I’ve been learning to paddle a surf ski now for just over twelve months. Sometimes it seems every time I get into the water, I learn something. I can either learn something new, that I didn’t know before; or relearn something that I already know, but just wasn’t applying properly. Its amazing how often these learnings are so simple, obvious, yet overlooked. Just like lessons in life huh.
So on to today’s lesson on the surf ski – I have to accelerate my paddle through the water. How can my craft go faster, if my paddle is only going the same speed as the ski is already going? Clearly this has implications for swimming and board paddling too. Get out of the comfort zone Damo, accelerate that stroke through the water.
Obvious, simple, overlooked, yet now that its been pointed out – so effective.
Last night I went up to the club and had a session on the Ergo machine, with Stu watching me correcting my technique. Given I have not been paddling long, there are a number of clear issues with my technique, issues which I can easily work on on the creek (starting today…). These include
- Sitting Up Straight. I need to sit up straighter, my shoulders in-front of my hips, chest out so my shoulders also relax and drop. When I was doing this, I really felt the muscles in my lower lats working. This is the feeling I need to replicate when paddling.
- Length Of Stroke. I need to keep rotating my body, after my paddle hits 90°, maintaining that 90° hold on the water, right through to the end of the stroke. Taking the paddle out of the water should just be a straight lift at the end of the stroke, keeping my wrist in a fixed position so it does not get RSI.
- Upper Hand Relaxed. Keep my upper hand relaxed and at eye level in front of me. Stop pushing this hand once the paddle hits the 90° plane, to ensure I maintain the catch in the water
- Remember Foot Drive
Those are the four major areas I need to concentrate on this winter. Some drills which will help include:
- Same Side Stroke. Just stroking on the same side, concentrate on the 3 above and once the stroke is complete, feather the paddle across the top of the water and start that stroke again
- Ballet Drill. Do a complete and perfect stroke, complete when I am holding the paddle up at the end of the stroke, just like a spear, hold for a few seconds and repeat on the opposite side. Consider the three points above when doing this.
- Chasing Drill. If there is someone paddling ahead of me, match their rating, perfect my stroke and see if I can catch up to them. This means I have better stroke. If I am catching them, slow my rating and see if I still can catch them
Looks like I will have a slow, hopefully rewarding though, winter. Lets hope everyone else takes the foot off the pedal a bit so I can catch up.
I’ve mentioned previously that swimming will be my most challenging leg in this amazing race, I quail when I think about it. I know also that I have a lot of resources in front of me that I am not using. I have the swimming pool in our complex, the creek behind me and the ocean not far away. I also have $300 worth of total immersion swimming videos.
I have to get in the water everyday and do something to improve my swimming. If I am not in a squad, maybe I will be catching waves at the beach. If I am not catching waves, maybe I’ll be doing laps at the netted off area at the Tallebudgera Caravan Park. If I am not doing laps there – I have to get into the pool and spend at least half an hour doing the T.I swimming drills. Commit to it today. Done!
Today at ski training, Stu suggested I try to rotate my body more when paddling. I should try to get it perpendicular to the ski by the end of each stroke. That way it will be rotating 180 degrees with each stroke.
There would be a lot of back strength and core power being put into each stroke with such intense rotation. Something to drill out the back I think.
Today I paddled into the biggest wave of my short ski career. It was about 3′ max. Not huge by any stretch. I got over it, flew down the face and just as I got to the bottom, it exploded all around me, wipe-out!
I noticed my coach Stuart, who caught the same wave right next to me, didn’t wipe-out, but he didn’t ride it to shore either. When I popped up from the depths, he was sitting on the ski, still upright albeit with his legs hanging off the sides. So he pulled off to save himself, then caught the next one in.
When chatting to him about it later he observed he wasn’t down in front of it enough to save it, which is why he aborted. An interesting lesson.
I find swimming to be the most challenging and at the same time, frustrating surf sport. You see, as a surfer, I developed a stack of bad swimming habits. For example, I hardly kick… when surfing the board is usually in the way. Also, I have a very short stroke. When paddling on the board, you are too high above the water to get the stroke length required for swimming. But also, I have never had proper swim training, so my technique is just reflective of the way I developed myself. Its just an accumulation of years of bad habits which I developed outside competent supervision.
One thing I have found with swimming is that everyone around you who can swim, wants to help. So you get given all these different tips and pieces of advice, but during those squad sessions when the sets force you to tear up the laps, working as hard as you can to keep up. This has been particularly unhelpful to my stroke.
The squads are about fitness, not about stroke correction. If I am trying to swim better in squads, all I can do is concentrate on improving one thing in that set. For example, I might concentrate on keeping my elbows high (as I always drop mine), or keeping my leading arm stretched out as long and far as I can, but nothing else. Then, I also need to either spend time in the pool drilling for technique, away from a fitness squad, or I need to spend time with a coach who will correct it.
These days of filling my head with 100 tips from 101 people and trying to change everything each session in the pool have to stop. I know what I should be doing, now I just need to do it. A week ago, I purchased a bunch of DVDs from the Total Immersion Swimming guys – this will be my basis for drilling for technique, in the quiet away from the fitness sessions.
