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SEE & DO MORE IN NOVA SCOTIA
From the stern , I can see lots of helpful things – I see the whole length of the boat ( it ’ s easier to judge sideslips , for instance – sort of like sighting down a rifle – or see if we ’ re moving straight in a stroking sequence ). I can also see how close the rail is to the water during a manoeuvre ; I can more easily see where we are in the arcing and where 180˚ ( or 225˚ , or 270˚ ) is ; and of course , I see every move she makes . These are all valuable things for a stern paddler , any tandem paddler , but Anita , in the bow , can ’ t much make use of them .
Much of tandem paddling is being in sync with each other . Since Anita can ’ t see me behind , it is up to me to match / mirror her moves as much as possible . I paddle to her cadence ; catch the water when she does ; recover when and how she does ; match my shaft angle to hers ; co-ordinate my initiations / conclusions with hers and try to match her degree of ‘ oomph ’ in those strokes where that matters . Almost everything is keyed off what the bow paddler is doing ; it ’ s all synced to Anita . The stern ’ s following the bow .
And all of this applies just as much to reverse moves as forward . Even though the stern is ‘ leading ’ as we take a few strokes to get some sternway , it ’ s still Anita in the bow who ’ s mostly guiding the boat with reverse J corrections , not me in the stern . And she ’ s doing so without the advantage of that boat-length to sight along ( she uses a shore object and our bubble / wake trail , but she lacks that useful ‘ sightline ’ the boat provides ). Anita still can ’ t see me , so all of the syncing still has to come from me watching her . Even moving backwards , the stern STILL follows the bow .
NUMEROUS PRACTICE RUNS I don ’ t mean to imply that the bow paddler ’ s out there just winging it and flying blind ; far from it . Anita ’ s cadence and stroke timing come from numerous practice runs with the music , and we both come to know where and when each stroke should be , so she knows what she ’ s doing and when to do it . And she can make at least some use of visual cues too . But I still have to watch her to try to mirror her as closely as I can , and every run-through is just a bit different , even in a well-rehearsed routine . Even though she can ’ t see me , she still certainly knows something about what ’ s happening behind her .
She can feel the boat react to something I ’ m doing ; she certainly knows when I blow something by how the boat reacts or doesn ’ t react (“ What are you DOING back there ?!?”). But she doesn ’ t know how well a move just completed came off , for instance , or if indeed we had the canoe ’ s rail on the water , as heeling is controlled by the stern paddler , and she ’ s not able to see that from the bow position . So if we pull off a good one , I ’ ll let her know . And we occasionally cue
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