Good job! One point may be to think of the paddle as being stuck in wet cement and instead of moving the paddle to the boat as you say, to think of moving the boat to the paddle. When the paddle is "planted" that is what happens. (And make Vertical strokes ;-))!) Another tip is to use the paddle shaft length instead of overall paddle length as the blades are different lengths and so are folks torsos. Stay Safe & Have Fun (SS&HF) along with SYOTW!!
I've been paddling white water and calmer rivers and swamps for years. Started back in 1985. I just can't wait to get back in one of my canoes. I consider it my own private Idaho. Glad to see some else like the Gnarlz group teaching canoeing to other. I still try to get peeps to canoe but every few takers. This summers trip will be on Lower Flint River for 4 nights and 5 Days. The absolute best way to camp. Good Going Gnarls Gang.
I've been out of WW boats for several years. I used to be pretty good with an Ocoee. I can only have one boat right now and I feel lucky to have found a Mad River Guide in Royalex. At 14' it feels big. I'm out on a group paddle with a bent shaft chasing zero rocker kevlar at least a day a week and I'm working with my old WW paddles as well. I'm getting my grove back. The idea of practice with a longer boat seems EXACTLY right to me. It's what I thought I should do. Your opinion at 28:00 makes me feel even better about it. Spinning a 14' long boat on an eddy line is a riot. Outfitting for class 3 is in progress.
Great production Tom, looks like you’ve put a lot work into it. We do come from 2 different schools of thought though. Personally I don’t teach stern prys and J strokes in these kinds of boats. In more traditional canoes that are longer and wider I think it’s more appropriate but what’s stopping us from paddling these boats with positive strokes rather than negative ones. The Rebel and Firefly are quite narrow so perfectly reasonable to use cross deck forward strokes over rudders/ prys. I’d like to see more use of the boats hull to maintain a carve with edge and not feel the need to use correction strokes. In my opinion people are using stern pry/ rudders because their forward strokes are too long. In these boats, a long stroke just wants to turn it. Why not dial down the forward stroke and cut out the need for the correction? Maybe this is coming up in episode 2?
Thanks Adie! I'm with you on this one... about using carves and avoiding correction to maintain speed and efficiency, by staying toward the front of the boat. In whitewater, this requires experienced precision and is over complication at this point. We'll cover it... as you know, in open boating offense is often the best form of defense (keeping water out of boat) - I believe this is broader point of what you are talking about here. We'll get there! Thanks for watching and I do appreciate the input.
After working with Rachel here (aiming for her to be a finesse paddler)... think you might be right about when to approach this.. maybe sooner then later. It can be covered under "Carves" which i mentioned but didn't cover in EP1.... so Episode 1.5... Carves(w/ short strokes), and drills to practice, and demonstrations of them... before we move to whitewater. add in Sweep/D strokes.
Great tips. Appreciate the effort you have put into this, thanks very much. Congratulations on 1000 subs. Just curious, do you ever miss paddling your old M.E.?
Hey thanks for the comment. I'll be honest, not really. Modern HDPE moulded canoes are much more precise in how they can mould the boats. You say ME, and I think Firefly, Rebel.... last time I was in a comparable boat to the ME, was an Outrage, and it just felt boring.
P.S., Go Rachel! In no time, you'll be spin punting little kayaks out a hole! I mostly paddled with kayakers and came from kayaks. I hope you find a group that challenges you to try weird and silly moves. Have fun!
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Good job! One point may be to think of the paddle as being stuck in wet cement and instead of moving the paddle to the boat as you say, to think of moving the boat to the paddle. When the paddle is "planted" that is what happens. (And make Vertical strokes ;-))!) Another tip is to use the paddle shaft length instead of overall paddle length as the blades are different lengths and so are folks torsos. Stay Safe & Have Fun (SS&HF) along with SYOTW!!
I've been paddling white water and calmer rivers and swamps for years. Started back in 1985. I just can't wait to get back in one of my canoes. I consider it my own private Idaho. Glad to see some else like the Gnarlz group teaching canoeing to other. I still try to get peeps to canoe but every few takers. This summers trip will be on Lower Flint River for 4 nights and 5 Days. The absolute best way to camp. Good Going Gnarls Gang.
I've been out of WW boats for several years. I used to be pretty good with an Ocoee. I can only have one boat right now and I feel lucky to have found a Mad River Guide in Royalex. At 14' it feels big. I'm out on a group paddle with a bent shaft chasing zero rocker kevlar at least a day a week and I'm working with my old WW paddles as well. I'm getting my grove back. The idea of practice with a longer boat seems EXACTLY right to me. It's what I thought I should do. Your opinion at 28:00 makes me feel even better about it. Spinning a 14' long boat on an eddy line is a riot. Outfitting for class 3 is in progress.
Thanks for doing this series. Theres always more to learn
1 year into open boating and these videos are really great for the finer points, thank you! Keep it going!
Glad to find this. I was researching my "next level" canoe and found Silverbirch, which also led me to Gnalz. I'll be in touch.
Interesting point on the whitewater pry vs j stroke
Dude!
Great production Tom, looks like you’ve put a lot work into it. We do come from 2 different schools of thought though. Personally I don’t teach stern prys and J strokes in these kinds of boats. In more traditional canoes that are longer and wider I think it’s more appropriate but what’s stopping us from paddling these boats with positive strokes rather than negative ones. The Rebel and Firefly are quite narrow so perfectly reasonable to use cross deck forward strokes over rudders/ prys.
I’d like to see more use of the boats hull to maintain a carve with edge and not feel the need to use correction strokes. In my opinion people are using stern pry/ rudders because their forward strokes are too long. In these boats, a long stroke just wants to turn it. Why not dial down the forward stroke and cut out the need for the correction? Maybe this is coming up in episode 2?
Thanks Adie! I'm with you on this one... about using carves and avoiding correction to maintain speed and efficiency, by staying toward the front of the boat. In whitewater, this requires experienced precision and is over complication at this point. We'll cover it... as you know, in open boating offense is often the best form of defense (keeping water out of boat) - I believe this is broader point of what you are talking about here. We'll get there! Thanks for watching and I do appreciate the input.
After working with Rachel here (aiming for her to be a finesse paddler)... think you might be right about when to approach this.. maybe sooner then later. It can be covered under "Carves" which i mentioned but didn't cover in EP1.... so Episode 1.5... Carves(w/ short strokes), and drills to practice, and demonstrations of them... before we move to whitewater. add in Sweep/D strokes.
Great tips. Appreciate the effort you have put into this, thanks very much. Congratulations on 1000 subs. Just curious, do you ever miss paddling your old M.E.?
Hey thanks for the comment. I'll be honest, not really. Modern HDPE moulded canoes are much more precise in how they can mould the boats. You say ME, and I think Firefly, Rebel.... last time I was in a comparable boat to the ME, was an Outrage, and it just felt boring.
P.S., Go Rachel! In no time, you'll be spin punting little kayaks out a hole! I mostly paddled with kayakers and came from kayaks. I hope you find a group that challenges you to try weird and silly moves. Have fun!
Keep em coming!
Good technique that's what I need. Once my wrist heals I hope you are around to give me a HAND getting back on the water.
Oooh you better believe thats a paddlin'
Awesome! :-D
You do use prety nice paddle. Could you post a link?
35:35
skills