Canoe Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness StoreCanoe Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness Store
How do we Paddle?
Q.Another question from the beginners section: We are paddling on opposite sides of the canoe. Should we remain fixed on our respective sides or alternate every three of four strokes?
Generally, you both want to paddle in sync for 15 to 30 strokes on opposite sides. When somebody gets tired, they say "switch" or racers say "hut" and you both do a snappy switch to the other side of the canoe. Racers usually paddle 4-6 synchronized strokes and say hut a lot. They don't employ a J stroke but instead tend to bull the canoe around for greater speed and efficiency. This doesn't work well with a canoe that has 1.5 inches of rocker. It's usually best if you paddle until you feel your shoulders burn a bit and then paddle through the burn a little, then say switch. This means you'll slowdown a bit, but when you then switch sides, the canoe will go faster and you repeat the cycle. Paddling through the "burn" makes you a stronger paddler. People tend to want to switch the minute they feel a twinge of burning or fatigue, and that does go away after a few minutes. Switching all the time looks a bit sloppy and is not as efficient. Switching willy-nilly and not coordinated with your partner is also quite sloppy and can cause the canoe to be destabilized as the both of you suddenly end up on the same side together.
Every now and then, the stern paddler ( the steering unit of the canoe) needs to use the strength of the bow paddler to help the canoe out in a wind by calling for a switch. Consider if the wind is hitting the canoe on the left side and the bow paddler is paddling on left side as well. The stern paddler (SP) is on the right side. In order to turn the canoe left into the wind, one way would be for the SP to paddle hard and straight ahead and even make a draw stroke on the right side of the canoe to pull the stern to the right which (according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Souris River's rocker) would make the canoe pivot to the left in the bow. If, however, the wind is too strong, it's harder to get that equal and opposite reaction because we are mere mortals and the wind is strong. What the SP might do in this situation is to call out a switch so the bow paddler goes to the right side and the SP also tells the BP to paddler hard on the right. As this occurs the SP paddles a strong, hard-ruddering J-stroke on the left which pushes the stern to the right and, in conjunction with the BP paddling hard on the right, the canoe moves to the left and into the wind. You force the canoe to spin on it's axis to move into the wind. My whole reason for this discussion is to illustrate that the stern paddler is in charge of steering and also in charge of making paddle position changes advantageous to turning the canoe in difficult situations. A lot of people don't know this and the bow person just contributes wherever they feel it's necessary. As a result, the canoe is much harder to control and does a lot of zig-zagging down the lake.
Hope this helps!
Joe
Red Rock