littleredcanoe wrote:
I too am not a gunwale prier either which may well be a good thing for alleviating tiredness..but I do see some disefficiencies in the Canadian Stroke as shown. First there is no torso rotation shown which of course leads to arm strain.. and the forward stroke is following the curve of the gunwale which is usually a detriment necessitating over correction.. But to be fair I haven't thought of my stroke recovery if it is always the same degree of correction each time.. For consistency sake it may be easier to follow the gunwale and then overcorrect ( and its a slight degree for each) with each stroke.
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A few things to consider regarding recent replies to this post...
You can use core body muscles without doing torso rotation - I do but it doesn't look like it. I occasionally get students who've had "proper form" drilled into them and don't believe me. Easiest fix to convince them is to do a side by side paddling comparison and I can easily keep pace with them because they are concentrating too much on form without paying attention to function. If I really want to push my canoe, I'll add torso rotation and that leaves them in the dust. Bottom line is that there are lots of things that can be done to improve efficiency and its best to keep an open mind when developing technique. What happens when the rubber hits the road is more important than what's in the textbooks.
If your paddle follows the gunnel, it gets closer to the direction of travel and that reduces the turning influence of the stroke. If the canoe is heeled like I do solo, the paddle can actually cross over to the other side of the keel line (direction of travel) at the end of the stroke and when you do that well, the correction required is less not more. Keeping the paddle parallel to the keel line for the entire length of the power stroke actually increases the turning effect because you gain leverage against the fulcrum (center thwartish) of the canoe as you move the paddle towards the stern. Never understood why there doesn't seem to be an understanding of that basic fact of physics in some circles.
nessmuk mentioned this not you but... I don't try to "break" students of bad habits. I watch what they are doing, figure out where they could improve and choose the one main problem and then tell them "to do this... try this". People don't like it when you tell them they are doing something wrong but they appreciate it when you provide tools to help them out. The key in my opinion is never try to improve everything at once, find the most obvious thing they can work on to make it easier and once they get the feel for that move down the list of other stuff that could help them.
I have more than 50 years experience paddling canoes and a lot of that has been on deep wilderness trips 3-5 weeks long as trip leader in places like the arctic where you have lots of time to work on the mechanics of paddling efficiently. I've also spent a lot of time figuring out how to develop very precise control of a canoe and over the years I've probably helped several thousand students learn a bit more about paddling. My videos are an offering to share what I've learned works for me over many years of trial and error and folks can take advantage my meager $.02 CDN or not. There isn't a right way to paddle, there's a way to paddle that's right for you right now but if you keep an open mind "right" will change over time and that's a good thing. I still learn things about paddling and don't think that's ever going to stop.