Hey you Canucks,

I gotta go to you experts on this one.

What's the last word on starts - paddles in or out of the water? Or which when?

I could really use tome A Crew opinions


Thanks!!


A in A

3/4 buried in a headwind, 1" above the water in a tailwind

Yep, that's pretty much it.

So that's headwind and tailwind....and fully buried in no wind?


Still want to know...


A in A

Fully buried in all conditions. The idea is that your boat is motionless on the line. You can keep it out of the water in a tailwind in an attempt to take advantage of the wind giving you forward momentum. Of course a good starter may call you on it and you end up backing down when the gun goes.

Some may argue that 3/4 burried at the start may help with a stronger first stroke.

Thanks very much for responses - doesn't seem to be too wide a difference of opinion.


A in A

Since you seem to be asking about an "A" division, or advanced/expert team:
Tips of the paddle at the surface of the water.

I would say for beginners paddle fully buried. For intermediate, whatever works. The issue with beginners going 1/2 or 3/4 of a paddle on the start is they pull back first, without fully burying the paddle. An advanced paddler knows to bury first, pull second.

And if it's a headwind the back 4 or 6 can keep the boat at the line.

Good thinking Jole.

I say in a tail wind have your paddles all the way out of the water and in a head wind have them fully buried.

What do you hope to achieve having the blade out of the water on a tailwind?

Firstly, I'd have to agree with Joel. Most beginners have not yet developed the ability to anchor the blade first and then pull... they tend to do one in the same which will ultimately create a very inefficient stroke.
Having your paddle out of the water on a tail wind will serve a couple of purposes...1 - if you are not dealing with a held start, will allow the boat to move forward slightly which will help break the inertia and get the boat up to speed slightly faster. 2- the downward motion of your paddle on the start will also help lift the boat to get it to plane faster.
Headwind works somewhat in the opposite manner when the paddle is 1/2, 3/4 or fully buried ultimately keeping the boat from moving backwards. This will also allow the team to hit more consistently together on teh start.
The whole idea is to break the inertia and get the boat up to maximum hull speed as soon as possible and holding it there for the length of the race!
good luck!

All great comments, now how about the notion that since races at the top level are many times within 0.5 sec, and it takes about that long to go from being on the tip of the water to burying, isn't just being buried in all conditions (except perhaps tailwind) better overall?

Why make an attempt to bury first then pull, and use up time, when you can have it fully buried to begin with and all you have to do is pull? Make sense?


A in A

I prefer to start with the blade just above shoulder height. This gives you a good powerfull catch!

Just incase you're questioning my strategy, I won the "R" division at the Island...twice!

first - you need to lift the boat (push down)
second- you need to pull.

"Why make an attempt to bury first then pull, and use up time, when you can have it fully buried to begin with and all you have to do is pull? Make sense?"

Only burrying 3/4 lets you get a bit of momentum such that you can move water more quickly. Fully burrying means you have a lot more inertia to overcome and is less effective.

Joel, you rock. Thanks for all your constructive comments and giving back tot he community.

I've heard the theory of 1/2 buried and then fully bury it to "lift" the boat on the first stroke but I've never seen a boat go up on first stroke. Maybe the Canadian Men's team could do it but I've never seen it done.

You won't see the boat go up - but it won't go down as much.

I hope to achieve gaining a headstart, that's what. If the starter says 'attention please' and u keep ur paddlers up in a talwind u move ahead. That's pretty simple.