mike jones wrote:Rob Coffey wrote: How? The low brace turn is not an excellent progression to dynamic style as it is a fundamentally different approach. Dynamic style involves driving the boat and keeping speed through the turn using an active blade. The low brace turn involves losing speed on a passive blade.The only thing the low brace turn is a progression to is spending lots of time upside down.
To paddle dynamicaly into an eddy the kayaker must gain speed, establish the correct angle, edge the boat, initiate a turn (with an outside stroke) and carve the boat into the eddy, paddling on the inside of the turn to maintain speed and direction. You can argue the timing of these elements but this is the general concept.
Mike, take a look at your list, imagine being a learner with that many points to remember? Are you likely to be successful, probably not. Like any technique taught, if its not useful for the development of a persons sporting career, this technique should not be taught. Undoing incorrect technique is extremely challenging for the learner as well as the teacher.
Now to the sharp end of the issue, the sport has progress in terms of boat design, participation numbers and accessibility. To argue that the techniques developed 30-40 years ago to turn a 4m narrow round hulled boats are the same required today to turn a 2.5m box chimed kayak is nonsensical. In the 4m boat, you needed to help the boat to start to turn, and with little or no side wall on the hull some kind of brace was required. Modern boats have no difficulty turning, in fact they turn very fast, some times too fast, and thus we need to consider a technique that can accommodate this radical change in the boat's performance characteristics. Furthermore when a modern boat is on edge it is very stable relative to earlier designs and a paddler does not need a brace to maintain stability. The sport has moved on, and thus the technique we use needs to reflect these developments.
The short falls of the low brace turn are considerable, the stroke in its long established prescribed delivery, recommends that we need an initiation sweep stroke, and some kind of brace placed somewhere in the back quarter of the turning arc. The initial sweep for a short boat, means the boat starts turning well before the eddy line, often meaning the boat with skid sideways over the eddyline! A bracing paddle place be hide the paddler somewhere in the back quarter of the turning arc, is pretty much a breaking stroke, forcing the boat to slow down, and again skid into the skid. What really concerns myself about all this is that the LBT is in affect a static stroke, and to use such a stroke in a dynamic environment often means the paddler loses out, in true its useless. Ask a skier if they would consider planting their hand down on a turn, or a mountain biker when travelling at speed, if they would place their foot on the ground when going around a fast bend, both would ask if you were proper in the head for posing such a foolish question!
The solution needs to be a dynamic, we must maximise the turning radius to effectively bend or curve our momentum through a turn. In a short boat, a solution is, an inside forward stroke as the boat enters the eddy line. Once the paddler has pull their boat across the eddy line, the forward stroke can become a stern rudder where the upper body is rotated into the turn. There should be considerable pressure on the blade face, and this pressure, ie. this energy is used to maintain stability, thus a dynamic solution for a dynamic situation. There is no need for a coach to speak about edging, as with correct rotation the boat automatically edges, and most importantly for new learners, everything is on the inside of the turn, and thus they are highly unlikely to fall over.
At G17 we have been using this approach for teaching paddlers for many years, with considerable results. Dave Carroll has started to call this technique a hip rudder, as the nature of the turn means that the positive blade pressure is pulled towards the paddlers hips to access the energy available. We do not coach the low brace turn or bow rudder.
canned wrote:I'd hate this to be taken up as having a dig but if it's so important and frustrating for trainers then how is it so apparently difficult to get the info without being forced to pay out for training? Are there general principals covering dynamic & active paddling or is it just that.. "active" as in, always drive the boat, don't use braking strokes, bracing is for stability and recovery - not direction. I'm under no illusion that it's as simple as that - I'd just love to see the info more available rather than the term "dynamic paddling" being used to sell stuff...
Pyranha Sales Blurb wrote:Packed with punch for the freestyle enthusiast, the Rev takes the high performance of the 4-Twenty a stage further. The Rev incorporates the latest design concepts for dynamic paddling. It takes the aerial performance of the 4-Twenty and puts it in a more forgiving package.
For some time, I have been working on a new DVD that deliveries the world of dynamic paddling in a way that can be accessible to all. Genotype 2 will be available in DVD format from November, with all the footage shot in HD and on the fabled Soca River in Slovenia.
Cheers
Simon
Say it aint so. 