shaking my head

Posted by LeeG on Jun 9, 2004

well yes,,drop your head to your right shoulder,,but mostly I'm shaking my head because you're learning about 10X faster than I did and it's not fair,,I'm humble enough. If you keep your head relaxed and low to the paddle side your hips will automatically arch over more with a more fluid hip snap resulting in your kayak being flatter(upright) to the water for a given torso postion over the water and given bracing effort in your blade. Also if you tried a regular paddle grip instead of an extended paddle roll (Pawlata) that raised head would prevent you from coming up, guranteed.

In the photo the left side of your neck/shoulders are tightening up fighting gravity,,,that tension on the left side at the top of your spine is fighting your hip snap attempting to swivel the kayak flat to the water. If you dropped your neck to your right shoulder and relaxed your neck it would be easier to make the transition from ( to ),,,er,,C to C(turn that C around). With a head fighting to be vertical the spine attempts to make an S shape and that slows/stops the hip snap. Tight at the top of the spine,,tight at the bottom of the spine.

This is where some folks think "lay back" rolls are preferable because you can get more time out of the brace/sweep AND retain a stiff neck with a narrow range of hip snap,,,but your sitting up torso position will put you in a more active posture when upright. Folks with marginal hip snaps relying on laying back to come up aren't very stable,,,"uh, uh,,oh damn!" and down they go. Coming up as you are will give you more options. oh,,try twisting your torso to the right more as you brace/hip snap up. It'll reduce the effort in your arms and bring you up with less of a diving blade.

In Response to: Rolling Photos for Mac!! by Kurt Maurer on Jun 8, 2004

Replies:

• Re: shaking my head by Kurt Maurer on Jun 9, 2004
  • brute force by LeeG on Jun 9, 2004
• Tip for keeping head down by mike noeske on Jun 9, 2004