Paddle Awareness

Rocks aren’t always getting in the way of your kayak, occasionally they’ll do a number on your paddle as well. That’s why this post is devoted to paddle awareness. This particular skill may seem intuitive, but often in the heat of the moment the location of your paddle is the last thing on your mind. Shane explains why paddle awareness is important and demonstrates what can happen if your paddle is the last thing on your mind.

WATCH THE SHOW HERE

Jessie Wilenski turning it in last minute.

Shane dropping into the “buttcrack.” Notice how he’s preparing for the hit and has his body rotated and elbows low.

John Grace demonstrating poor form. Notice how his paddle is firmly planted on the rock.

Mefford Williams keeping his paddle clear in Boof or Consequence, a classic paddle snatcher.

Here are a few more comments from Shane on Paddle Awareness.

I am pretty psyched by how that video turned out. You can really see the paddlers either working with their paddles or not. Its one of those things that takes folks a long time to figure out and its so important because there is nothing more disconcerting than floating towards the next rapid without your paddle because you chocked it in the drop you just ran.

I think something that really made me much more aware of my paddle was paddling slalom gates. Racing slalom you get a couple seconds added on to your time if you touch a gate. Paddling creeks you get upside down, smacked in the face, or a broken paddle if you touch a rock hard enough.

One thing that we just glanced over in the video was being aware of your paddle enough to be able to look for the spot to place your paddle for a good stroke. Its an often overlooked skill that you only develop if you make yourself aware of it, or through lots of paddling in tight places. As you are scouting or heading for a rapid try to look for the spots that you want to place your strokes. If you paddle in tight rapids you will learn this skill. It doesn’t need to be hard rapids just tight ones. So go out on the river and run all the slots and tight lines around rocks that you can. Don’t settle for scraping your paddle on the rocks try to run clean, No Touch!

Later

Shane

Making peace with rocks

Shane learning to deal.

Rarely is there a line on your favorite creek which doesn’t incorporate at least one ill placed rock. Dealing with rocks and not letting them affect your plan is an important skill to learn and become comfortable with. Here are a few shots from Frankenstein, a classic rock jumble which has caused millions of bad lines because of some ill placed rocks. Shane takes a moment to explain the importance of carrying your momentum up and over the rock and keeping your eye on the prize while Robin Betz demonstrates near perfect form.

WATCH THE SHOW HERE

Once you get comfortable getting over rocks without them throwing you off line, feel free to start using them to spice things up a little. Here’s international superstar Yonton Mehler demonstrating a beautiful rock spin.

One important aspect to keep in mind is to keep your hips loose and always lean into rocks if you get pushed sideways against them. Frankenstein has some classic pin spots and the key to success in a rapid like this is to keep moving and never give the water a chance to load up on your boat when there’s a rock blocking your escape on the other side.

Notice Robin’s aggressive forward posture.

Shane chimed in with a few more thoughts on dealing with rocks.

The biggest thing in learning to deal with rocks is actually knowing what is going to happen when you and your boat interact with rocks. The only way you are going to learn is to mess around with them. Thats why boofing, sliding, spinning, and glancing off of lots of rocks on your normal run is going to make you a better paddler. Its that repetition of banging around in the rocks thats going to teach you how to deal with them.

Mefford is using a correction stroke here to account for the deflection the rock is delivering.

In a general sense I think of rocks as being another river feature like a wave, or a hole. The rock is going to try to deflect you just like a pillow, or diagonal wave. So often times I deal with the rock in a similar fashion to how I deal with other river features. The only difference is you aren’t going to be able to plow through the rock like you may a wave. That rock is going to deflect you some unless you can get up and over it but that is a deflection also isn’t it. When I approach a wave that I think is going to deflect me I keep a correction stroke at the ready to deal with that. The same is true of a rock. If you are going to glance off the rock have a correction stroke ready to deal with that and know its going to happen. In fact I use a stroke that is going to take me to the rock, over the rock, and beyond in the direction I want to go. That way I am in control of my direction and interaction with the rock the entire time. Its crucial with any river feature that you are working with to keep your paddle working for you through out the action between you and the feature.

Here he is continuing his stroke well past the rock so he stays in control.

The water that is moving over and around the rock is also important. The more water you have going over the rock the easier it is going to be to get over it. Often times the spot where you use the rock is the near the highest point where the water meets the rock, because you get the lift of the rock along with the slickness of the water. What the water is doing just at the rock is also important. Is there a strong pillow at the rock that might deflect you? Is there a curler coming off the rock? Is the water disappearing under the rock, ahhhh?

The rocks themselves and their consistency will affect your move. Are you paddling on pristine smooth granite, or manky roadside scrapple. The quality of the rock is going to also influence how you will move over and around the rocks. Pretty much if its manky I try my hardest not to touch it because its going to stop you cold. Its also one of the reasons that the Smoky Mountains, the Sierras, and other smooth rock rivers are so awesome to paddle.

Yonton dealing with the slope in the rock.

The rocks shapes, and angles are also hugely important. When you are working with the rocks you have to take into account the shapes and how you are going to use them. Is it sloping the direction you want to go? Is it going to slow you down? Is it going to give you a kick? Will you be able to release easily from the rock and continue downstream? Its a lot to take in but the more you take notice of the rocks you are working with the more precise you will be.

So like I said at the beginning of this little spew, get out there and mess with rocks. Repetition is the best way to learn about how to work with them.

Just a few more thoughts.

Shane

P.S. If you have any ideas or thoughts about this subject leave a comment. I would like to work with folks and talk about instruction concepts.

Creeking Instructional Overview

The Gorilla at the heart of The Green River Narrows

When we decided to do an instructional piece on creeking the location for the project was an easy pick. The Green River located near Saluda, North Carolina is a hotbed for creek boat design, creeking technique and creeking talent. With over 20 years of experience on class 5 creeks and just as many years as an instructor Green River Local and Liquid Logic boat designer Shane Benedict will be our point man. He will be assisted by a group of local paddlers including, Mefford Williams, Al Gregory, Pat Keller, Robin Betz and John Grace who combined have ran The Green over 2000 times!

In order to organize the information gathered during this project we have decided to relate one specific skill to each rapid on The Green River. To illustrate the techniques covered more clearly we will using photography both moving and still to clarify each explanation.