Scotty Mac said...
Hey Bill,
Are all the top racers using this technique or does it vary a lot? The top arm up looks heavy on the shoulders. Is it?
Some do, a lot don't. If you look at Aaron Napolean for example, you won't see anything like this, but if I spent ten minutes paddling like Aaron does I'd need a chiropractor. Most competitive paddlers are adopting some elements of the Tahitian stroke. It takes a long time to master, you'll be seeing it more and more.
It's hard on the shoulders at first. A big part of making the technique work is paying attention to the relaxation opportunities during recovery. I don't have that down yet, but when you watch Dave paddle his muscles are so relaxed it looks like he's not working.
Using just the elbow of the lower arm to push the paddle up to start recovery is one example. The shoulder stays relaxed, the upper arm almost dangles from the handle, you use just wrist action to feather the blade, holding and turning the handle like a knob. In contrast during a Hawaiian stroke the entire recovery takes effort. Dropping the lower arm, swinging the paddle forward, raising the upper arm back up. Constant work.
For my ancient body it's made a HUGE difference in endurance, and I can catch swells I used to struggle for. Some of that is time on the water, some is just the stroke. A year from now I'll be able to tell you better. I expect that's how long it's going to take for me to be doing the stroke well all the time.
