Nuances
One of the things that keeps me paddling year ater year is discovering new subtleties in how to interact with the water. Here are a few I’ve picked up over time.
Hopkins Hip Twist
This one my good friend Matt Hopkins came up with. It’s a way to land flat off of a waterfall.
Paddle off the lip at, say, a left hand angle. As soon as you go over the lip, throw a big sweep stroke. This makes it so your stern clears the ledge. Now, lean forward to bring your bow up while at the same time, roll your hips so you land flat and not on your side. You’ll land close to sideways at the bottom, so make sure the hole isn’t too bad. When you do it, it looks like one fluid twisting motion through the air.
Keeping Your Boat Flat To Facilitate Turning
When turning your boat quickly, sometimes you can get spin faster if you keep your boat flat. Usually, this is done in conjunction with a dufeck stroke. The reason this works is when your boat is flat as opposed to on edge, it offers less resistance to the water. **Illustration**
This is similar to a pivot turn in a slalom boat, but can be done in any boat with a high volume stern. Be careful not to catch your edge when you do this with this.
Throwing Head over Shoulder in Turns
Lets say you're doing an eddy turn followed by quickly peeling out. As soon as you cross the eddy line, throw your head over your shoulder and fix your gaze on the next spot on the river you’re going to. This helps you stay a step ahead and gets you through the turn a little faster.
Head Dink
When you get hit sideways by a big water feature (e.g. by a lateral wave or fall into a hole sideways), let your body go loose like a wet noodle while you do your brace. End the brace by letting your head flop on your shoulder (the “head dink”) like a snapping whip. This helps you maintain your balance. You’ll notice the motion is the same as the end of a C to C roll.
Muscles Used in a Bow Draw
The goal with any kayak stroke is to power it with your stomach, back and leg muscles and not your arm muscles. The Bow Draw is no different.
In review, the bow draw is done by planting the paddle vertically by your knee, 1 to 3 feet from the boat. The boat is turned by pulling the blade to the boat.
To power this stroke with the stomach, back, and leg muscles, when you plant your blade, twist slightly at the waist. When you pull the blade towards your boat, use your whole torso to generate the pull, not just the arms. You should feel a slight strain in your stomach muscles if you do it right.
Longboating Info
Kayaking Tutorials