Short description: This clinic is designed to help you improve your body and boat control and maneuvering strokes, improve your ability to read water and to be where you want to on moving water, and improve your surfing skills.
Main emphasis: maneuvering and surfing.
Target audience: whitewater kayakers with some to considerable kayak experience (whitewater or moving water) who are interested in improving their maneuvering, reading, and surfing skills.
Class size: limited to 10 students
Date offered: Sunday, June 9, 2024
Location: dependent on water levels and resulting eddy lines and waves.
Start time: 9:00am
On water time: 10:00am to sometime in the afternoon
Some videoing and video critiquing: after water or interspersed on water.
Finish time: late afternoon
Skills and drills to be worked on: body weight location and posture (center of gravity versus center of buoyancy, cheek weighting, deck weighting, paddle weighting), edging versus leaning, torso rotation (separation of the upper and lower body), joint safety (box, flex), moving the boat versus the paddle, forward strokes, back strokes, sweep strokes (components, spinning versus carving), draw strokes (static, dynamic, bow, stern, open, closed, neutral, water pressure and blade faces), cross bow draw, compound back stroke, turns (initiate on the outside, control from the inside, stroke recovery), bracing (blade faces and elbows, sculling braces, balance on edge, minimize paddle weighting), reading moving water (and more reading water including your effects on moving water), use of the strokes in moving water, vision, ferrying (purposes, targets, angles, forward, back), side slipping, pillows, unbroaching, lots of eddy work (eddy lines, eddy currents, entering techniques, leaving techniques, edging versus leaning, stern squirts), lots of wave work (reading, targeting, getting on waves -- catch on the fly versus access eddy, vision, carving on waves, looking, weight shifts, edges, spinning on waves, fast ferries using waves), upstream attainments, possibly some friendly wave-hole work.
Equipment needed: your own food (snacks, lunch, liquids), suitable paddling gear for air and water temperatures (dress for getting wet, have towels and dry clothes for after), helmet, suitable personal flotation device (pfd), whitewater kayak paddle, whitewater kayak, air bags in kayak, spray skirt for whitewater kayak unless a sit-on-top whitewater kayak (displacement hulls, planning hulls, park and play, free running, river running, creeking, and crossover designs all acceptable).
Skills needed to take the class: moving water roll, ability to strongly paddle your kayak along a desired path in moving water, edge awareness and some edge control, prior ISUCK pool sessions highly recommended.
Complementary Strokes and Moving Water Work for Kayaks class highly recommended.