Finally enjoying a few days off from work, I found time to watch the video and dig through the pictures from Nationals. The more I paddle and work on my own technique, the more I see while watching video of others. My eye is now quick to pick out where people put their weight as they make small correction strokes and how much extraneous movement is created in the boat during forward strokes.
- Nationals Video: http://www.joelmccune.com/node/141
Photos 1: US Slalom Nationals
Photos 2: US Nationals 2007
There is one moment from the nationals video that keeps playing itself over and over in my mind. After leaving gate 11 (a river-left up) one of the better C1s (a right-side paddler) peels back into the current paddling cross-bow. The next gate is a river-right down. Many other righty’s here do one or two cross-bow strokes, and then return to their on-side for a few strokes, regaining stability. But this paddler was just as stable paddling cross-bow. He stays there through the next gate, building glide, leaning aggressively forward and digging super deep. On about the third stroke, the boat just takes off. Serious acceleration. I smiled and let out a yelp (while having lunch in Panera Bread), and watched that one stroke several times over. I want that kind of stability and power. Force. Acceleration. Running the boat. Things for my waterlogged brain to chew on.
On a few sections of the ASCI course, the differences between paddlers’ boat control and choice of line was significant. One of these was gate 10, a flush/upstream below a drop. Many boaters ended up spinning out above the gate (such as at 9:17 on the first video) and floundering to get back through it. I don’t know who pink helmet is, but his line (at 18:00 in the first video) seems to work very well. Pictures from the race make it obvious just how strong the water was at that point. A boater from Maryland posted these photos of the last three C1s approaching the gate.
That drop definitely would have worked me over a few times. As another racer said, “the hard part about that 10 jump was trusting your right edge while throwing your body up and then down and trying to get back on the power…” I need to learn to trust my edges in whitewater – which means time practicing in whitewater. Something I don’t have much access to in Missouri. Oh, Saint Francis, please come up fast this season! But I can start doing edge work now. Fall pool sessions begin next week, and I am excited to really get to know my C1 on a whole different level. We are going to spend plenty of time on edge and upside down.
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