Yesterday I went to an OC1 clinic put on by Hanohano. Here is me trying to record as much of it as I can before I forget it. The clinic was touted as a "Beginner's Clinic", with a lot of information geared towards the very newbie OC1 paddler, and even for those who are looking to buy their first OC1.
I'm trying to get the thoughts recorded before I forget it, so it won't be as organized as I'd like. Maybe afterwards I'll try reorganizing.
The clinic went very well. Chris Hill, the HanoHano men's coach. He was very informative. He knew his shit.
So he went over first how an OC1 is made, and what the differences are between non-vacuum bagged, vacuum-bagged, carbon and kevlar layups are. Non-vacuum bagged, is also a wet layup. All OC1s have a core material, and the layup is applied to either side. Non-vacuum bagged layups are done by hand, and the excess resin is squeegeed out. This results in uneven application and varies the weight greatly. This is mostly used for one-off, or cheaper layups. Exotics are made this way also. Vacuum bagged is still fiberglass, but using a bag and vacuum to suck out the excess resin. The example that was given was gluing 2 pieces of paper, and putting an encyclopedia on top to squeeze out the excess. My huki was done this way. A carbon layup is much much more rigid, and in the water transmits the most paddler energy, into forward motion energy. It is also very easily dented and susceptible to crush marks. The Hurricane is a carbon canoe ( apparently all hurricanes are carbon). To keep the carbon's efficiency, but give it some flex in order to take some beating, kevlar is added sometimes. This gives it a bit of a flexible skin over the much more rigid carbon. S-glass wasn't mentioned. I guess I'll have to look that up myself.
Mechanics of paddling were explained as well He made a distinction between paddling technique and paddling mechanics. He taught the latter, but did not touch the former, in respect of the different styles that coaches from other clubs teach. The mechanics are based on physics and are absolute, how those mechanics are performed is style, which is different for every club and every paddler.
One of the mechanics mentioned was forward angle. When paddling the force of the effort is usually ( the majority anyway) is perpendicular to the blade face. The movement of the canoe is 180 degrees from that force, so the opposite side. If your blade is at a forward angle then you are either propelling the canoe upwards, out of the water, or forwards in the water ( depending on the angle). If you have a negative angle, then you are pushing the canoe down into the water. He also mentioned that while negative angle is bad, that doesn't mean that you should get your blade out as soon as you start getting negative angle. It just means you shouldn't be applying force at the negative angle. Especially in OC1s, being comfortable is very important. After the stroke, its fine to stop putting pressure and allow the blade to come out of the water naturally. Also if you try to pull the blade out right at your hip, where the blade face is again perpendicular to forward motion, then you're acting as a brake as as the blade is in the water.
He also mentioned having reasonable personal goals out of paddling. Its not reasonable to tell yourself that you're gonna go beat the big boys of paddling when you're just starting out. He mentioned his triangle-into pyramid. The three corners are:
1. Athleticism
2. Fitness
3. Technique.
Athleticism is the natural, genetic gift people have towards sports or physical activity. People sometimes don't like to talk about it, but its true. Some people are just genetically predisposed to be good towards certain things. Some people are just really great at sports. You can tell if you're one of those people by looking back at your own history. Have you always been into sports, have you been good at almost any sport you've done? Is your hand-eye coordination always spot on?
Fitness is what people seem to sometimes confuse with Athleticism. This is something you can work on. This is your weight vs your strength vs your flexibility vs your endurance, etc. Hit the gym, cross train, or paddle. The more fit you are, the better at paddling you can be. ( Can not will).
Technique is another area that can be worked on. But in my opinion, people seem to stop working on early. He mentioned that he knows quite a few very good paddlers that have shit technique. Its just that their Fitness level and Athleticism are so high that they can still be good with the shitty technique. This is also where efficiency would come into play.
He said the last part that makes it into a pyramid is the man-hours spent on the sport. The first 3 are the base that determine the foundation of your paddling, but the man-hours are what determine its height. I thought that was very good way of putting it.
Drills:
He taught us 3 drills, which he named Pistons, Throwing the Hips, and the Frankenstein. The way he tested these was 20 strokes.
Pistons:
The idea of it is simple, but I had some trouble getting this drill down. The point of the drill is to combat pain and fatigue in your hip flexors. Normally to get the twist, specially in an OC6, most people will coil their body up. To get that coil, they use their hip flexors, which are very small muscles to start the twist. In an OC1 this is much easier to see. The point of the piston drill is to use your opposite leg to do that work, instead of your hip. I've always had an issue with this, but never thought there was anything I could do about it.
The idea is to push off with your opposite leg. For example if you are paddling on the left side. You push off your RIGHT leg, that pushes your right hip back, and throws your left hip forward. This puts you in the normal Kau position, and you are ready to take a stroke. Once your are taking the stroke, you use your left leg as normal to get the drive. On the right side its the opposite. Left leg opens you up, and puts you into the Kau position, drive off your right leg during the stroke.
The drill itself to get you use to it, is to sit on the OC1. Brace with your heels into the footwells. Put your but to the back of the seat ( do not move the seat). Put your hands on your knees. Push down on your right knee, and feel yourself twist to the left, then push the other knee and see yourself twist the other way. Keep doing this ot get used to the motion. Then try to do it without your hands. Try to do it without having to think about i.
Throwing the hips:
I had quite a bit of trouble with this one also. Visualize yourself sitting on a skateboard. You're trying to launch yourself, in that skateboard, forward. What you do is throw your hips forward in order to create motion. I don't quite get this drill, and will have to compare notes with the other sardines to see if they understood it better.
Frankenstein:
This is very similar to the drill I have new people do. It involves keeping your arms perfectly straight. You keep your arms straight throughout the entire stroke, catch, pull and recovery. It really exaggerated the twist, and coupled with the other drills, really gets you efficient. I got the concept pretty quickly, having done it a bunch of times in the OC6, but it was still a bit different trying to do it on the OC1, especially on the right side.
Stability:
He mentioned that leaning overly to the left actually causes the canoe to be over-stabilized and is actually less stable. The most stable the canoe is when you're paddling on the left is with the paddle in the water. The least stable is at the recovery. Apparently this had something to do with the way your hips are when your leaning over. I don't remember when you're the most stable on the side.
He also talked about transporting the canoe. Long story short, the racks we got were awesome for small cars.
There's probably more, and I'll add it as soon as I remember.