Watching someone enter a perfect pivot and then glide out again
is just like poetry in motion. It is beautiful to watch and gives the
feeling of interconnectedness through paddle, body, boat and water. Beyond
the fun of watching and executing pivots the skill serves many useful purposes.
Inside Pivot
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Outside Pivot
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I will replace these videos sometime in the future the
current was a few km/hour and I was having problems staying in one
place
Think of a pivot as a small circle (really small that
is) or alternatively a circle is just a pivot that has gotten away. Just like
the moon circling the earth paddling a circle includes one pivot for
every circuit. If you can do a pivot well then you can paddle in
circles, turn, land, and even go in a nice straight line.
To execute a nice pivot sit near the middle (front to back) and
heel the canoe over so the gunwhale is close to the water line. By
sitting in the middle you will have good control over both the
bow and the stern. Heeling the canoe 'plants' or fixes the
centre of the canoe in one place and pulls the ends up and out of the
water. It is easier to spin when you are not dragging your tail. It is
possible to pivot sitting towards the bow or stern but it means alittle
more concentration and an adjustment of the force of each stroke (keep it
simple to start with and sit near the middle).
Rotate your upper body to face the side of the canoe, I tend to
turn my knees to the side alittle as well - similar to how I sit for
side displacement. By facing the side of the canoe you have
equal reach and better control over the draw/push towards the front or back of
the canoe.
Choke up on the paddle (way up). This gives you good reach forward
and backward. Remember the further the blade [tip] is away from your
pivot point the more leaverage you have to turn the canoe. Make sure
the paddle grip is pretty much outside of the canoe so the blade can
be close, or even extend under, the canoe.
A basic starting point for pivoting the canoe involves a draw and a
pushaway done a good distance away from the pivot point. Between each
the paddle is sliced through the water without any pitch on the
blade. This is called a Box stroke. The important thing to watch is
that the draw/or push is perpendicular to the line of the canoe. The
most common problem that you will run into when trying to pivot is
doing a draw towards you, instead of the canoe, which will cause the
canoe to move forward and cause to to go in a circle. With the push
away the problem is usually almost opposite with the push going away
from you, or to much of a push that transitions into a short sweep.
With really a small modification of box stroke you can paddle
in a circle (sometimes called stirring the pot). Doing a circle stroke
can be difficult since it involves getting the blade under the canoe.
It is possible to do a pivot with just a sweep stroke - choke up
lots and use short strokes as far from your pivot point as you can reach.
Many people think that doing on outside pivot is easiest using just a
forward sweep. This can actually be quite tricky and will usually
send you in a [small] circle instead.
You can also use cross-strokes (draw/push) to complete a pivot as well.
These can be difficult to do in wider boats but they are very helpful
in smaller boats.
Start slowly with small strokes and speedup as you go moving from a
box, to circle. Next time you are out paddling try paddling into a
pivot from an inside spiral. The smallest point of the spiral is
a pivot. Go around a couple of times an then exit the opposite
diretion following an outside spiral.
A basic starting point for pivoting the canoe involves a draw and a
pushaway done a good distance away from the pivot point. Between each
the paddle is sliced through the water without any pitch on the
blade. This is called a Box stroke. The important thing to watch is
that the draw/or push is perpendicular to the line of the canoe. The
most common problem that you will run into when trying to pivot is
doing a draw towards you, instead of the canoe, which will cause the
canoe to move forward and cause to to go in a circle. With the push
away the problem is usually almost opposite with the push going away
from you, or to much of a push that transitions into a short sweep.