The Lock In - How to kayak boily whitewater and squirrelly rapids
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- Опубліковано 12 кві 2021
- I know we're all taught to "keep loose hips" but what does that even mean really? In truth, kayaking is full body engagement and the idea of "loose hips" is really just learning to separate your upper and lower body movement... The problem is, people have a misconception that "loose hips" means floppy hips. As you advance in the sport, you find out it's really about edge control and core engagement and harnessing and managing power and momentum. This technique is not the end of the road for learning edge control and good stroke technique, but it sure is the beginning of the road to learning a finer control of your kayak. Many kayakers are scared of eddies, scared of long stretches of boily and swirling folds, but this technique can help you learn to float over them like a magic carpet ride.
This is a simple and easy-to-learn technique for effortlessly gliding over large boils, funny water, boil lines, and squirrelly rapids without edging deep, flipping, getting turned around, or being sent off line.
I gave this a try yesterday on my local run. I noticed a big increase in predictability and speed in the squirrely water. Keep the goods coming man!
Good instructional video makes a lot of sense. The instruction through the rapid was different and helpful.
Such a simple tutorial teaching such an epic set of skills!
I have to say...this is the most intriguing whitewater video I've watched in a while.
glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
The lock in is a massive help for packrafting also. 🎉🎉🎉 Thank you!
good to know… Thanks for watching! 🤙🏻
Probably one of the best explain, ever. I was used paddling pushing against foot rest only. And indeed I wasn’t in balance.
Thank you for your videos, they are amazingly useful!
My friend told me to lift up with my knees but I can't wait to try technique now that I have a full explanation. Great presentation and you are really able to keep the viewer's attention.
I experienced this yesterday coming out of a dam breach on my local run. I didn’t know what caused the glide, but now I know. Great content! Please please please keep posting!
This is an awesome video. Thanks for making this!
Well done. Excellent instruction.
The Green Highway, Rapid #7, Zambezi River (as in your video) and everywhere on that mighty river in high water.
I've been doing this for decades without thinking about it or giving it a name. Just maintaining a more forward than normal position with my torso automatically locks my knees and feet in, keeps the bow tracking and reduces the likelihood of unwanted tail squirting.
Excellent teaching.
Can’t wait to try this in other areas of my lines, I’m sure it will change my game. Thanks😎
it’s a game changer for sure!
This is really good to know man! I just a slicey boat and was freaking out on the boily stuff and the bigger eddies and eddy lines. Gonna give this a try when i'm back on the water!
Man, this will be a game changer! Keep your speed and lock it in... it's like a magic carpet ride!
the lines are as smooth as the jazz
really nice to have some ww videos without hip hop or skrillex type soundtrack
Thanks for the channel. Good stuff!
Me again! This was a game changer. Thanks! Great videos and explanations/demos. Please keep posting. Could you post a video on how to stay upright through giant wave trains?....giant for me anyway. If you know Norman's on the Ottawa river, that's what I'm referring to. If I try to punch through the rapid dead center the waves are so steep, I go vertical and then past vertical....then onto my head! Lol. I roll up fine...usually, but what is the secret to cresting big waves....upright? I see others do it. I could try to go off to the side, maybe catch an eddy, but would love to figure out how to run them head on. Cheers.
you are totally right, once you discover it and you apply it, you wonder why no one told you before… thanks a bunch, mate!
cheers and thanks for watching! 🤙🏻
I tried it yesterday, it works!!
Such a sick way of explaining it and I’ve never heard anyone talk about it!
Thanks! So crazy right?! How do we not talk about it?
Exceptional tip...please do more videos on how to use your feet and lower body. Until your video all I ever did was try and relax my lower half and keep it loose...something mentioned by EJ in his videos...I am guessing now that I took his advice for beginners and applied it to steep creeks. It would be nice to know what foot should be pushing when turning right or left? When I don’t want to be locking it in what should I do with my feet?
