This series of pictures are captures from a video taken at Lake Anna during the race training days and show Brian (grey shirt), Holm (blue shirt) and me (white shirt) at similar points in a forward paddling stroke. The set of three above show us all just at the start of getting the left blade in the water. I look OK compared to Holm, but I think he has actual torso rotation to the right, so his paddle angle is higher and the blade is going in closer to the boat. I think I'm also leaning a bit too far forward and not sitting upgright enough, plus my shoulder looks higher with my forearm less vertical than Holm's. Brian looks like he has rotated around but compared to Holm, his hand is way higher - above his head. I think Brian is just a split-second earlier in the stroke, as his paddle is less in the water than Holms, so that explains most of the difference.
The pictures below show the end of that stroke, with the three paddlers just at the point where we are taking our paddles out of the water on the left. Here the differences are much more noticeable - Holm and Brian have rotated so much to the left that their right paddle blades are completely clear of the left side of the boats and the paddle shafts are almost parallel to their boats. My right paddle blade is still over the center of my boat - you can see I only have shoulder rotation (not torso) and no way to get the paddle entirely to the left of the kayak. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that I'm still in "sea kayaker" position with my thighs locked in under the thigh braces (vs. in knees up position) but so was Brian - his knee injury meant he wasn't really able to push with his feet to get better rotation either. I just have to focus on using abs/obliques to twist and not just shoulder/lats. More to work on - its always something.
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