Curious on your thoughts about blade angle and initiating the stroke before being fully buried. A dragon boat(DB) blade will have a smaller face so it's more prone to cavitation or "slipping" through the water if your pull is initiated too soon before "grabbing"/"planting"/"catching" completely. Can you get away with pressure sooner with an OC blade since the surface area is larger? Because you mentioned elongating your stroke from the moment the tip of the blade touches straight to the back of the stroke. Do you believe that you can still get an effective stroke without waiting for the blade to be fully sunk before adding pressure?
Hey Omar great question! The angles of your OC paddle allow you to find that pressure from the blade tip touching to being buried. If your body is in ideal position and you blade is in ideal position, the act of the blade being submerged does move the boat. I do drills isolating that part of the stroke and it is not a drill you can do in place since the boat will start moving each time. The Dragon Boat paddles do not have these angles, but you can still find this movement to help propel the boat. If the blade enters the water and doesn't begin moving the boat until fully submerged, that's a large portion of movement being wasted. Watch slow mo of your paddling and see how long it takes for a blade to submerge. Why not utilize it to move the boat if given the chance? I have a whole series explaining this on K2NONLINEPADDLESCHOOL.COM 6 hours of content and 50 videos to utilize every angle and movement to make the boat glide!
You also have a video earlier on about cavitation behind the blade on the catch (DB paddle). Despite the double/single bend in an Oc paddle, isn’t it still prone to slipping/cavitation if you pull and try to use those few inches where your paddle is being buried? I’ll check out your other videos!
@@fakhreddineomar it can create cavitation IF not used perfectly. I've learned a lot in the last 4 or 5 years since that video went live. My oc speeds reflect that nuance change too
Paddle length is a large percentage of the stroke success. Getting a Paddle to match your torso/arm length and the boat height. Going longer is diminishing returns of more leverages at the cost of energy. The top hand height should be in a range. Not too low and not too high, the Paddle reflects this. I have 3 different length paddles for oc2, oc1 and oc6 since each boat sits higher than the last!
Side catching is where the top hand is slightly inside the boat as it enters the water. During the power phase they should both be parallel. You can start parallel but many will go in at an angle to work their rotation more.
Reducing mileage/intensity duration to let the body recover. Typically 3 weeks is a good time frame depending on the volume of your training cycle. If your training isn't intensive enough then no tapering would be needed besides resting a day or two. Funny you ask since I just had a disaster taper cycle doing races/downwinders during the time frame allotted and not really recuperating before a major event.
In this video, your blade enters the water at a positive angle, but is not buried until neutral, which is likely causing cavitation. This is not optimal technique bc you are not getting the best “bite” to maximize force production, and although it will allow a higher stroke rate, it means you are slipping your power stroke. Recommend working on burying your blade fully (proper catch) BEFORE applying the power stroke, this will maximize force per stroke = power.
We have a video on the channel called "powering the pendulum" you would love! Waiting until your blade is in the water before applying force is losing around 30% of the length of your stroke. The act of the blade entering the water with pressure moves the boat forward. We can see this concept in action with "catch" drills where we remove the blade when it is fully submerged. You can see that drill and the boat speed under "what is the best way to find resistance in the outrigger canoe?" The ideas you have shared are dated and no top-level paddler abides by them. You can see them beginning to move the boat from the blade tip touching - not waiting until the blade is submerged. That tip is excellent for novices learning to use a Paddle properly but progressing in speeds involves utilizing your tool better. Please watch those videos and let me know your thoughts after (my stroke rate is usually 55spm to maintain 8:20min/mile long distance pacing as a reference)
