Functional Freestyle

Advice
#361

Verbous Description
Oh, we can describe a Cross Christy.



Initiate with a sweeping Forward, carry the feathered blade across the hull, apply a Cross Forward with a drawing component. Carrying that XF aft, palm roll to thumbs down position while keeping the powerface loaded as it transitins into a stern pushaway or J.



That brings us to the point where our forearms intersect each other, precluding the Reverse Sweeping Low Brace that normally powers a Christie although we can raise our hands and transition into the Cross Axle combination.



So yeah, while we can set up a freeSpin and pose through it, there really is no Cross Christy.

#362

Thats why we teach on the water
in a lecture hall glazed eyes would ensue and in short order the audience would be entirely asleep

#363

It’s time to move on.
The X Christie got far more play than I expected and perhaps than it deserved in this discussion of FUNCTIONAL freestyle.



Something that we perhaps should have begun with, but it’s never too late to discuss is the FORWARD STROKE. It is the jumping off point for all forward maneuvers.



The forward stroke should, to the greatest extent possible, propel the canoe forward, with minimum yaw or need for correction. The primary components are a vertical shaft, a forward plant, and a short stroke, parallel to the keel line (not following the gunwale curve). Power comes primarily from torso rotation, the arms functioning largely as struts connecting the torso to the grip and shaft.

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#364

The last stroke to master

We’ve just had a huge discussion of aspects of this on SoTP:



http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?47757-Paddle-forward-hard&p=565648#post565648



The best sequence I’ve ever seen on this is Larry Cain’s. This is based on SUP paddling
 but breaks down the key elements pretty well.



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-_xJ-9mF9grAKZtYT34Bmw/videos



In practice, we each do things a little differently
 but when coaching, I start off looking to see signs of my students doing the following:


  1. Sitting up - as good posture is essential

  2. Bringing the onside hip forward to the “set up”

  3. Over-extending and dropping forward and down whilst continuing to rotate the onside hip forward (loading weight onto the blade and feeling for resistance)




    As the throat of the blade pierces the surface, I then look for:


  4. Pre-tensioning of the body and a snap of the onside hip to “lock” onto the water




    Assuming the student’s weight is on the blade I then look for evidence of



    5: The on-side hip being “locked” relative to the blade
 and the off-side hip snapping forward




    If this doesn’t appear to be happening, my feedback might encourage the student to imagine “vaulting over the blade” (by snapping the OFFSIDE hip forward).



    I’ll also being looking for evidence of good connectivity with the boat. If that’s lacking, I may encourage a focus on driving the boat rather than just of relocating ourselves within the boat.



    In practice, I usually find I’m looking at a lot more than that
 but where the above all looks good, I will generally find there’s still stuff to work on - even if it’s fine detail like using the final moments of the stroke to get the onside hip going forward once more.


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#365

Regarding "Students"
May I suggest this summer, that you take a group of “Hopkins” Middle Schoolers, who have never paddled before, out canoeing. Give them no instruction, reverse the roles: you as student and they as teachers. Let them figure it out. See what develops, for I’m sure you’ll learn quite a bit from them. Substitute SUPs in place of canoes, if you must. They’ll tell you all about propulsion and how a paddle works before the session is over. They might even explain “weight on the blade” as GPE.

#366

I’ve skimmed the “songofthepaddle” link

– Last Updated: Jan-17-15 4:19 PM EST –

It's an interesting discussion with lots of good information but;

It's way over the top for most non-racing paddlers. Those who love to study this stuff and are constantly looking for that "edge" may glean useful tidbits but the greater audience (I hope) for this thread are likely to be turned off by highly technical discussions and complex physics lessons.

It does not require rocket science to become an excellent, recreational paddler, which is what most functional freestylers are. There are a limited number of basic elements to each functional maneuver that we do/teach, including the forward stroke. I think we benefit the greatest audience when we keep it simple.

