Really nice camera angles showing the whole stroke. So glad you included the last minute or so on the recovery. Showing your hands free of the recovery. With momentum the water itself will pop it right out of the water when you get going. Very nice.
Thanks Lisa. The key to doing this well is having really good pitch control on the paddle blade and knowing exactly when to apply it. When I teach folks how to do this stroke, the timing is the thing that seems to be the most problem. To help students get the feel, I put my canoe beside theirs with one foot in mine and one foot in theirs than put my hands on theirs to guide the paddle.
Thank you Sir I have been practicing this . As well as the Indian Stroke , whereby you rotate the paddle , and it never leaves the water. I love paddling !
For what its worth, in Ontario we dropped the name "Indian Stroke" out of respect for the First Nations people. You can find a video I did about this stroke if you look up Silent Stroke on my channel.
Thanks Rolf, A very instructive video, which I watch over and over again. Being a novice at paddling a canoe, I never could wholly warm up to the J-stroke. Seeing you perform such a beautifully fluid and seemingly effortless stroke I could not quite figure out how this was possible. Finally I realized that you are doing a palm roll during each stroke such that the two faces of the paddle blade alternate as the power face with every stroke. Learned a lot from watching your video. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the kind words Gottfried and I'm glad you found the video useful. The most difficult thing about doing that stroke well is what I described as the "catch" phase. There is a very critical point where you have change the pitch on the paddle blade from what you were doing during power to what you need to do for steering that requires getting the "feel" for. Before Covid, I used to put my canoe beside a student's canoe and stand up with one foot in my canoe and the other in their canoe so I could stand behind them and put my hands on their's to guide the motion. It is an "ah ha" moment when they feel the resistance that turns power into steering but it's not easy to get the timing right. Keep practicing :-)
Hi Rolf - nice work... great to have the different perspectives :-) looks like a modified Pitch Stroke or a Canadian Stroke. There are always diff names for same stroke depending on what region you are in. It is a lovely nice and easy stroke. (almost like a Northwoods Stroke per short power phase, and horizontal recovery..... but there's no upper body 'lean' into the powerphase.) so... now back to my references :-) and watch yoru video again! great to have these demo's and clear explanations! well done! It is a lovely nice and easy stroke.
Hi Dot. Back when I was tacking care of instructor services with ORCA we were having a heated debate about using names for strokes. The reality is every time you put the paddle in the water its a bit different than the stroke you did just before or will do after, kinda like snow flakes. I alternate between calling what I'm doing in the video as either the Guide or the Canadian but mostly call it the Guide just so I don't offend the folks south of our border any time I demo it there. :-)
Yes, agreed, it looks more like a modified pitch just past the hips, followed by a shorter return blade of a Canadian stroke. This is very close to my personal favorite version of stroke too. I always thought of mine as a hybrid stroke. The beauty of this stroke is that it is less tiring than the J stroke, and does not involve the excessive 'push out' and weird wrist angle of the canadian stroke (canadian usually is taught with a long underwater recovery puttting a lot of strain on the wrist). This version gets the best of both worlds, with the pitching helping to counteract the canoe turn, followed by the short recovery which uses the gunnel for leverage, but does not underwater recover for too long and thereby I think puts the wrist in a better ergonomic position for extended paddling. A very relaxing stroke. Did not know it was called the guide stroke.
@@scott1967888 Basically its a version of the Canadian, it got the "Guide" moniker because most of the canoe guides doing long trips wind up morphing what some might consider a pure Canadian it something less tiring by using the gunnels.
Yes I am. It saves a lot of work on your muscles. And I've been using the same wooden paddle doing it that way for about 20 years now. If you do it right there's next to no wear on the paddle or the gunnels.
Really nice camera angles showing the whole stroke. So glad you included the last minute or so on the recovery. Showing your hands free of the recovery. With momentum the water itself will pop it right out of the water when you get going. Very nice.
Thanks Lisa. The key to doing this well is having really good pitch control on the paddle blade and knowing exactly when to apply it. When I teach folks how to do this stroke, the timing is the thing that seems to be the most problem. To help students get the feel, I put my canoe beside theirs with one foot in mine and one foot in theirs than put my hands on theirs to guide the paddle.
Thank you Sir
I have been practicing this .
As well as the Indian Stroke , whereby you rotate the paddle , and it never leaves the water.
I love paddling !
For what its worth, in Ontario we dropped the name "Indian Stroke" out of respect for the First Nations people. You can find a video I did about this stroke if you look up Silent Stroke on my channel.
Helpful thanks
Thanks Rolf,
A very instructive video, which I watch over and over again. Being a novice at paddling a canoe, I never could wholly warm up to the J-stroke. Seeing you perform such a beautifully fluid and seemingly effortless stroke I could not quite figure out how this was possible. Finally I realized that you are doing a palm roll during each stroke such that the two faces of the paddle blade alternate as the power face with every stroke. Learned a lot from watching your video. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the kind words Gottfried and I'm glad you found the video useful. The most difficult thing about doing that stroke well is what I described as the "catch" phase. There is a very critical point where you have change the pitch on the paddle blade from what you were doing during power to what you need to do for steering that requires getting the "feel" for. Before Covid, I used to put my canoe beside a student's canoe and stand up with one foot in my canoe and the other in their canoe so I could stand behind them and put my hands on their's to guide the motion. It is an "ah ha" moment when they feel the resistance that turns power into steering but it's not easy to get the timing right. Keep practicing :-)
Beautiful!
Nice one. I loved the mix of above and below water along with the use of a model. Keep well
Thanks Ray, I had fun putting the video together and folks who've viewed it seem to find it helpful.
Sehr gut Rolf
Hi Rolf - nice work... great to have the different perspectives :-) looks like a modified Pitch Stroke or a Canadian Stroke. There are always diff names for same stroke depending on what region you are in. It is a lovely nice and easy stroke.
(almost like a Northwoods Stroke per short power phase, and horizontal recovery..... but there's no upper body 'lean' into the powerphase.)
so... now back to my references :-) and watch yoru video again! great to have these demo's and clear explanations! well done! It is a lovely nice and easy stroke.
Hi Dot. Back when I was tacking care of instructor services with ORCA we were having a heated debate about using names for strokes. The reality is every time you put the paddle in the water its a bit different than the stroke you did just before or will do after, kinda like snow flakes. I alternate between calling what I'm doing in the video as either the Guide or the Canadian but mostly call it the Guide just so I don't offend the folks south of our border any time I demo it there. :-)
Yes, agreed, it looks more like a modified pitch just past the hips, followed by a shorter return blade of a Canadian stroke. This is very close to my personal favorite version of stroke too. I always thought of mine as a hybrid stroke. The beauty of this stroke is that it is less tiring than the J stroke, and does not involve the excessive 'push out' and weird wrist angle of the canadian stroke (canadian usually is taught with a long underwater recovery puttting a lot of strain on the wrist). This version gets the best of both worlds, with the pitching helping to counteract the canoe turn, followed by the short recovery which uses the gunnel for leverage, but does not underwater recover for too long and thereby I think puts the wrist in a better ergonomic position for extended paddling. A very relaxing stroke. Did not know it was called the guide stroke.
@@scott1967888 Basically its a version of the Canadian, it got the "Guide" moniker because most of the canoe guides doing long trips wind up morphing what some might consider a pure Canadian it something less tiring by using the gunnels.
Are you prying against the gunwale?
Yes I am. It saves a lot of work on your muscles. And I've been using the same wooden paddle doing it that way for about 20 years now. If you do it right there's next to no wear on the paddle or the gunnels.