Paddle Techniques: Applying Power (by Dave Kalama)
Autor: SUP - GURU | Publicado: 2010-06-01T18:43:00-07:00

Hopefully you’ve been practicing that long catch. It’s a critical  component of any stroke. Now we’re going to talk about adding power to  the Tahitian stroke.
The toughest part to learn is how short the power stroke is. We’re  all used to stroking hard at least to our feet. Some people try to pull  even further than that. To learn the stroke I want you to  overcompensate, and apply the power in just a super brief pull. As soon  as you apply power you should stop pulling. At this stage people can’t  seem to do it briefly enough. Focus on it. I know it will feel like  you’re just patting the water. Concentrate on giving a hard pull and  then ending your pull and starting to get the paddle out of the water.

You’ll be surprised how well this quick pull will move your board,  even though it feels like you are not doing any work.&nbsp; The catch and  first bit of pull is 70 percent of the power in any stroke. Applying  energy after the catch adds power, but only a little bit, and it takes a  lot of energy since your body isn’t in an efficient position. You also  get both your hands and your torso out of position for the next stroke,  and you have to get them back where they belong before you can start  again. All that movement takes energy. The Hawaiian technique is fast  but you need a lot of endurance to compensate for inefficiency.

The Tahitian stroke is constantly lifting the nose of&nbsp; the canoe or,  in this case, a stand up board, and it’s designed to build momentum.  Your hands, torso and shoulders return to position automatically, on a  circular, continuous path, and only travel a short distance. To build  speed you increase the cadence, and it’s a lot easier to do that because  the stroke recovery is shorter and starts earlier.

You need to get a lot of power in that first bit of pull, and to do  that you need your shoulders and torso engaged. If you are doing the  catch right, then your shoulders and torso are already in the right  position for a stroke. So as soon as the paddle is in the water you  twist your torso and shoulders back straight. Again, to get the feel for  this I want you to overcompensate and do this as a sudden jerk. You can  mellow out later and get things smooth, but we want all that energy  firing on the first foot of pull, and then it ends.

Photos Courtesy of Randy Strome, Standupzone
We’ll break down the recovery and put the entire stroke together next  time, but for now let’s add the basics of the Tahitian recovery stroke  so you can get the paddle back out in a good catch and get the power  down.
In the Tahitian stroke we don’t wing out the upper arm at all because  you’d have to work to get the upper arm back up above the paddle and  re-stack your shoulders. Instead you pull the blade up and out of the  water like drawing a sword. Your lower arm does the work of pulling the  sword. You  break  the wrist of your lower hand inward and push the  paddle upwards. The upper  hand  holds the handle like a knob and twists  the blade to a feathered position without putting a strain on the  wrist.

Pulling the paddle out–well before the feet. Note the lower wrist is  broken and I’m pushing the paddle up with my lower arm. My muscles are  relaxed, getting a chance to regain power. My upper arm is a little too  far winged down–hey, I don’t do every stroke perfect.

As the blade leaves the water we start our catch part of the stroke.&nbsp;  Move your upper shoulder, arm and upper torso forward in a&nbsp; gentle  punch.&nbsp; Stretch the  muscles forward and reach, reach, reach for the  catch. The upper arm  which has been extended up over your head by the  sword pull, now moves a few inches inward towards the head  and the  torso rotates to stack the shoulders. At the catch the muscles  start to  spring back almost by themselves, and a firm torso and shoulder   rotation applies power. The upper hand pushes forward and slightly down   to aid in the power and position the shaft vertically. Almost as soon   as power is applied you relax, and start pulling the sword again.  Instead of winging up and down or swinging the paddle around your  upper  arm moves in a small circle with your hand moving in an almond shaped  circle.
You’re almost there, or at least you almost know all the chords. Next  time we’ll break down the recovery stroke some more, and we’ll pay  attention to which muscles can be relaxed at different parts of the  stroke, and then we’ll put it all together and tell you what parts to  pay attention to when you’re practicing.