Right-handed paddler needs help going left

[Marc Evans]

If I am not mistaken, the problem that Eubie was having was simply an inability to turn the boat due to the current crossing his bow from left to right. Eubie, correct me if I’m wrong.

If so, I had a similar problem a couple of years ago on the Green River in UT. The river was running low and very rocky. I made an eddy on the river left above a four foot pour over that was on the river right. All of this was above a rather intimidating rock garden. I pointed my bow perpendicular to the current and exited the eddy with lots of speed, expecting the current to turn the boat to the left toward my target. It did not, but went straight across the river. I threw in a couple hard strokes on the right to no effect, then a couple of sweeps into stern draws. Once again, no effect. Dumbfounded by my inability to turn the canoe I did what all good scientists do, I analyzed the situation and promptly hit a half-boat sized eddy on the river right. With the stern sticking out in the current I finally got the boat to turn - backwards - and that is how I went over the drop.

Eubie’s thread got me to thinking. Since at the time I did not have a roll when going over on my offside I may have over protected myself from that problem and leaned onto my right-hand chine. Lots of speed and leaning to the right may have cause my boat to start carving up-stream, which was perfectly counteracted by the downstream flow. If I had flattened the hull or even tilted onto the left edge and thrown in a stroke I think all would have been better, but I am not certain. The fear of going over on my offside may have kept me leaning to my right side. In Eubie’s case, he would have had to lean up stream onto his offside and then turn the canoe. I’m not trying to take over this thread, as I think that the problems maybe the same. I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Eubie, you did not say what kind of boat you were running - in my case I was in an MR Outrage.

[John Coraor]

I'm not familiar with the rapid in question, but judging from the AW picture and the description you gave, it is possible that you were in slower water on the right above the holes and had to drive left into and across a faster downstream jet in order to get around them. If that was indeed the case, then your drive to the left would have been hampered by the current differential (i.e moving from slower water into faster water, the jet would have struck your bow first pushing it downstream, fighting your effort to move left). If that was the situation, there are a few different approaches you could have taken depending upon how far above the holes you were and the type of boat you were paddling.

If you were far enough upstream and particularly if there were a wave, hole, or eddy available to make it easier, you could have spun upstream and either ferried out across the jet, or probably just used the jet to make a wide peel-out. However, it's likely that you were too close to the holes for this much manuvering.

From a position closer to the holes, boat design is going to play a stronger role in your choices. In a very manuverable boat with lots of rocker, you might want to take a large powerful sweep on the right just before crossing into the jet, combined with a quick backward lean at the end, in order to start the boat swinging left, but more importantly to lift the bow at that critical moment when it enters the jet. This should be followed by more quick, short sweep strokes while carving on your right (downstream) chine in order to fully enter the jet quickly while trying to limit the tendency for the boat to swing downstream as your cross into the jet. If you were in a relatively slicey C-1 (e.g. slalom, squirt, or play boat), as opposed to a highly rockered open boat), you would probably sink your onside edge in the stern and initiate a pivot to quickly move your bow upstream before entering the jet. If you were in a long, mildly rockered open boat, the best manuver would be to clasp both hands together, point them straight up, and pray.

Once full in the jet you can continue to use sweeps on the downstream side; however, as Bob P. notes, sometimes cross draw/cross forward combinations linked with underwater recoveries can be very effective to pull the bow upstream. This is a counter-intuitive, and somewhat risky, approach as you are going off-side on the upstream side but often yields a quicker turn upstream than sweeps on your on-side. Just be careful about where you use it and remember that you'll still need to lean and edge somewhat on the your downstream (on) side, even though you're paddling on your off-side.

A third, somewhat wacky option, but one that certainly takes advantage of the current, is to take some back strokes (or even back sweeps) on the right to throw the stern out into the jet and initiate a back ferry. Frankly, this is a lot easier to do in a tandem boat where your partner on the other side can help you to maintain the angle. As a right solo paddler you are likely to initiate a wide back-ferry/peel-out across the jet and wind up heading down the jet backwards. However, if you know that the tongue/chute is clear, even that can be an acceptable option to getting munched in the holes below.

John

[philinasheville]

The way you described the situation, I would go with the offside powerstrokes. When executing the strokes, I would be sure to lean on my right edge.

Phil

[philcanoe]

i'm really not going to argue, all that will work....

however like most things, there is another school of thought ... i'm more into the "lean the boat into the current" school of thought (upstream). To lean away is in essence a peel-out, it facilitates and emphasizes the turn.

My usual mode is preferring to lean upstream, not to the point of flipping, just till the current catches your hull. Just a little bit of edge, and the water will load-up and help right the hull, and counteract the down-n-out peel-out action. If measuring the lean in inches, it would be in a mere fraction of an inch.

::::IMHO:::: A downstream lean in a rounded bottom boat, is really asking to get blown in that direction. Ok I'B-Ready tell me why I'm wrong, this is simply the way it works for me.

In the instance of a cross current just lean into it, and now in essence you'll be doing an upstream ferry, and not get pushed around.

Better to practice somewhere else!!!