This is a great tip!!
I followed your instructions and took it on the water. Dude. It just clicked. I cannot thank you enough.
Only 2 years late 😂… but thanks for watching! 🤙🏻
Really appreciate the description because the concept of loose hips was what first crossed my mind and created a bit of confusion. I wish could speak a bit about outfitting. When you press forward with your feet, your knees obviously lower a bit...so how snug should you be in your kayak to master the "lock-in" without cramping?
Yeah, cool video. Like, this is thing I have figured out by myself some time ago. But I would be so happy if I saw this video like 2 years ago.
I've been doing this for many years, I just never gave it a name.
Loved how you explained and visualized all of this. It's the first time I've heard it and I've been WW kayaking for 7 years. Also, something that often doesn't get taught to beginners is to separate your hip from your body and also to pretend like you have a string coming out of the top of your head pulling upward (to keep your balance correct while leaning most of the time).
Love the video!! I had kind of figured this out but would press my knees out instead of up. I'm going to try that out today. Thank you!
Update: tried it out today and it worked great! Now to practice on bigger boily water... 😁
Thank you. Great video, all your tutorials are well laid out and extremely helpful even for an open boater beater such as myself. If you are still taking requests for new videos, I would like to see if you have any hints/tips on differences in making moves in whitewater in a bigger vs. small boat paddling the same rapid (I would equal my open boat creeker with a larger kayak). SYOTR, Ross.
that’s a good one! I’m working on a whole paddle series where I just talk you guys through what I’m doing with different boats while showing the footage, on different rapids, boat scouting, etc… I’ll work that in
nice , tanks for the video
Great videos!! Could you do one on edging and edge turns for beginners please.
this is actually correct
Excellent video. Can't wait to try this as soon as I can get on some boily water (which I normally avoid). Is it somewhat akin to boofing in that it keeps the bow up and solidly moving forward?
As a beginner I would love to see a video explaining basic strokes and edging to maneuver in the river.
Check out Eric Jackson - he has all the strokes and more. ua-cam.com/video/A86_7oPqsSg/v-deo.html
Can you make a long boat stern squirt video
head up to ASCI at deep creek lake md for some good related practice like in the video
totally feel like were sharing a doobie as he explains , love it :)
Nice! Can you describe the feet push part of the lock in? Is it a push with the balls of the feet to raise the knees and lock in, or more of a driving your heels down push to pull you forward a little and lock in the knees? I am just not sure I have the correct muscle engagement feel.
@Boyd Ruppelt thanks for the explanation. I'm a little confused on this point. It seems unnatural for me to push with my feet and pull with my knees at the same time. Usually when I push forward with my feet (on the balls of my feet) the bow goes forward and/or down and now I'm leaning back or my bow is pointing slightly downward. I'll experiment it with this week and see if I can't feel it. I know a lot of things in whitewater kayaking feel unnatural at first. I've had a lot of success pulling with my knees (doing a crunch) in squirrely water to regain my balance, but I always considered pulling knees/pushing feet mutually exclusive (i.e. opposing forces). It sounds like one of those things once I feel it, I'll now, but I don't know that I've felt it yet.
Hi, great videos, thank you. I find if I push on my feet, my knees unlock, & if I pull up on my knees to lock in my core, then I’m not pushing on my feet. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for the help
I have that question, too.
My biggest issue is pulling out of a tiny eddy with a really wide boily seam. I'm in a small boat and can never get enough speed to punch through and always get dumped. I think i need to keep bow up and get fully into current before I try and turn downstream
Yeah that’s what it sounds like. Taking a few strokes in the eddy and locking it in on the way out will likely help you hold that edge and keep your bow up. Thanks for watching! 🤙🏻
do you ever use the lock in on the approach to boofs or for waterfalls or just to hit your line to catch a hard eddy with lots of push to knock you off line? Just curious, since I was trying to use it to hold be line to hit some boofs and it worked well.
