Pond Practice...is it vital?

[oopsiflipped]

Geez, do I hafta? Can I learn good technique just by playing my way down class II-III instead of going around in circles on a pond? Both the Tom Foster DVD i have and the awesome instructors I paddled with this week (The Sprecthers?) said it was. I'm guessing the 3 combined have about 100 years of teaching experience, but I'm not really motivated to practice on flat water. who has or does practice circles/figure 8's/ etc. on the pond?

Gabe

[Mikey B]

For some of us who live quite some distance from real WW, we get in a lot of Flatwater practice
For me personally, I usually will do drills like those, work on my forward stroke (neverending job), do some rolls, work on re-entries...you name it, and drag my Flashfire down and play with some flatwater freestyle stuff...good for balance
I find if I break it up it's actually quite fun messing around. But I would much prefer to be running some rapids!
MB

ps.Was that the Steckers?

[the great gonzo]

Since I live in Ontario where our whiteater rivers consist of lakes connecting the rapids and drops, I just do my FW drills on the flats in between the rapids, but I have never gone to a pond or lake to do flatwater drills it's waaay to boring.
If I ever take one of my WW boats to a lake, it's usually the squirt boat to try to do cartwheels and such in it.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

[mshelton]

I splash around in the bathtub with my G.I.Joe action figures for practice.

[bearboater]

Flatwater is probably the most important thing to paddling in my mind. Davey Hearn one of the most influential people in Cboat slalom, did so much flatwater...
the way I look at it, is that when you are on flatwater, there are no outside influences on the boat, other than wave resistance, and gravitational pull with a few other forces. (I studied fluid mechanics of Canoe Hull design at Uni for a while) and anyhow, the boat is so much more at your whim on flatwater than in whitewater. you can dial your stroke in to such an extent that you can't acheive on ww. Both are very valuable without doubt. for instance, I haven't had a really good flatwater session in about 2 months because of racing and being on the road out to charlotte and then to wisp. I got on the Feeder for about 45 minutes the other day, and had so much fun with what I had learned in the time since I had last had flatwater gates. I really think that a proportionate mix of both ww and FW are key. when I am home, I usually do 8-10 ww sessions a week, and 4-6 fw sessions. and then other cardio and weights. but that is just me. I think you should do flatwater as well, it gets boring, so make games, get buouys, get gates... anything. but I cannot stress how much better of a padder you can be by using flatwater as well.
hope all is well
-isaac

[Open Gate]

For white water lovers like ourselfs..pond practice can be borring, but it's time spent in your boat paddling and that is the bottom line for getting better.

It the white stuff isn't anywhere close then go for it when you can. I don't know what boat you paddle but low volume end boats can be alot of fun on the flats.

I think you can perfect the minute details of your paddling better on the flats then on the river, having more time to analyse what's happening and the effect of your stroke on your boat.
As for your relationship with the white stuff, i.e. interface of your boat with current...pond training won't do it.

So you know, I've learned how to roll flipping on the grass with my genesis on top of me and pushing with my hands to get back up, just to get the feal of body positionning.(should have seen my neighbours... )

Any paddling is good paddling, better then me writing this

[TomAnon]

The controlled environment of flat water is crucial to technique development. Eric Jackson's Strokes and Concepts stresses it as does all the above references. Another less highlighted value to flatwater paddling is baselining your endurance. It is by far the most consistent water to measure youself against the clock.

To me the circle, figure 8 and zigzag drills are absolute musts to learn on flatwater. Every rapid or slalom course is a series of joined arcs and circles. Mastering offside drills on flat water will rapidly help you overcome the fear of throwing them down in moving water. Flat water is all about confidence building. Practicing this on moving class 2-3 water will teach you how to survive not necessarily how to flow with the water and use it.

[ChrisKelly]

or I get very sloppy. I also gotta roll a lot in the lake, just so it is not such an unusual deal.

[Jon]

Here is a link to a flat water slalom course that can be setup to hone your skills and add some interest and challenge.

http://www.daveyhearn.com/Whitewater%20 ... course.htm