Alexandra Conover Bennet Demonstrates the North Woods Paddle Stroke

[Glenn MacGrady]

I hadn't explicitly considered the interaction between location of correction in the stroke vs location in the boat relative to pivot point before this discussion - very interesting.

Think of the examples of a stern paddler, a bow paddler, and a centralized solo paddler sitting at the pivot point.

The stern paddler is behind the canoe's pivot point, so he can correct the canoe toward his on-side even if he does a pry/pushaway in front of his body instead of a J pushaway behind his body. Any pry he does from his position will cause the canoe to yaw toward his paddle side (= correction).

If the centralized solo paddler does a pushaway in front of her body and pivot point, the canoe will yaw even further to her off-side (= anti-correction). If she does a pushaway behind her body and pivot point, the canoe will yaw and correct back to the paddle side. If she does a pushaway exactly aside the pivot point, she will effect a perfect prying sideslip to her off-side with no yaw either left or right.

A bow paddler significantly ahead of the pivot point can't correct an off-side yaw no matter whether he places a pry/pushaway stroke ahead, aside or behind his body. All pushaways will yaw the canoe even more to the off-side (= anti-correction). He can correct with a pulling stroke (draw) placed ahead, aside or behind his body. Ahead of his body will be the most effective, for the same reason @lowangle al says this:

The further back in the canoe the correction is done, the less correction (and the less energy) is needed.

Wherever the pivot point (= fulcrum) is in the canoe when you are paddling from the stern, you will have a longer lever arm the further back you put the paddle blade.

By leaning and carving towards your paddle side you can sometimes eliminate the need to do any correction. The other day I was out in my 20' White and was carving towards my paddle side so hard that I found I was doing a sweep to keep going straight and had to dial back on my lean and carve.

Yes, we've discussed this in other threads. With a heel (lean), some hulls will carve more strongly toward the paddle side with a paddle-side heel while other hulls will carve more strongly toward the paddle side with an off-side heel. When you get a paddle-side carve started, you can paddle forward without any correction if you learn how to balance the force of the carve with right amount of uncorrected forward stroke force.

This is sometimes called the "inside circle forward stroke" (by Tom Foster and Charlie Wilson, for example) because you are actually not paddling straight forward, but almost imperceptively around the circumference of a huge circle. I sometimes call this the "carve balancing forward stroke."

 

[lowangle al]

Yeah it makes a difference where a stroke is done in relation to where on the hull you do it. The best example of this is the draw. Done in the bow you turn towards your paddle, done from the stern you turn away from it.

 

[yknpdlr]

Yes, we've discussed this in other threads. With a heel (lean), some hulls will carve more strongly toward the paddle side with a paddle-side heel while other hulls will carve more strongly toward the paddle side with an off-side heel. When you get a paddle-side carve started, you can paddle forward without any correction if you learn how to balance the force of the carve with right amount of uncorrected forward stroke force.

This is sometimes called the "inside circle forward stroke" (by Tom Foster and Charlie Wilson, for example) because you are actually not paddling straight forward, but almost imperceptively around the circumference of a huge circle. I sometimes call this the "carve balancing forward stroke."

I have often heard Charlie talk about the on side heel presenting a "banana shaped" hull to the water, causing a bow bias carve toward the heel side, making it easy(ier) to paddle constantly on one side with little to no yaw. I find in my solo and C2 canoes, that using a pitch stroke, my bow visibly yaws on the horizon by only a couple of degrees during my power stroke, as I continue perfectly straight ahead travel. The pitch is essentially an early form of “J”. Depending on wind and drift, sometimes I may add a bit of a "C" component. Addition of minimal "J" is only rarely required, but when it is, it is done quickly and there is no delay of the paddle at the end of the stroke before recovery. Unless I am actively racing, I normally stay paddling on one side for many minutes (10+) in open calm flatwater before switching to the other side.

Paddlers who try to carve a turn like leaning a bicycle toward the inside of the turn may find it does not respond as well as they might expect. I find that most of my canoes, solo or C2, behave this way, but my recent acquisition of a new Savage River Blackwater seems to carve its sharpest turn equally well with a heel to either on or off side. I think probably due to lack of any rocker in that canoe.

Yeah it makes a difference where a stroke is done in relation to where on the hull you do it. The best example of this is the draw. Done in the bow you turn towards your paddle, done from the stern you turn away from it.

By far the majority of my race events have put me in the bow seat. Especially when in a C4 or a 6-7 seat voyageur canoe, I am first to initiate a turn around sharp bends (e.g., in ADK 90 miler Brown's Tract) or a 180 buoy turn with a "moving power draw" by angling my blade along with a sharp hard draw pulling me toward the turn direction. "hut" calls are suspended as I hut myself to get the canoe angled ready to approach and enter the ucoming next turn. At the same time entering the turn, my stern paddler draws on the opposite side to pivot the canoe around the turn. When timed correctly it works perfectly well. Mid-seat paddlers continue forward power strokes to maintain velocity.