I noticed Tahitians tend to use more top-hand pressure than we do, in the northern hemisphere, causing the blade to go deeper and farther in back, pommel often reaching the gunnel. The Tahitian guys at our club do the same thing Manutea demonstrates, here, at the beginning of the video, and are easy to spot when they pass by in the canoe.
You’re absolutely right. He was emphasizing top hand pressure at the catch. Tupu did same as well. Danny has a completely different stroke but it obviously works for him. 🙂
Recently did a clinic with Lewis Laughlin, he emphasized the same, basically told me to “go deeper” at the front… then I did it and paddled back… “even deeper” he says. It slows your stroke and forces you to put your body on your paddle.
@@bendorrington1675 Lewis Laughlin -- Milton's brother -- also gave a paddling clinic at our club some time ago, but I wasn't there at the time. It seems to have all been for naught, though. Personally, I have observed, and _experienced,_ a lot of resistance -- even outright _stonewalling_ ( particularly from older coaches set in their ways ) -- to incorporating Tahitians' longer, deeper, slower strokes, namely: the Huti Roa, and variations thereof, as well as the Huti Pa'ari. The prevailing belief in the northern hemisphere, as far as I can tell, seems to be that if the blade extends past the seat, into so-called "negative angle" territory, it is not contributing _much,_ if at all, to forward motion -- which is just plain wrong ( depending on how you do it, along with water conditions ). Consequently, we tend to rely on a short, front-powered stroke, _all the time_ -- which Tahitians refer to as the Huti Pe'e ( and which I call, sardonically, "the monostroke" ). The other point of departure with Tahitian va'a technique, is that _they_ systematically put the heavier guys upfront ( in six-man canoes ), so the canoe is tilting forward, in order to make it easier to catch waves. This makes sense considering that most, if not all, long-distance races are downwind / down-swell. Lastly, and this more of a minor point, Tahitians tend to return the paddle in a fairly wide arc ( the longer the stroke, the wider the arc ), _via a twist of the torso,_ as opposed to using their arms to pick up-and-carry the blade forward.
@@bendorrington1675 Joey mentioned that very same thing when we paddle. Bury the blade before applying pressure and not rushing the stroke. I like that imagery of going deep forcing your body on the paddle. Thank you!
@@dman5914 I think of it as a two-tiered motion. Phase 1: Following the catch, pull with the bottom tracting arm, while getting your torso back to upright, until the blade reaches the front-edge of the seat. The pommel should then be hovering about mid-chest height, 16 to 18 inches in front of the torso. Phase 2: Press down-and-aft on the pommel with the top hand, until it reaches either kidney-height, or the gunnel ( depending on the desired stroke length ). Note: In Matahinas, during the Huti Pa'ari stroke ( = a 2 to 3-second stroke, maximally far in front and maximally far in back ), the pommel can sometimes be seen actually 4" _below_ the gunnel! The idea, during phase 2, is essentially to pull your hip to your top hand, as the latter comes down-and-aft, much like poling a boat -- or pole vaulting. The reason this works, and contributes to forward motion, is because the blade is still mostly locked into the water mass, so you can use it as an anchor point to pull yourself ( and the canoe ) forward, even though the blade is behind you.
Tandems go faster than singles, because of greater 'hull speed' - something having to do with the length of the standing wave the hull creates around itself, longer waves traveling faster. For example, if a tandem is 20% ( =1.2 times ) longer than a single-man, then the former's hull speed ( i.e. its max top speed, all things being equal ) is going to be Sqrt of 1.2 = 1.1, meaning 10% faster - just because the tandem's longer! ...The only time I have been able to keep up with a tandem is by closely tailing it ( within 1 foot ), getting into its draft; I was even able to catapult myself from there, to pass them... momentarily ( 'till I crapped out )! ☺
I wish that were the case however my V1 (24 ft long) is about the same length as an OC2 so I can’t claim that as an excuse. Perhaps if Danny or Tupu weren’t in the tandems then I’d keep up. They were just too fast and blew by everyone. A friend was in the tandem the next day with Steeve Boy flying past the group as well. They’re all so impressive. Thank you for your note!
