Power, Exit, & Return

Power

Power propels the boat forward. Our goal is to maximize the power we can harness and have everyone lock in and pull through together.

After you begin your pulling back through the water your blade should remain perpendicular as long as possible. There should be strong resistance against the blade for the whole stroke in the water. If you pull back too far and either bend your lower arm or push your upper arm down too low you will lose the resistance and instead slow the boat down. The power phase starts well ahead of your body and ends at your hip - not behind you.

Points to consider for effective power:
• Leg drive with outside leg. This engages the leg, hip, abs and back.
• Sit up and maximizing your leg, abs, and back muscle groups.
• Outside shoulder should come back slightly behind inside shoulder, with back upright.
• Bottom arm remains substantially straight.
• Top hand remains parallel to water surface, comes back toward outside shoulder, not down toward gunwale nor keeping it forward as a pivot.

Exit

Your exit needs to be swift without a lot of displacement of water. Keep power throughout the exit.

Remember that the exit is quick out of the water but slow through the air during recovery. This can be challenging to master but important for sustaining energy over long distances or short sprints.

• Exit at hip. Arms should be straight at exit. Slightly bent after exit.
• Turn top hand thereby feathering the blade.
• Keep bottom arm reasonably straight. If arm is bent it will be “choo-choo” action, which takes much more energy, reduces effect toward end of power phase, and the blade will be too high above the water in the return phase.

Return
This is moving from exit toward setup phase. This is as important as the power phase as this is the period in the stroke where you are setting your body up for another burst of energy.

• Relax
• Keep blade close to water.
• Blade in feather position, especially in early stage.
• Relax arms, hands, back and shoulders.
• Keep bottom arm reasonably straight.
• Start moving into rotation and get ready for set up.