Hey,

I've just gooten into the whole freestyle thing in the last 3 or 4mths and have a crazy 88 6.2 I'm 5ft 8 and 60kg.

For some reason no matter how much I try I can never get my bow under for a cart wheel or a bow stall (in the flat) I can stern stall with no worries and double pump onto the stern with ease but for the life of me i can never get the bow under. Could this be a problem with my boat being a bit big for me or are there some simple mistakes I'm likely making. IK it's probably just a matter of needing more time and practice but it's getting quite frustrating being able to loop and get 2 - 4 ends in a hole but as soon as I'm on the flat I just can't get bow under. I've tried doing the old paddle straight then push bow under and keep paddling till vertical but I can just never quite get there.

Any help is appreciated.

As far as the double pump is going... You need to keep your body moving through the cartwheel... Keep looking through the turn...aka if you are pumping on the left, look over your left shoulder ( ireally dont constistantly get my doublepump.

Plowing ender... That i can do.

Paddle forward as fast as you can, once you get a wake behind you lean forward and keep paddling...your goal is to go right oer on your head.

Start by loadin gyour bow with water, then gradually remove the water as you get it.... incramental reductio of the water is what taught me

Good luck and keep us informed of how you do

Must admit hadn't tried the whole fill bow with water thing yet. Will give it a try tomorrow and see how it goes.
Thanks Laddie

I'm trying this too. I feel I'm really close. Scull on your side and rock your bow up and down. Lets you feel how much edge you need - I find that helps. I think it helps if you are over the weight range or near the top. I'm quite low in mine and finding it quite hard.

hey there, i remember learning this move and it was an ass.
firstly don't fill the boat with water. doing this does not teach you the motions. the boat becomes sluggish, under reactive and even has different balancing points. most of learning and completing a new move is in the head!! im writting this assuming that you are learning the pump on your right side. how ever if you practice on both sides your learning and your progression will take a huge jump for the better.

start by visualizing you doing the pump, then following through until you are vertical letting your boat come all the way around. think about only doing one end, by getting the one right the spin momentum will allow you to get the second, third, fourth until your sick!

Think about this. Any move is about controlling and manipulating your spin momentum. E.G. by lifting the bow, more downward force (change of direction and spin momentum) is available to you.

Doing the move;
First develop forward speed. This will help develop spin momentum in the next stage. Speed will create a wake behind you, when you start the pump the wake will catch you up and help you out pushing your boat vert.

Now with forward speed edge your boat to approx. 30 deg and place your forward sweep stroke. TIP. Imagine your paddling on a train track, your boat is running on one side and the path of your sweep is going to be on the other. The stroke needs to be para to the boat! It's true that you can learn by sweeping away from the boat thus giving you more support however that's negative thinking. start like this and you will always have to support yourself through the move. remember that by learning something badly you ingrain bad habit, habits are not impossible to remove but they do hinder you learning! Ever heard '' you can't teach an old dog new tricks''?

As you sweep on the blade think about lifting up with you legs. Remember your trying to lift as high as you can (lifting the hammer so you can hit down on the nail) TIP. Try not to look at the paddle as this make you look the wrong way and kill you momentum. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE LOOKING AT YOU NEXT TARGET. In this case you are looking fairly forward watching your bow rise.

Once your bow is up do not hesitate to throw it back down again! Turn that forward sweep into a reverse sweep. Drop the edge of your boat to around 60 deg , throw your weight forward and spot your target (where the bow enters the water). Do not look over your right shoulder because you're then looking so far ahead of the turn that your body can not go through its natural range on movement. You're also not spotting your target again. How do you know if your boat entered the water a right angle if you didn't see it!? However not always the case, as you get more in tune with your bodies movement you will develop a better kinaesthetic awareness of your boats movements and be able to figure out the effects that you coarse with your body actions. Really think about pushing down hard with your legs. Remember the train tracks!!!!
TIP. Try and get the blade out of the water sharpish after the double pump. leaving the blade in the water will just slow you down and kill all that lovely spin momentum that you have worked so hard to develop! Sometimes this is the reason why people get half way up and then just fall back the way they came. They simply left the blade in too long!

Now as your boat goes vert don't sh*t a brick! Keep the same edge of the boat and let the boat continue its course. (really helps before this point if you took the blade out of the water like i said!) To start with aim for one end, let your boat come out of the end and see if you can contINue the spin so that you come down from the first end gently, land on you edged hull and spin to a stop. This teaches you to keep you spin momentum going.

if you need help with the next end give me a shout.
Hope this helps.

Lee John McClean.
BCU kayak coach