>Bum rudder
The bow rudder is now becoming a misnomer, as people have finally noticed that the boat turns faster if the blade is near the centre of the boat. I am quite sure that the top paddlers have been doing this for a long time, but club coaches have always insisted on teaching a bow rudder at the front of the boat. There was some talk last year of calling it a pivot turn, but tradition dies hard and the bow rudder lives on, in name if nothing else.
hi telemark thingy - what do others think about it
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John Sturgess
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Gedling, Nottingham/Long Preston, North Yorkshire
Dave
I can still (just!!) remember being taught the bow rudder when it came in (in the mid-70's, I think)
The justification for putting the blade in at the front was so that when exiting an eddy you reached forward into the current, therefore got turn earlier, and conversely when breaking out. In other words the focus was not on the stroke turning the boat, but on helping the water to turn the boat.
Big problem: either way on, it leaves you on the eddy-line!
I think I awoke to reality when I realised that young beginners in C1 found the cross-bow rudder much more effective than the on-side bow rudder, as long as they had the body turned and the top arm extended. So I started - in the mid-80's - getting both K1 and C1 paddlers to experience that feeling, and then (in the case of kayaks) simply reverse the blade
Alternative approach: put the blade in (vertically) as for the 'draw-stroke on the move (3* Syllabus): most paddlers find it difficult NOT to turn the boat when they first try that
Obviously the name bow-rudder is misleading. It was originally called the Duffek - after Milo Duffek, the Czech/American C1. Maybe pivot-stroke gives the best idea.
I can still (just!!) remember being taught the bow rudder when it came in (in the mid-70's, I think)
The justification for putting the blade in at the front was so that when exiting an eddy you reached forward into the current, therefore got turn earlier, and conversely when breaking out. In other words the focus was not on the stroke turning the boat, but on helping the water to turn the boat.
Big problem: either way on, it leaves you on the eddy-line!
I think I awoke to reality when I realised that young beginners in C1 found the cross-bow rudder much more effective than the on-side bow rudder, as long as they had the body turned and the top arm extended. So I started - in the mid-80's - getting both K1 and C1 paddlers to experience that feeling, and then (in the case of kayaks) simply reverse the blade
Alternative approach: put the blade in (vertically) as for the 'draw-stroke on the move (3* Syllabus): most paddlers find it difficult NOT to turn the boat when they first try that
Obviously the name bow-rudder is misleading. It was originally called the Duffek - after Milo Duffek, the Czech/American C1. Maybe pivot-stroke gives the best idea.