That said, providing links to more detailed/technical forums, or referencing sources of additional information is useful to those so inclined.

#367

Forwards Stroke
P1 BLADE, BODY, BOAT The Physics of Paddling Forward I



Blade [the paddle in water]



Paddlers transmit body power through the paddle blade to move their boat. As positive pressure is generated on the powerface, partial vacuum is created on the backface, the differential forces, called thrust, drawing paddle, paddler and hull through the water



Trial and error by marathon, sprint and whitewater racers indicates 8.5” +/- .25” is the optimal paddle blade width. Wider requires more reach to work over the canoe side, narrower doesn’t hold enough pressure.



Blades need to be shaped with relieved shoulders to work under the hull and rounded tips to allow less than perfect catches as the blade is inserted for each stroke. Reinforcing ribs should be faired into the paddle faces; straights requiring balanced camber on power and back faces to slice accurately. Bents are seldom sliced due to lower stance in the boat and shorter shafts, and do not require face camber.



The paddle blade is an inefficient propulsion device. It provides cyclical power in pulses and it can lose purchase by fluttering, allowing water to stream off its surface and by ventilating, sucking air down its backface to compromise thrust. Attention to the neck, where blade and shaft meet and shaft length will reduce ventilation.



As J Winters proved in ~1990, paddles are most effective when +/- 10 degrees of square to the stroke and significantly less effective at angles much beyond the +/- 10 dg “Winters Window.” The rowing/sculling community selects 20 dg. Averaging those numbers leaves us at a +/- 15 degree window. Functional paddlestrokes are always shorter than commonly performed. Carrying the paddle aft of the body and past the “Winter’s window” compromises efficiency as well as adversely affecting a hulls direction. Art/Pic 1



The paddle is most efficient and predictable in powering paddlecraft when the shaft is either vertical for forward, back, and abeam strokes or horizontal for sweeps and reverse sweeps. A vertical paddleshaft requires that the paddlers grip or top hand be outside the hulls’ maximum beam at the paddler’s station. Stacking the top hand above the shaft hand and outside the rail requires significant torso rotation, more than most of us achieve. Positioning the top hand inside the rail introduces a horizontal component, transforming forward strokes into sweeps that turn the boat. Art/ Pic 2



The stroke itself must be parallel to the hulls keel, not its rail. Paddling along the rails, in bow, center or stern paddling stations adds a sweeping component to forward strokes forcing the hull into yaw and turning the craft off course. Similarly, carrying the blade aft of the body always results in a sweeping stroke that turns the boat away from paddleside. Art / Pic 3



Recovery should always be horizontal and feathered, the blade carried forward to successive catches with torso rotation. In water recovery slows cadence and the drg induces may cause misdirection.



Paddle selection; Straight or bent, determines where the +/- “Winter’s window” occurs in any given stroke and when the stroke becomes ineffective and should be recovered to a successive stroke. With straight paddles square to the “window” forward of a kneeling paddler’s knee, and end just aft of it for sitters. Bent paddles square to the window from the sitting paddler’s knee to mid thigh. Bends are usually 12 dg after decades of experimentation; close to the “windows” edge for draws and pries. Tripping paddlers carry bent and straight for fatigue relief. Art/ Pic 4 The bent being used to change range of muscle motion and when higher cadence usefully improves speed. The straights 2 usually employed when maneuvering is important.



The paddlers hold on the paddle is also key; both hands should be loose. A loose shaft hand allows significant forward extension of the catch. Comparing loose lower grip with a shaft hand death grips suggest increased forward placement of the catch by almost a foot. Similarly, tight top hands reduce the paddler’s ability to pitch the blade.





Body [bio-mechanics / the paddler in the boat]



Paddlers should use large muscles to increase power and endurance, specifically the Latissimus dorsi, Posterior Deltoid, Triceps, Teres, Trapezius, Rhomboid, and the longitudinal spinal muscles loosely grouped as the ribeye.



