WW Strokes
I want to become a great whitewater boater, but all the rivers are so far away from Madison. How can I develop my skills without any whitewater around?Lucky for all of us the problem isn't that we don't have any water at all! Madison is blessed to have such a large number of lakes in the area. And believe it or not you can quickly improve your skills on the flatwater so when the time comes that you take your first trip to Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River or your first river trip up north, you'll be ready to make the most of it.
TEAM UP
The first thing you can do is get someone else to join you out on the water. On any nice afternoon during the summer there will undoubtedly be Hoofers on Lake Mendota down in front of Memorial Union. Feel free to send a posting on the Hoofers list-serve letting people you'll be on the lake practicing your technique. You might be amazed at how many people show up. Just like any activity you will progress more quickly if you have other paddlers to watch and share the experience.
DON'T BE A BACKSEAT DRIVER
Today's kayaks are smaller than those of years ago. This means they are shorter and have lesser volume, therefore your paddling posture is very important. Been looking for that new workout for fabulous abs? Well, you found it. The proper kayaking posture requires a neutral position. Imagine a piece of rope is attached to the top of your head and someone is pulling on it. Use your abs to maintain this posture. If the stern chines (those edges on the sides of the kayak behind you) are under water this means you aren't sitting up straight. If you find yourself leaning back with a lot of pressure against the backband then tighten those abs and sit up straight. Why is this important to practice? Leaning back will cause the stern of the kayak to sink under the water and allow those crazy currents to do all sorts of things, like flip you! Stay up straight and you'll end up flipping less often.
FORWARD STROKE
The forward stroke is probably the most used stroke in kayaking. After all, it is how one moves down the river. Posture is a neutral to slightly forward lean with the head up and eyes forward. You don't drive a car while looking at the hood ornament so don't paddle looking down at the grabloop. So where does the power come from for an effective, efficient stroke? The arms you say? Hmmmm, well try paddling with only your arms for a couple hours and see how well that works. Instead of focusing on the arms, imagine your entire torso as a spring. If you turn your torso to the right it is now "wound up" to release with energy. Use your abdominal, oblique and back muscles to move through the stroke, with the paddle entering the water by the toes and leaving the water just past the hip. If done correctly your body will now be "wound up" on the other side and ready to take another stroke. It is simply twisting the torso which brings the paddle through it's complete stroke. The idea here is to imagine the paddle being placed into molasses, thick and gooey, and moving the boat towards the paddle -- not pulling the paddle towards the boat. The hand which completed the stroke simply is brought up near the ear to put the other blade in proper alignment for the next stroke. The proper method will result in a powerful, quiet, efficient stroke while the other method tends to result in a noisy, inefficient stroke (akin to spinning the tires while driving).
BACK STROKE
Very few kayakers practice the back stroke as much as they should. The back stroke is used in river running instances when ferrying in moving water to line up for an approach, or for surfing on a wave. Posture is straight torso with slightly forward lean to keep stern chines out of the water. Proper back stroke is compact utilizing torso rotation. Paddle blade enters the water at hips and moves toward bow with rotation, again imagining your body as a spring. The blade should be leaving the water at about the knees. An improper technique will quickly burn out your arms so practice, practice, practice.
FRONT SWEEP
Today's whitewater boats are extremely manueverable but proper sweep technique will allow you to use one good stroke instead of three bad ones. Once again, rotate your torso so the blade can be placed in the water at the toes. Now unleash the power in your torso using your abdominal and oblique muscles and move the blade in an arc away from the boat, moving it from bow to stern. DO NOT FOLLOW THE BLADE WITH YOUR EYES. You already know where the paddle is going so you should keep your eyes focused on where you want to go. In other words, your gaze should go slightly to the side opposite the side on which you are initiating the sweep.
REVERSE SWEEP
The reverse sweep is initiated by placing the paddle blade in the water at the stern (back) of the boat and sweeping an arc through to the toes. IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE - Be sure to use torso rotation in order to place the blade in the water at the stern. Not using torso rotation requires you to extend your arm behind your shoulder which can result in shoulder injury.
** In practice on the river you generally will not complete a sweep entirely from bow to stern (forward) or stern to bow (reverse). However, practicing it as described will be a good reminder to do it efficiently and more powerfully when you are approaching that dreadful eddy line **
LOW BRACE
Braces are an extremely useful stroke to help keep you upright and not swimming upside-down with the fishes or Nessie. The low brace is commonly used open boating and C-1 boating (canoeing) but is also highly useful in kayaking, especially when surfing on a wave. A proper low brace is done by rotating both hands downward with the elbows up. The power face (spooned side) of the paddle blade is now facing up. Once a tilt is initiated to the side the paddle face allows you to utilize a hip snap to correct the boat. Remember, an effective brace is not conducted by leaning on the paddle. The paddle is there to allow you to transfer the energy into a strong hip snap. It can be useful that once the boat is corrected to an upright position, slightly twist your wrist to aid in removing the blade from the water. If you don't do this you may find yourself flipping over due to the surface tension of the water on the blade. In practice, start using a low brace when side surfing instead of relying on a high brace.
HIGH BRACE
Practice an effective high brace and you are well on your way to learning how to roll a kayak. Not only that, an effective low and high brace will mean you don't have to roll as often as you will not find yourself flipping as often. A proper and *safe* high brace requires you to keep your elbows close to your body. Rotate both hands upward with elbows below. In this position the power face (spooned side) is facing the water. Initiate a boat lean and imagine slapping the water with the paddle blade. This is where it gets a bit tricky. The high brace is not done by placing your weight and power on the paddle. Instead you simply transfer the energy from the paddle blade into a swift, powerful hip snap. Once the boat is snapped back up and flat on the water you are then able to simply recover back into your paddling posture. KEY POINT - One secret to a high brace is to imagine pushing your head down into the water. If you try to lift your head your hip snap will fail and you will find yourself upside-down. Remember, if your head goes down then the boat is going to come up. SAFETY NOTE - Keep your elbows close and do not extend your arms. Extending your arms places great force on your shoulders and could result in shoulder injury. Oh, and one other thing. Rolling a kayak is nothing more than doing a high brace to the extreme (but not difficult).
Tilt, Tilt, Tilt that Boat!
You may have noticed that your whitewater kayak probably has a flat bottom. This is called a planing hull. Boats with round bottoms as most older (pre-1995) whitewater kayaks have are called displacement hulls. Planing hulls allow a kayak to be remarkably manueverable and have great surfing characteristics. So just how maneuverable is that whitewater kayak? Try this test. Sit up straight and take 5 or 6 good forward strokes. Stop paddling and see what the kayak does. Most likely within a couple seconds you will be spinning around 180 degrees. Huh? Yep, the planing hull allows the kayak to transfer forward momentum into spin momentum. So, how can you use the kayak design to your advantage? Quite simply actually. Take your hand and reach down along the side of the kayak. Feel that edge where the side of the kayak meets the bottom (hull). That is called a chine and it can be used to your advantage. Now try this. Sit up straight and take 5 or 6 good forward strokes. Stop paddling by this time lightly lift up your right knee thereby initiating a boat tilt. What happens? If done correctly the kayak will turn to the left and continue in a smooth arc. Pretty cool, huh.
All of these strokes can be mastered on flatwater and will result in you having more fun in moving water. Grab a friend and get out there and practice. The best boaters have spent hour after hour on flatwater practicing skills before moving to whiewater. Pretty soon you'll find yourself actually enjoying the idea of challenging yourself to see how straight you can paddle or how far you can go on a brace before you flip over. Most importantly, be safe and have a great time. See you on the water!
