Re: Training drills

OK...went out this morning to put all the above advice into action. The result?

Conditions were a light wind driven chop so I headed straight into and out of it.
Tried the paddling on one side, with the intention of concentrating on the entry, entry, entry!!
Pulling it out at my hip and go again and again and again.
Felt really dorky :-[to start with, coz without the momentum of a normal 'follow through' in the recovery phase, it felt first of all like I was just jabbing the water in a really ineffectual way....however...
after a while I got the feel of it in the sense that if I concentrated on almost locking my arms and crunching the abs when you are at maximum rotation before the entry, it felt really good.

The other drill that I was taught by Rod Taylor at Mooloolaba was to basically pause mid-air for a second or 2 when you have both hands at eye height and are half way through the recovery on one side and entry on the other...so from the paused position, you concentrate on a nice clean entry.
So the one sided paddling and this drill kinda were linked. The effect?
By the end of the session, I felt like something was clicking (in my head...not my joints!) and my stroke felt smoother with a more emphasised rotation and you can feel your abs crunch on entry.(which I am hoping is what you are meant to feel....am I right?)
So...
...a good session, and although you feel like a dill doing drills, by the end of it, you've learnt something.
Is it just me or do most people seem to hit a nice smooth groove in the last 15 minutes of your training session and then you've got to rush off the water and get to work? >
Thanks for all the suggestions made on this thread...and keep them coming if anyone else has some ideas,
Janita
Qld
Australia

Janita,
If you feel you are pulling the stroke too far back, check your top hand.
Make sure that it is staying level through the power phase. If this hand drops, even a bit, it
will allow your bottom arm to pull back farther and deeper.
Also maybe instead of concentrating where the blade is in refererence to pulling out at the hip, use your bottom hand as a guide. Try to see that hand coming up about mid-thigh or earlier and all in one piece(wrist, forearm,elbow and shoulder).
And as I've been told before; try to move the whole stroke forward a few inches. Rotate to get a little more catch.

For what one schmuck's opinion is worth, I think this is the most helpful type of discussion the forum can offer. We all seem to spend inordinate amounts of time studying and discussing the finer points of boat design - hull speed, stability, wave catching, etc. - when in truth, most of us would gain so very much more by focusing on how to improve our mechanics and how to know when we've got it right. Kudos to Janita for pressing the topic. I wish more of those who know something about how to achieve good mechanics would chip in... not just the basics, but how to really perfect the art.

Yes this is a good subject for me.

Are there any DVD's etc out there that go into correct paddling technique or is there anything I have missed on surfski.info.

Cheers
John

You've missed alot.

www.surfski.info/component/option,com_fi...ew/id,1625/catid,18/

Search through the training threads in this forum

superted wrote:

You've missed alot.
Search through the training threads in this forum

Ted's right... considering that "alot" is a very relative term. IMHO, there is paltry little here relative to discussions of equipment, especially boats.

As the sport grows, this indicates a growing commercial opportunity. Maybe Greg and Oscar, Ben Lawry, Zsolt, or some other instructor will seize the opportunity to put out a DVD series for the intermediate/advanced surf skier that picks up where "The Forward Stroke" leaves off.

It would be great to be able to discuss the relative effectiveness of different techniques and paddling schools as taught by different "masters" and eagerly await the next instructional DVD, much the same as we clamor over new boat reviews. I bet most of us would improve faster if we did.