To utilize these muscle groups that are mostly in the back, paddlers should use their arms as struts, locking them in a partially bent position. Torso rotation engages the back muscles in powering the stroke, and increasing forwards reach to the catch.



Paddler stance in the boat can enhance or compromise biomechanical output. Standing

or high kneeling engages the leg muscles, provides the greatest range of motion and

keeps the paddleblade square to the stroke longer. They are also the least stable stances in the boat, with elevated Center of Gravity, [CG]. Bone to boat contact is

through knee and foot or feet.



Kneeling with the knees in the chines and butt on a seat provides a more stable stance with CG well inside hull and still engages the legs to power forward strokes and improve both rotation and forward reach. Both knees provide bone to boat contact, transferring power from the body to the boat and also improving stability. The straight blade paddles’ Forward Stroke squares into the “15 Degree window” completely forward of the knee. Kneeling with a bent is more restful than using a straight because forward reach is reduced, and speed increases with the higher cadence the shortened reach and shaft allows, but directional control is compromised with the bent because the power pulse is further aft along the hull and thumbs down correction is less effective with bent blades because they are often outside the “Winters window” by design.



Sitting reduces torso rotation, reach and stability. The paddler rotates from the seat up while balancing on narrowly spaced sitz bones, cocking the onside hip forward towards the catch. While CG is lower, the bone spread increases the rate of roll so stability is lessened. A footrest or foot pegs are needed to provide bone to boat contact for balance and force transfer.







The reduction in rotation means that sitting paddlers are unable to reach far enough forward to square straight blade paddles to the stroke. The use of bents, which square into the “window” alongside the paddler’s thigh, are more efficient than straight blades for sitting paddlers. Shortened rotation and reach can yield higher cadence and thereby higher fprward speed. The reduced effectiveness of the bent’s thumb down correction also encourages higher cadence and switching sides to control yaw. Higher cadences tend to require smaller paddleblades for speed through the water and to reduce injury.



The relaxed, reclining, position assumed as paddlers lean into backrests compromises rotation, reach, power and directional control, but is appropriate for birding and reading.





Boat [the hull in water]



A quiet boat is an efficient boat. Yawing off course, sideways roll, and fore to aft pitching all disrupt smooth water flow along the hull, increase drag and slow the canoe.



Biomechanics may need to be compromised to keep the hull quiet in the water and eliminate rolling and pitching. Failing to keep cadence will induce rolling and yaw. Tandem paddlers should always paddle opposite sides in cadence. All forward stroke nuances are lost without those actions but soloists also need pay attention to rolling. Over reaching over a wide hull’s side to present a vertical paddleshaft may start cyclical, side to side rolling, that will disrupt smooth waterflow along the hull, slowing the boat and decreasing stability. Rolling also causes the bows to carve turns away from each low rail cycle, crabbing the boat and requiring corrective strokes that slow progress. It is better to miss the top grip and complete the next stroke with top hand on the shaft than disrupt cadence.



Similarly lunging to an extremely forward catch and allowing a longer forward stroke may cyclically pitch the hull bow down, causing drag through disruption of waterflow along the hull. Hulls can be heeled to either side to lift the stems and increase rocker and tighten turns. Pitching the hull bow down for forward turns further increases skid rate. Heeling and pitching upright helps stop rotation, but all these movements must be smooth to minimize waterflow disruption over the hull surface.



All this suggests shorter forward strokes within John Winters Window for SUP Boards, Canoes and Kayaks. Cadence destroying Corrective Maneuvers especially the J Stroke, should be minimized and switching sides, or cross forward strokes for kneeling solo paddlers, are preferred method of course correction, with the knowledge that such need indicates Forward Stroke problems. Wind, Waves? Pick up cadence and speed to, stuff/pin the bow in the water. The stern generally follows.



Attention to the Paddleblade Physics, Bio-Mechanics and the Boat in the water allow us to paddle more efficiently, farther and faster with less effort.