I noticed Tahitians tend to use more top-hand pressure than we do, in the northern hemisphere, causing the blade to go deeper and farther in back, pommel often reaching the gunnel. The Tahitian guys at our club do the same thing Manutea demonstrates, here, at the beginning of the video, and are easy to spot when they pass by in the canoe.
You’re absolutely right. He was emphasizing top hand pressure at the catch. Tupu did same as well. Danny has a completely different stroke but it obviously works for him. 🙂
Recently did a clinic with Lewis Laughlin, he emphasized the same, basically told me to “go deeper” at the front… then I did it and paddled back… “even deeper” he says. It slows your stroke and forces you to put your body on your paddle.
@@bendorrington1675 Lewis Laughlin -- Milton's brother -- also gave a paddling clinic at our club some time ago, but I wasn't there at the time. It seems to have all been for naught, though. Personally, I have observed, and _experienced,_ a lot of resistance -- even outright _stonewalling_ ( particularly from older coaches set in their ways ) -- to incorporating Tahitians' longer, deeper, slower strokes, namely: the Huti Roa, and variations thereof, as well as the Huti Pa'ari. The prevailing belief in the northern hemisphere, as far as I can tell, seems to be that if the blade extends past the seat, into so-called "negative angle" territory, it is not contributing _much,_ if at all, to forward motion -- which is just plain wrong ( depending on how you do it, along with water conditions ). Consequently, we tend to rely on a short, front-powered stroke, _all the time_ -- which Tahitians refer to as the Huti Pe'e ( and which I call, sardonically, "the monostroke" ). The other point of departure with Tahitian va'a technique, is that _they_ systematically put the heavier guys upfront ( in six-man canoes ), so the canoe is tilting forward, in order to make it easier to catch waves. This makes sense considering that most, if not all, long-distance races are downwind / down-swell. Lastly, and this more of a minor point, Tahitians tend to return the paddle in a fairly wide arc ( the longer the stroke, the wider the arc ), _via a twist of the torso,_ as opposed to using their arms to pick up-and-carry the blade forward.
@@bendorrington1675
Joey mentioned that very same thing when we paddle. Bury the blade before applying
pressure and not rushing the stroke. I like that imagery of going deep forcing your body on the paddle. Thank you!
@@dman5914 I think of it as a two-tiered motion. Phase 1: Following the catch, pull with the bottom tracting arm, while getting your torso back to upright, until the blade reaches the front-edge of the seat. The pommel should then be hovering about mid-chest height, 16 to 18 inches in front of the torso. Phase 2: Press down-and-aft on the pommel with the top hand, until it reaches either kidney-height, or the gunnel ( depending on the desired stroke length ). Note: In Matahinas, during the Huti Pa'ari stroke ( = a 2 to 3-second stroke, maximally far in front and maximally far in back ), the pommel can sometimes be seen actually 4" _below_ the gunnel! The idea, during phase 2, is essentially to pull your hip to your top hand, as the latter comes down-and-aft, much like poling a boat -- or pole vaulting. The reason this works, and contributes to forward motion, is because the blade is still mostly locked into the water mass, so you can use it as an anchor point to pull yourself ( and the canoe ) forward, even though the blade is behind you.
Tandems go faster than singles, because of greater 'hull speed' - something having to do with the length of the standing wave the hull creates around itself, longer waves traveling faster. For example, if a tandem is 20% ( =1.2 times ) longer than a single-man, then the former's hull speed ( i.e. its max top speed, all things being equal ) is going to be Sqrt of 1.2 = 1.1, meaning 10% faster - just because the tandem's longer! ...The only time I have been able to keep up with a tandem is by closely tailing it ( within 1 foot ), getting into its draft; I was even able to catapult myself from there, to pass them... momentarily ( 'till I crapped out )! ☺
I wish that were the case however my V1 (24 ft long) is about the same length as an OC2 so I can’t claim that as an excuse. Perhaps if Danny or Tupu weren’t in the tandems then I’d keep up. They were just too fast and blew by everyone. A friend was in the tandem the next day with Steeve Boy flying past the group as well.
They’re all so impressive. Thank you for your note!