Cross-Sweep Stroke

The standard sweep stroke involves torso rotation as the paddle starts at the bow, pushes out to the side, goes several feet away from the boat, then pulls in towards the stern.  The paddle is more horizontal than vertical in order to get the blade far away from the boat in the middle portion of the stroke.

In c-1, there is a stroke that is very important.  The cross-sweep stroke.  It involves even more torso rotation than the standard sweep stroke.  It's similar to the standard cross-stroke, but the blade goes out away from the boat, rather than next to the boat. 

The top hand is criss-crossed in front of you.  You can choke up on the paddle shaft if you need to.  And the angle of the paddle is more horizontal than vertical.

This stroke is very useful in c-1.  C-1s often get turned away from the paddle side.  You can correct with a pry stroke.  However, often you will want to use a cross-sweep stroke to get the boat back on course.

The cross-sweep stroke is not normally used to initiate a turn.  It's usually better to initiate a turn with a bow draw.  However, we sometimes use a cross-sweep stroke when the boat is veering towards the off-side and you need to get it back on line.  In this situation, a strong cross-stroke won't work- you will continue veering if you just use a strong cross forward stroke.  You need to use either a pry or a cross-forward stroke.

And we often do not start the stroke near the bow, but start the stroke further back and away from the boat (see my post about stroke away from the boat).  If you start a stroke near the bow, you weight the bow because you are leaning forward.  And if you want to get the boat out of an off-side spin, you need to keep the bow up, not down.  So, you can either use a pry, which gets the weight off the bow, or you can use a cross-sweep stroke that is away from the boat, not up towards the bow.  

You may even have to finish off this stroke with a cross-stern draw to keep the boat on line.  To end the stroke, you normally slice the paddle towards the bow, rather than lifting it awkwardly towards the stern.  Slice it forward by turning your top thumb away from you and slicing the paddle forward and out of the water.

Practice this stroke on flatwater by doing zig-zags so that you are used to it when you need it on whitewater.  Get maximum turning effect out of it, instead of just doing a standard cross-stroke by keeping the paddle out to the side, rather than next to the boat. 

Comments

[Ron Lugbill]

Yes, as you age, you lose some of your flexibility and this can affect your shoulder when you do this stroke. The cross-sweep stroke requires a lot of torso mobility. More than most people have. But you can increase your torso mobility with range of motion exercises (stretching). One of the problems with paddling is that it isn't good to rotate the lower back very much. The hips and legs are immobile in the boat, so the rotation happens in the back. The rotation should be done using the upper back, not the lower back. Practice rotating in the boat and out of the boat to develop this flexibility. If you are having shoulder problems, they are usually rotator-cuff related. I would suggest rotator cuff exercises and hanging from a pull-up bar.
As far as technique goes, you may be compensating for a lack of flexibility and putting your shoulder in a difficult position. Or, some people don't really commit to the stroke and keep the torso facing forward, even though they do have the torso mobility to rotate.
By the way, on-side stern pries are good strokes too. Either one will normally work. Just make sure the pry is an efficient pry stroke that is under the boat and parallel with the boat, not out to the side of the boat and slowing you down.

[pblanc]

Years ago, Gordon Black of NOC tried to teach me the cross-forward sweep, and I have tried to use it with variable success ever since. I most often use it when switching from an off-side carve to an on-side carve, or to arrest the boat from initiating an off-side carving turn as you describe. But I am finding that at 62 yrs of age, the stroke is becoming hard on my grip hand shoulder and I am having to resort to an on-side stern pry more often. Perhaps this problem has resulted from poor technique. Do you have any advice on how to minimize stress on the high hand shoulder when executing this stroke?

[John Reeher]

You have described perfectly the spin-out scenario that I have never learned to correct. I have gotten around it simply by getting better at not making it happen. Thanks so much for this tip, now time to go hit the ponds and practice!