"Momentum Matters": A Technique Essay by Marc Ornstein

[Glenn MacGrady]

"One of the hallmarks of FreeStyle is efficiency and the conservation of your energy. The first step, in most cases, is to efficiently get the boat moving, forward or reverse. . . . The energy that you expended, putting the canoe into motion is now transferred to the canoe as its momentum. Efficiently Maneuvering the canoe, once it is moving, is mostly a matter of redirecting that momentum."

Momentum Matters – FreeStyle Canoeing

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I've learned a lot from reading and watching Ornstein. One thing I've noticed from his videos and others is that what we infer from text is not always exactly what we should do. For instance, the torso rotation that is stressed so much is actually slight - at least slighter than I used to envision. Also the oft repeated mantra of keeping our head over the center of the boat. In one of the linked videos where Marc demonstrates the Axle, his head is so far to the onside that it's almost out of the boat.

These are not criticisms, but an acknowledgement that nothing is better than direct in person training from a skilled paddler. But I love that Marc adds these video links to his writing, since it's the next best thing.

 

[yknpdlr]

It is always fun to learn a new stroke that you have never known before, then to discover that you have been doing a version of a commonly well known stroke self-learned, but it only needs a little tweaking refinement to make it more efficient in the time and way you employ it. Especially as you learn to link it with other strokes you already previously know. Then, after some comfortable practice with it, when it comes to more technical paddling, say staying closely parallel to a complex shoreline, or in a confined area, or amongst obstacles in wind or a slight current, the stroke you use is now just muscle memory. You do not need conscious thought or the name of the stroke or linked stroke you need or are using without unnecessarily losing momentum in the moment and which stroke to use in the next moment. Now that is paddling.

 

[Thestripper]

I've never felt like freestyle canoeing was my thing but in this setting I think it makes total sense and this is something I actually try to emulate on occasion.

 

[yknpdlr]

Most paddlers may not actually get into the finer intricacies of Freestyle paddling, but it doesn't take learning or much doing of the strokes skills to realize that aspects of the techniques, once learned what they do for you, have a tremendous usefulness and easily carry over to everyday paddling in precisely commanding your canoe to do exactly as you wish in most any situation, and not just on calm flatwater.

The above video does demonstrate that without being overly fancy about it.