Paddling to Carnegie Hall

People sometimes ask me what I do out there (on the lake) all those times I go paddling. They want to know where I go and are often surprised when I tell them no where. What do I do? Practice, I tell them. Every time I go out alone or have some alone time before a group paddle, I practice. I practice every stroke over and over at one time or another.

Most recently, I reviewed Ben Lawry's old DVD on forward stroke and picked up a pearl I had some how missed. The top hand, he points out, should make an L. First down during capture, then straight across a horizontal line during propulsion. End result: the blade is kept as perpendicular as long as possible for maximum efficiency.

So I go back to basics and very slowly concentrate on one thing, in this case an L-movement of the top hand: over and over while I build muscle memory. A few sessions of this and I have already seen improvement in my forward stroke. It is smoother, I am rotating my torso much better and I get less fatigued. Practice, practice, practice. That's how the cab driver told the tourist was the way to get to Carnegie Hall.

Paddle safe...

DS