[There is More.]



© Charlie Wilson March 2011/ July 2014

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#368

Keeping it simple

For “Functional Freestyle”
 the most common issues to consider are:


  1. Just twisting in the shoulder girdle (providing the illusion of rotation) instead of winding up from the hips and driving from the hips (genuinely rotating);


  2. Not dropping the blade and locking it in the water as PART OF the wind-up: pretty much skipping the most efficient bit of the stroke!



    We can all find different ways to get those bits right
 but when we do, the rest tends to follow on just nicely :slight_smile:
#369

Well, to quote one forum contributor who
I know quite well, “There you have it”

#370

I’m confused
I’ve managed to understand and visualize most of what you wrote. Some I’ll need to work out, on the water, come spring. One item has me particularly confused.



“Kneeling with a bent is more restful than using a straight because forward reach is reduced,”



I didn’t think bents were generally used from a kneeling position and I don’t grasp that to do so would be more relaxing. Perhaps there was a typo here or I’m simply confused.



Would you elaborate?

#371

Thanks for posting
He does make it look easy.

#372

Well you can practice this

– Last Updated: Jan-17-15 9:01 AM EST –

right now in your living room to get an idea..
The bent is somewhat shovel shaped and if you try to bring it too far forward all you have done is successfully made a platform flat on the water

Pushing down on that is something that is counterproductive to forward travel.. You want vertical entry and exit.

I wish that cew had subchapters in that rather than the ominous sounding "there is more"

There is no need to show up with perfect anything. You use what you got and ogle others paddles and ask to try them.. Thats what got us all into this..sharing and swapping stuff. We didnt do any research ahead of time.

#373

Bent Kneeling
The bent’s “+/-15dg power window” alongside the paddler occurs aft of that of straight blades. Consequently the paddler doesn’t need to rotate as far or reach as far forward to the catch, hence the more restful note.

The reduced reach can also tighten cadence a little, which increases forward speed.



FreeStyle tandem paddlers often kneel using larger bladed bents, although that is mostly a function of increasing perceived risk. A larger bent paddle’s high brace approximates a low brace interface with the water, allowing increases extension across the rail. I’m kinda waiting for FS Solo paddlers to start playing with bents for the same reason. Robert Harrison, a fine WW Slalom paddler trips with a 5dg bent, but there’s a story behind that.



On moving water with roots and rocks, tandem teams are probably better retaining the straight blades’ more effective draw for maneuverability.

#374

Finding your own path

Larry Cain has just posted (in timely fashion) on a recurrent theme of my own contributions to this discussion thread. His post starts as follows




“I’ve always felt that there are certain, fundamental technique principles that apply to all types of paddling that you need to take into account if you are going to paddle well. Beyond that I’ve always believed that there are many ways to interpret these principles and incorporate them into your own technique. We don’t all have to look identical when we paddle. The trick for each of us is to find out how to incorporate the basic principles of paddling into our technique in the way that works best for each of us.”



He goes on to illustrate this point with a discussion of forward paddling
 and immediately challenges any simplistic notion that there’s a “right” place to end one’s forward stroke. Key point: the right place to end your stroke will depend on everything from your paddle length to what you are doing with the rest of your body!



Larry talks about paddling as a “game of trade-offs” in which “emphasizing one thing” often has to be “at the expense of another” - and his illustration is hugely relevant here. He contrasts a paddler who loads considerable weight on the blade with one who loads more lightly
 and notes that “each of us has to find the right balance between these two extremes” - we each have to find our own solution!



Larry takes the “catch” as an example
 noting (contrary to much popular advice) that we each have to find our own PERSONAL balance between “gathering water behind the blade and creating pressure against that water” - as whilst “gathering water behind the blade to establish connection is one of the most important things a paddler can do [
] being too deliberate in setting the blade in the water” ain’t the answer!



