ThePaddlerUK 48
Planning
So this describes the technique for
breaking into the flow, but how do
you break out?
Well, this is the beauty of this technique – only one
thing changes when we apply this to breaking out,
and that’s the placement of that last key stroke.
Instead of placing this last stroke in the flow as we
do with breaking in, we reach across the eddy-line
and plant the paddle in the eddy, driving our boat
across the eddy-line again on the inside of the turn.
Now, if we were to complete 100 of these turns in
exactly the same manner and on the same eddy-line,
we would expect the same shape of turn each and
every time all other things being equal. “Not very
useful in our dynamic environment” I hear you say.
Very true as no eddy is the same and sometimes we
need a tighter or wider turn depending on what’s
downstream of us or the particular move we want
to achieve. Well, the technique stays the same but
we need to start thinking tactically. Here’s three
ways we can tactically affect the turn for any
scenario without changing the technique:
Speed: By varying the speed that we cross the eddyline we can change the shape of the turn. The more
speed we carry the wider the turn will be, and we
will get further across into the flow. The slower we
go the tighter the turn will be. Remember though
that the boat needs a minimum speed, otherwise the
boat spins out on the eddy-line and we have a
wobble!
Angle to the eddy-line: By changing our angle that
we cross the eddy-line at we can again change the
shape of the turn. Pointing the boat more upstream
will create a wider turn, whilst pointing our boat
more across the river our turn will be tighter.
Trim: Every open canoeist will know about trim, but
what does this mean for kayakers? Well if we microtrim our bodies forward, we release the skeg at the
back of the boat slightly which allows us to turn
tighter. By micro-trimming backwards slightly, the
skeg effect is accentuated and our turns are wider.
All of these tactical variations can be used in
conjunction with each other and are not mutually
exclusive.
Paul Bull
Paul is an enthusiastic full time UKCC Level 3 Coach
who’s passionate about helping people to develop and
enjoy kayaking and canoeing whether thats more
advanced skills on the more technical or bigger volume
rivers of the UK and Europe or grass root sessions nearer
to home. Paul delivers a range of BCU and personal skills
courses in both canoe and kayak. More information about
Paul and the courses he offers can be found at www.paulbull.co.uk or via
Facebook at www.facebook.com/PaulBullCoaching
Using a combination of the same technique,
varied tactically depending on the type of turn
we want to achieve, makes for really dynamic
paddlers.Then it’s all about the planning.What
do I mean? Well it’s about sitting in the eddy,
taking a look downstream, understanding the
water between us and our next objective and
deciding what sort of turn is needed to
achieve a successful outcome and then making
our plan.Then it’s all in the execution. As we go
through the learning stages though it’s
important for us to complete a review of the
last move we made so that we complete that
‘Plan-Do-Review’ cycle and learn from each
turn we make, whether it’s a successful
outcome or less so.This also starts to build
our understanding of the water, any features
and how these affect our kayak.