I’ve paddled the Advantage a few more times and have a few more thoughts.
Sit and switch is the way to paddle it. I’m much slower paddling it on one side with correction strokes.
I’ve been working on the sit and switch. I think I’ve improved, but thus far, I have to say I don’t much enjoy it. I get 4-5 strokes per side before I switch. Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, switch, stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke, switch… No time to pause and glide, or you just yaw more off course. The switch is a bigger move—I’m still working on it, but quickly lifting the arms to immediately bang out four more strokes just doesn’t feel smooth.
I feel my forward stroke is okay, though probably I can improve on this. I straighten my lower arm and reach as far forward as I can for the catch. I rotate my torso, although I’m pretty stiff, so maybe not as much as others. With my feet on the foot bar and knee slightly bent, I straighten my on-side leg with the stroke to transfer power to the foot bar. I slightly rotate my arse in the seat a wee bit. The shaft seems to me vertical, but no doubt I can probably improve. I’m working on shortening the stroke to end mid-thigh as opposed to hip. The slide out to the side paddle-extraction was a very helpful hint—thanks for that.
I’m not sure my switch is good. Sometimes in a rythem, the switch just seems to happen, which is cool when it is going good. I’m not sure I’m always attached to the paddle, maybe kind of throwing it between hands. Seems like a bad idea that could end up in dropping the paddle, especially if it is windy. I’ve searched a bit but haven’t found a description of exactly how the switch is supposed to go. Where should my hands be? What is the path of the paddle between extraction and plant? How high to lift? And sometimes my top hand doesn’t correctly land on the grip. The switch is working, but I’m not sure i do it right.
I find it extremely impressive that fellow CT-netters paddle over five mph with moderate effort. I can barely scrape above 5 at maximum effort and I can’t hold that for long. I’m doing about 50 strokes a minute. Any faster than that, and I can’t keep up the switch so I basically have a pause while switching sides. My cruising speed is low to mid four mph.