Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Day: 27 March 2012

Screw Up – also the 200th post!

The screw-up is basically a recovery technique that evolved from over-vertical stern squirts. It is probably one of the most useful techniques for boaters because it can be used virtually anytime your bow passes vertical. Essentially it is a way of avoiding a full blown capsize when your boat passes vertical. When your playing in a hole pulling off a screw up may prevent you from being flushed out or even munched by the wave.

As with all moves they need to be practiced. The best way to practice this move is to put your boat into a position where it is going to pass vertical. The best a safest way to do this is on a nice deep eddy line and throw a stern squirt. The idea is that the move will be ingrained and can then be used on the flat or even in a hole whilst cartwheeling.

So here we go, you’ve found a suitable spot to practice. From the eddy cross through the eddyline and pull an aggressive stern squirt with a powerful back sweep. As soon as you feel the boat going past vertical start to roll in the direction you are turning. So if you started the squirt with your sweep on the left you’ll need to roll on your left. This is a lot easier than fighting against the direction the boat is already travelling in!

Ferry Glide/Upstream Ferry

The Ferry Glide is probably one of the 1st moving water skills that most paddlers learn. It simply involves crossing a flow of water without drifting off downstream.

The critical elements of the move are the paddling speed and the angle of the boat in relation to the flow. Imagine you sitting in an eddy facing upstream. To your right is another eddy that is sperated from you you by a nice steady flow of river water. To get to that eddy you need to paddle through the eddy line and “glide” across the current to the opposite eddy.

Upstream is 12 o’clock and you are travelling from the left hand bank to the right. As you leave the eddy get the boat pointing somewhere between 12 and 1 o’clock. At this point you can make a judgement whether or not the angle and or the paddle rate needs to be changed. A fast paddle rate and steep angle of attack (closer to 12 o’clock) is perfect for very fast flows, a slower paddle rate and a shallow angle of attack (around 2-3 o’clock) is better for slower rates of flow. Getting the right angle of attack and paddle rate is important and is a case of judegement and correction as you make the move.

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