Slalom boat basics?

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mahyongg
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Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:47 pm

Re: Slalom boat basics?

Post by mahyongg »

Btw. I watched the videos again and it looks like a typical Slalom technique, e.g. no catch, big blades to make up for the loss, a lot of splashing water around on entry. Really, you can determine an efficient stroke by the sound of it.. remember slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
JimW
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Posts: 196
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:07 am
Location: Scotland, UK

Re: Slalom boat basics?

Post by JimW »

I had another session tonight trying to remember various tips.
I'll be honest, I don't have great focus so was not always concentrating on my paddling properly, but when I was concentrating I was actually doing pretty well.

I was managing to paddle fairly fast, fast enough the keep the bow straight, and if I actually watched my bow it was hardly rising and falling at all. I think when I don't concentrate I don't rotate enough and don't get the paddle vertical enough looking from front to rear, which means I'm putting excessive yawing moment in, if I concentrate and get my top hand over the lower one it is much easier to power up without needing correction.

It was quite a short session, my ankles still struggle with C1. I used the flat water and the eddy, managed to get through the 3 gates in the eddy on one circuit but still usually committing too much edge to my cross bow break in for the amount of support available - sometimes I can catch it, but I took a swim too (was trying to roll on upstream side, almost had it but then the deck popped off).

I really need a slalom paddler to copy now :)
I think I have a lead for a local slalom club which I'll need to follow up.

This thread will be worth coming back to as I get the hang of it and I'm more able to try different things - at the moment I have a bit of information overload, but I'm grateful for all the tips and theories.
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