We've all seen those paddlers, paddling their boat apparently effortless, playing with natures elements. Doing so is not dominated by pure force, but by proper technique and efficient use of paddle, canoe, wind or current.
We all started or are starting with effective paddling and most of us also fall back to effective paddling. Most starting paddlers find out that if they paddle on one side, the boat drifts to the other side. Switching sides - making an equal error - compensates this undesired behaviour and the boat moves forward. This is what I call the most fundamental form of effective paddling. The boat is moving forward. But you won't win a race against a trained and efficient paddler.
Now it's time to bring in some efficiency. We learn that a boat can be controlled by paddling predominantly on one side by means of correction strokes (stern-pry, J-stroke, bow-draw and cross-bow-draw). We're not switching sides anymore and we reduce the boat drift by trying to obtain a vertical shaft, minimizing our correction strokes and getting more forward propulsion out of one stroke. We are paddling more efficiently.
Before we didn't care if our stroke was with lots of splash, we maybe even enjoyed it. On a certain day, somebody comes and talks about clean catch, stroke phases and more. We learn that the clue of getting out the maximum forward propulsion we should focus on a nice "catch", getting a maximum bite of the blade in the water. We are still optimizing our forward propulsion and paddling even more efficiently.
The same guy who's talking about catch, is also talking about paddling with the correct muscles. No, not those tiny little arms are our primary paddling muscles, these large strong muscles of the back are used for paddling. The forward momentum comes from winding up like a spring and unwinding and moving yourself and the boat forward. If we haven't been kneeling for paddling, this is the time since winding up by sitting on our but is quite hard to do and the body posture is not optimal.
We also learn how we can use hull characteristics to even reduce the correction. By combining boat tilt and well timed and calculated strokes, we can even paddle straight forward without using correction strokes!
When it comes to wind we learn and test that the weight balance of our boat is important. Being bow heavy or stern heavy is an advantage or an disadvantage depending on where the wind comes from. The fact that this is called trim eases the talking about it, but more importantly is that we know how to trim our boat.
Getting the maximum efficiency out of your body and boat can be or will be a work of life. But making progress on all these fronts is useful for enjoying paddling even more.
Most of use move further to river paddling. Some for touring, some because they have to paddle a section between lakes, some for whitewater playboating. But all of is encounter other paddlers that seem to be paddling the same river effortless, as if they are dancing with the river.
They may not have that illusive maximum efficiency as described above, but they do are using river features efficiently. Look closer the where they paddle. They are using small surf waves, optimizing current differentials and eddies.
Without efficient use of the river, you can effectively paddle down a river. But you'll burn much more calories. As an extra focus point, you'll notice that on the river you'll have too much to pay attention to. So if your muscles haven't really memorized those efficient strokes, you'll fall back to your old effective way of paddling. But don't worry, if you pay attention to it, you will be able to get your good paddling habits back and be able to use the river efficiently. That's a matter of time to get used to the combination, and focus.
Strange enough, those who are stepping up to whitewater paddling, go back for a more effective type of paddling. The paddle becomes a bit longer, to have a more effective leverage. And sometimes you just make moves on the river that are effective. The number of these strokes can be used by efficient use of the river and efficient strokes. But sometimes you must skip the efficient part and do something that's effective. It might be to overcome a hazard, or to force your way to the most efficient line or ... . Without this efficiency you probably wouldn't come to the point where you'd need those effective strokes. |
Theory 
