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Forum: BoaterTalk
Re: Technique questions ckelly New
Date: Jul 16 2008, 12:05 GMT
From: lifeofloon

	chris, one of the biggest pointers i ever got was to keep my boat as flat and still as possible on the water, while taking ONLY the strokes needed. this comes with a lot of practice of using your upper torso rotation while keeping your hips and boat as quiet and still as possible on the water. granted there are certain instances where it is necasary to edge the boat to get around or bounce of rocks or other obstacles. practicing this on flat water and simple class I and II is very helpful. for anyone i would suggest; build a foamy of your boat model and use it on little creeks or drainage ditches. this will help you to understand how your boat reacts to particular currents and features. this will help immensly with river reading skills. try handpaddles once in  a while. now i'm not advocating that everyone should be a handpaddler but this will really help you to use rivers currents and put a lot of those river reading skills to test. paddling well is not about paddling hard. once you can get your boat about a river just using your hands transition that knowledge to a paddle is pretty easy. definatley paddle with a forward agressive posture. this will keep you ready and in a mindset to power though things.  it will also help generate power for your boofs as well as getting through some of those stickier holes as well as being in a better position to brace on slides. as much as we want to be one with the water we don't want to be complacent. TAKE AS FEW STROKES AS POSSIBLE!!!  i can't stress this enough. the more you stroke the more your boat is going to want to bob side to side and fore and aft (at least untill you hit that perfect upper/lower torso seperation). use your braces and rudders to help you with the rivers own features and currents. shane posted a raven fork video a year or so ago with andrew holcombe running "headless horsemen". that is  a perfect example. he takes one stroke into a rudder and thats all for the rapid. with just that he managed to get his boof stroke, power through a very sticky hole and keep himself braced throughout a slide with a reactionary on it. maybe you could get shane to post the link again the other thing that is very important and often overlooked is looking ahead. however look at where you want to go not where you don't. i would love to hear what others have to say as well. i thought terrel has some great points as well. adam

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