The concluding paragraph is worth reproducing in full:



“I look at paddling like a puzzle. There are lots of different pieces to fit together in order to paddle well and no two people are trying to solve the exact same puzzle because, since we are all different, we are all working with unique pieces. Figuring out what all the different pieces are and exactly how they fit together is the challenge but it can be really fun. Hopefully some of the things I’ve talked about here will help you put your own puzzle together.”



http://larrycain.blogspot.ca/2015/01/more-thoughts-on-sup-technique.html










#375

A very well written article
Often, modern technology, complicates what has been perceived as simple or straightforward. In this case, the data and conclusions have been presented in a clear, easy to understand format.

#376

It’s time to back up. Litterally

– Last Updated: Jan-18-15 9:22 PM EST –

If you're like me, you simply have to explore every little side channel. Occasionally one opens up into a hidden little pond but more often than not, they are dead ends. I'm often with other paddlers who won't explore these channels or will only go part way up them because "they will get too narrow to turn around in". If you're paddling a 14' canoe, and the channel narrows to 13' turning around means getting out of the boat.

Some folks will push themselves backward for a short distance, using their paddle as a pole. Others will work their way back with reverse sweeps or the like, with alternating on and off side strokes, usually in a far less than graceful or efficient manner.

There are better ways. One can paddle in reverse, efficiently, and with grace. Any maneuver that can be done going forward, can also be done in reverse. Further, they can all be done in cross reverse, but that's another matter which we'll discuss in good time.

The Back Stroke as it is commonly referred to is used to back away from the dock, an object you got too close to or to back yourself out of that dead end channel.

The paddler begins by rotating hips and shoulders toward the on side. The paddle is then planted as far back as can readily be accomplished, while still keeping the shaft nearly vertical. This is likely to be at or slightly behind his or her hip. The blade must be perpendicular to the keel line. The paddler then unwinds his or her torso which moves the paddle forward. The stroke is short, ending at or just forward of the knee. If additional strokes are required, the recovery can be out of water with a feathered blade, but with practice, is done more easily with a thumb back, in water slice.

Reverse J strokes are necessary if there is any distance to be traveled. We'll discuss them soon.

#377

Minor quibble


we might do fractionally better to imagine our torso rotation driving the boat past the blade rather than “moving the paddle forward”





though folk have used imagery of both sorts for long enough 
often to very good effect!

#378

Cain, paddle in water,
Thanks for the Cain reference, very interesting, and I think useful. By concentrating on variations between the forward strokes of elite paddlers he illustrates how minor those differences are as compared to the paddling population as a whole.



I don’t think it matters if we verbalize the paddle being drawn to the knee or the body passing the paddle as long was we understand the paddle moves in the water, the pressure difference between powerface and backface drawing the hull through the water.



Kinda sorry our moderator has decided to skip the Cross Forward, a very valuable stroke for those of us still on our knees, but, of course, pretty useless to the sitters in the group.

#379

re minor quibble
The disciples of Tom Foster used to teach us to plant the paddle and pull the boat to it. They compared that to being on a skateboard and pulling yourself from parking meter to parking meter.

Always works for me.

#380

Beyond fenceposts and parking meters

OK- we need to distinguish between what we’re actually doing (complex) and visualisation tricks which can help in during coaching / practice
 but all tend to emphasise just one part of anything we do. E.g. Once we’ve locked the blade on “gathered” water our initial drive might be improved by visualising ourselves as drawing ourselves along on a series of posts





BUT we can perhaps get the same effect by “feeling for the resistance”
 or by seeing ourselves load our weight onto the blade
 as I’m not sure it’s possible to get that bit right and NOT get at least SOME desirable outcomes





AND once all of that’s under way, we might more productively visualise vaulting over our blade
 as that includes the hip snap
 which perhaps gets us to the idea of us trying to knock over our fenceposts / parking meters!



Ps. On this, see also Mariannie Davies’ excellent “Directing the performers focus of attention” article here: http://www.bcu.org.uk/files/Code%20177.pdf