslips are a diagonal, although I’ve seen some that appear to be directly sideways. Since there’s many variables that must be in exactly the correct juxtaposition it’s hard to do and since the canoe is already in forward motion, it’s hard to judge. I wonder if a methodology, like a very sensitive GPS amidships could take an actual measure. I’m curious if a true direct Sideslip is possible.
I think it’s the other way around
– Last Updated: Dec-14-14 2:19 PM EST –
I also move the paddle forward during that stroke, but that's to accentuate the "ramping" effect of the paddle to push the boat sideways, by increasing the relative speed difference between paddle and water. When I do that the stroke only lasts a couple of seconds and a push that is initially unbalanced in favor of the stern isn't such a big deal since that gets corrected toward the end of the stroke when the paddle moves forward and pushes the boat's alignment back to where it should be. But strictly speaking, the balance point of the boat is farther forward at higher speeds than it is at slow speeds. This is the same reason that a J-stroke will apply plenty of stern correction when applied at the hip at cruising speed (think about the reason that the whole boat doesn't move sideways when the sideways push of the J-stroke is done near the center of the boat in that situation), but at very slow speed it must be applied farther back. The faster you go, the more "loose" the stern becomes and the more "fixed" the bow becomes. This is also why when surfing a wave at 10 or 12 mph, the slightest sideways push with your paddle near the center of the boat will swing the stern quite a lot and cause the bow to "trip" or "get stuck" rather than slide like the stern does. Surfing a hole (as the water flies by around you) is the same thing, though it's hard for most people to visualize that there's no difference between being stationary as the water flies by and flying along on a moving wave over stationary water. It's still the bow that gets "tripped" or "caught", while the stern sideslips very easily. With such extreme through-the-water speed, the balance point is a lot closer to the bow than the stern.
As another example of this principle, consider the fact that with a balanced solo canoe, if you are not moving at all, the boat will turn exactly sideways to the wind as the wind pushes it. That shows that the balance point is at the center as the boat drifts sideways. If you are paddling at a good clip, the boat's tendency is to turn into the wind rather than for the sideways drift to be balanced, because the stern drifts to the side more easily (now the balance point is forward of center). In my guide-boat (which is symmetrical), the only way to get "unpinned" when sitting still and being pushed rapidly sideways by a wind that's 30 or 35 mph is to build up some forward speed so that the stern starts to slide downwind more rapidly than the bow. The sideways push on the boat by the wind is still equally applied to the whole length of the the boat in that situation (and thus it is effectively centered), but with forward speed, the opposing sideways push of the water is NOT balanced, and the boat is no longer trapped between the forces of wind and water.
Best of luck…
Any paddler who has spent some time on the water knows there’s a wide range of canoeists from those who just want to have a picnic on the river to serious students of the art and science of paddling. Kayakmedic is a person who encompasses all spectrums. She loves to just paddle but also is a long time student of the game. We don’t always agree, but when she says something, I pay attention. I know she’s a fighter and will battle through this adversity.
You are correct
– Last Updated: Dec-14-14 1:03 PM EST –
We talk about pushing the boat sideways, but since the boat is moving forward at the same time (indeed, it's that forward motion of the blade relative to the water that creates the sideways-directed force via a stationary (relative to the boat, not the water) paddle placement), the resulting "true" direction is diagonal.
A straight-sideways side slip is certainly possible. Only if there's no forward (or reverse) speed does a side slip make the boat go straight sideways, but in that case, a straight pry, draw, or sculling action is needed instead of the stationary "ramped" blade placement being discussed at this moment. I can achieve a straight-sideways speed of about 3 mph using a sculling draw in my Mohawk Odyssey 14 (my other canoes are slower when going straight sideways), but again, that's not the stroke being discussed right now.
Not to hijack the topic, but look for videos by Rolf Kraiker to see side slips that go straight sideways, and also which steer around obstacles while going sideways.
One needs to be careful
about drawing conclusions from what happens in fast moving water or winds. Worse yet in turbulent waters. There are numerous forces acting on the hull in those conditions. They act individually and in combination with each other.
Wind not only exerts forces on the hull (which may or may not be symmetrical) but also on the paddler and any load which extends above the gunwales. The wind also exerts forces on the inside of the hull. The paddler is likely positioned aft of the center of rotation, pretty much assuring that the entire package is asymmetrical. Add to this the waves formed by the wind. Given all of these variables, it’s pretty tough to draw definitive conclusions.
When paddling in fast moving current or turbulent water, observe the water alongside the hull. There will be several waves and eddies. They change constantly with boat direction, speed, heel, pitch etc. All of them are exerting various forces upon the hull. When you add surfing to the mix, the variables are likely increased exponentially.
The earlier comments about moving the paddle placement forward or back, during the course of a side slip were (I believe) in the context of flat or slow moving water. In these relatively calm waters, it’s safer to make inferences or reach conclusions about such subtleties as adjusting the paddle placement. That having been said, these techniques have been proven to be effective in more extreme conditions, but there comes a point where one must simply feel what the boat is doing, the effect of the paddle and make adjustments as necessary.