[sbroam]

When I'm trying to keep my bow more-or-less pointing downstream, I use my onside to turn the boat just a little to the offside, then cross the paddle over and do forward/recovering-draw strokes on my offside.

That's what I was thinking - it is what I tend to do, but couldn't tell you exactly why I do it or how it works. It just feels right.

[keez]

Now that I've seen a picture of the rapid... why the hades would you want to turn/ferry your boat and miss all the fun!!
Isn't that what the pump is for?
Happy paddling in '08 everyone.

[laughing water]

I think it all depends on the speed that you're going in relation to the speed of the current. If I was already powering ahead on river right with a good bit of foward speed, I think I would lean upstream slightly and just power on across to river left. If I was controlling my decent and going much slower than the current, then I would do a back-ferry, or spin around and ferry over to river left. The slower you're going, the more you have to work with the current or it's going to work against you.


Jim

[yarnellboat]

Eubie,

Any of this making sense for you, any lights go on?

A final thought: maybe it was just too little too late - a simple answer, but perhaps you just needed to start moving left, using whichever method, higher up in the rapid. Look as far downstream as you can to plan your lines.

PY.

[jscottl67]

Not sure if this was the case or not, but everything else has been said. If you are in the downstream flow, facing downstream and you are trying to slow down to avoid the oncoming hole while making your way to the left, if you are moving slower than the current then you are executing a back ferry

I've caught myself doing that more than once and wondered why the current was pushing me the opposite way of where my bow was pointed. Again, probably not it, but something to throw in the mix of what might have been wrong.

[Bob P]

In "radical" circumstances, I'll do a back ferry to move the boat to my offside. It's a special skill to be able to do it without turning the boat too sideways. It can be done very nicely with a reverse sliding pry or a reverse J. I practice it in flatwater a lot, just to impress the spectators.

[eubie]

Wendy posted a link to the rapid's photo. First one I've seen. I was river right of the boaters in the pic. If you look closely you'll see a rock in the "wave" lower right. that's the one I hit.

thanks so much for all the help. I was in a Dagger Prophet, for what it is worth.

I'm thinking the offside forward/draw recovery with downstream lean would have worked. Can't remember clearly, but seems like there was an eddy to the right of the jet that I should have caught, then ferried further left. Even if I'd gotten blown off the ferry, I would have been enough left to miss that rock.

Even though that rapid ate my lunch, I nailed Roach Motel later on. I listened to my inner voice and walked all but the first drop in the Olympic course. All in all, super memorable day. Still have the scars on my shins to prove it.

[Bob P]

One thing about paddling a C-boat. Not having a (good) brace on one side makes me take much more accurate lines. Fortunately I'm high enough to see more of what's coming up. We also tend to use river features to move and slow the boat more than kayakers.
But it could be we're just smarter.

[laughing water]

I used to paddle a Prophet and the edges are in the stern. The bow is very round. LOTS of rocker. If I wanted to carve a line I concentrated on those harder edges behind me. Leaning back. Where your weight is centered for or aft has a lot of influence on how the boat handles. I learned about back ferries on the New River in my Prophet. The harder chines in the stern helped with that also. A few back strokes on the right, then an off-side stern draw. (?) That was sort of how I delt with that boat I think.__ Then it'll spin around on a dime whenever you need that too.

Jim

[eubie]

Again, thanks for the suggestions. As it turned out, I "successfully" ran the meat but got munched by a rock hidden in the last wave. If I have the chance to do it again, I will try to catch an eddy and ferry left. Or, go extreme left and miss all of that stuff.

I have to give credit to the crew of kayakers I fell in with that day. There were only 3 other open boats on the Upper Ocoee that day, none were with me. Blue Holes was my first and only swim of the day. the kayakers were great at helping me find lines and giving me confidence. there was a girl (lady) in a shorter Whitesell that day who I would have loved to follow down. She had obviously been there before.

[Glenn MacGrady]

I'm having a little trouble visualizing the issue and some of the responses. I also don't know whether the OP and responders are paddling on the left or right or what kind of boats they are in.

But, nevertheless, if one is trying to move to river left across the current, there really are only three general tactics no matter whether you are on side or off side or what boat you are in.

1. Plan the move in advance. Start moving across the grain from right to left early enough and high enough so that you can do so with your bow pointed downstream left. You can make minor downstream bow adjustments as you progress. Power!

If you haven't planned well enough in advance or are sweeping toward the obstacle with no time for small adjustments in your downstream bow angle to be effective:

2. Swivel your boat so it is pointing upstream left and do an upstream ferry to river left. Power!

3. Kick your stern to river left and do a back ferry to river left. Power!

All three tactics require the constant application of power to counteract the current force. Any slowing or hesitation will allow the current to push you toward doom.

You need experience and boat moving skills to execute all three tactics. The precise techniques will differ somewhat depending on whether you are on side or off side and the hull configuration of your boat. You can facilitate all three tactics to the extent you understand and can take advantage of midstream and mid-maneuver current differentials.

All three tactics will be easier in a long, fast and quickly acceleratable slalom boat. I have no idea how you guys can accelerate to high speeds and hold lines in the stubby flat bottomed open boats I see on the market today.