C-Forum

Am I an idiot or does any one have trouble with back paddling to slow yourself down?

In my C1 I tend to catch up to people in rapids and if there is no eddy to catch or time to turn upriver and slow down I don't seem to be able to check my speed. As you can imagine this usually causes problems for everyone involved. When I used to kayak I could use a few quick back strokes to check speed while remaining stable and facing down river.

What am I missing? I really just converted a boat and jumped in the river. I have paddled with very few if any other c boaters so that's my excuse. But I want to get into more technical water and this seems like a good skill to have.

you can alternate onside reverse strokes with short, quick cross draws. or you can do reverse strokes on both sides, the offside being a little tricky. practice a little in slower current first. funny how paddling a single blade requires a bit more skill, huh?

I sometimes do a reverse J or C stroke - starting behind and sweeping under the boat, usually with an onside lean. Sometimes a reverse stroke with a quick cross draw to correct.

Sweeping under the boat? I'm having troube visualizing this?

Back paddling, especially on the cross side, can be a little awkward in a c-boat. Turn around and paddle upstream or look for small eddies or slow water to help. But yeah, when you're running with your kayaker buddies and they suddenly decide to back paddle, things can get a little crowded on small volume runs. Of course if you lead all the drops then you won't have to worry about it.

I do the same and it is not exactly sweeping "under", but rather towards the boat stern, then you paddle back. A reverse C, that's what it is I guess...

I do this often times to kill the momentum I have before to eddy stop, makes it easier for sure.

It is also funny to see how the boat get its direction modified this way. You do it a lot and you drive by the stern its weird.

One more trick to practice on.

These buttboaters really have no idea how much fun we get out of drawing tricky moves out of smallish features oftentimes.

The secret to an offside backstroke is the set-up.

I start an offside back stroke by slicing the paddle blade into the water in a forward stroke motion. With the paddle shaft vertical and my bottom wrist cocked forewards, the blade's power face passes parallel and close to the offside boat edge. Once the blade is just behind my hip, I expose the blade's back-face. To do this, I turn the blade perpendicular to the offside edge by cocking my bottom wrist backward and drawing the blade away from the offside edge. I then do a back stroke.

I find this stroke to be efficient and to keep the boat traveling straight.

kneeler: I don't know if this makes any difference, but do you paddle an open or closed canoe?

I can back-stroke my slalom boat, with a little J as needed. On rare occasions, I drop the blade next to the boat and wedge it forward, which slows the boat and throws it a bit to one side.

But back strokes and wedge strokes carry the risk of catching and tripping on unseen rocks. I'd rather not use them. Usually, I slow by running through eddy water, or S-turning, or spinning in an eddy and peeling out.

AYockey wrote:kneeler: I don't know if this makes any difference, but do you paddle an open or closed canoe?

Closed.

Backpaddling yakkers...I hate that! But I cut 'em some slack, they only do it because they can't see.

With practice, you will learn which of your buddies backpaddles and simply stay in front of him! I almost never backpaddle because for me is diffficult and sketchy in harder water. If we get crammed I'll find an eddy. If none are available, I'll find any slack water and just spin around for a second. There is usually some slower water somewhere. Doesn't need to be an eddy. If that's out of the question, I'll run the sucker down! Or at least run the rapid holding on to his bow.

You mean Kayaks arnt speed bumps?

Larry Horne wrote:Backpaddling yakkers...I hate that! But I cut 'em some slack, they only do it because they can't see.

With practice, you will learn which of your buddies backpaddles and simply stay in front of him! I almost never backpaddle because for me is diffficult and sketchy in harder water. If we get crammed I'll find an eddy. If none are available, I'll find any slack water and just spin around for a second. There is usually some slower water somewhere. Doesn't need to be an eddy. If that's out of the question, I'll run the sucker down! Or at least run the rapid holding on to his bow.

What Larry said. Also, if I'm not familiar with a kayaker's paddling style, then I tend to leave lots of room between us to avoid this problem...or I take the lead (after all in C-1 I can see better than all the butt boaters).

John

Dont sweat the backpaddlers, just pass them, or run them over.

Longboatin wrote:Dont sweat the backpaddlers, just pass them, or run them over.

Oh yeah. I agree with you there, Longboatin. I came upon a backpaddling kyacker in the Cheat downriver race one time and stopped paddling to give him time to see his line and go. He never went, I ran up on him, stalled, got ran into by 2 other kyackers, ended up in a stern stall in my slalom boat, and cursed that inconsiderate boater (under my breath ).

Anyway, I do have a response to the original post. I'll either use water features like boils, swirly water, micro eddies, and such to help slow down. I'll also throw in a quick back stroke/sweep to stall my speed and turn the boat sideways. It's important to rotate your torso to where you plant your blade. It'll give you better reach and you can put body weight on the stroke to make it more powerful. It usually does not require a whole lot of work to slow you down enough, so take as few POWERFUL strokes as you need rather than an arsenal of strokes that will also need correction strokes.

Hope this $0.02 helps ('cause I got more to give! )

KNeal