All the time… Anywhere there’s boily water that I need to move through and hold a line, I’ll use the Lock-in… anytime time you’re being pushed offline and need an “all-in” to hold it, the lock-in works as well.
I'm a convert!
I have a question, do you only need to lock-in when crossing the eddy line into the green highway, or maintain the lock-in the whole time im on the green highway?
It really depends. If the eddy is strong enough to make you lose a lot of speed before the next boily section, you’ll want to stay locked in and paddle enough to keep your speed up. If the eddy is relatively weak and you can build any speed you lose back up before the next section, you can relax a bit. You really just have to feel it out. It’s good to remember though, that while unsustainable, the lock in is really closer to how we should paddle all the time so when in doubt, lock it in.
When you say "lift with your knees," are you pushing straight up against the thigh braces, or squeezing in on them?
lift more than squeeze. You want to be locked in front to back and pushing forward. You’ll still be loose side to side and have a surprising amount of hip/edge control.
Hey! Lock in knees and hips using feet to create pressure, should you allow some movement back to front as well as side to side. I sometimes feel like locking in hard and then allowing the boat to be as flexible below me as possible is what makes the floaty feeling for me
for the lock-in to work, you also lift with your knees and engage your core to prevent back to front movement, the only range you keep open is side to side. If you think you’re getting it now, try it all the way and your mind will be blown. 🤙🏻
For those 'loose hips' consider a visualisation of changing buttock whilst sitting on a bar stool - the feet can be firmly planted, but we can shift from buttock to buttock with easy hip angulation. A good visualisation for beginners, and oldies with allegedly 'bad backs'.
the main thing with this technique is to be completely "locked in" front to back, so not only pushing with both feet but also lifting your knees and engaging your core. You shouldn't be able to move front to back without your boat moving too. As you describe though, your hips are still loose, but under complete control, side to side. That way you can either keep your speed up flat or set a carving angle where you want to go. 🤙thanks for watching!
@@CleanLineKayaking very cool. Is there also an element of engaging your sit bones?
How does the “lock-in” translate into boofing? I was taught that pushing with my feet while boofing is bad form. Would you mind taking time to share your thoughts?
Use a standard, vertical forward stroke technique for your boof. The timing is the most important part of that stroke, along with the crunch. You can use the lock-in technique when you land to glide over the mess you’re landing in. It can help you transition any speed you have from the boof into controllable forward momentum as well. Make sense?
Hello! How do you lift your knees and push with your feet at the same time? That's does not seem to work for me (as well as others, reading comments...). IF you can't do both at the same time, would you recommend one over the other? THANKS!!! 🙃
You can definitely do both at the same time, but if you can’t, you may need to get more tightly fit into your boat… think of it as pushing with your feet and completely tensing your body front to back preventing any front to back bending. You’ll still be able to use your hips side to side independently too which may seem unexpected. 🤙🏻
@@CleanLineKayaking THANK YOU!!!
I have read elsewhere that you relax and keep the lower half loose so, when the boat gets tilted, your body doesn't tilt and get outside the center of gravity. Doesn't this run contrary to the lock-in?
It does on the surface... funny enough if you lock in front to back, you’re actually still loose side to side but with way more control. In true boily whitewater, the looseness you’re describing doesn’t work. Part of it is likely the gradual change in techniques and designs over the years too. With the lock in, you’ll glide over and have great control with your edges in the boiliest of whitewater. With just loose hips, as the old convention would teach, you have less control and you’ll sink into the boils. Try it out... You’ll find a difference right away and will never go back.
I’ll add because I thought a moment longer... the convention of “loose hips” is in place to get learning individuals to separate their upper and lower body motion. If you’re like a stiff buoy, then obviously you won’t be stable. Once you advance and begin to develop edge control, it’s time to take off the training wheels and learn to use that separation intentionally. That’s the conflict. It’s an often misused convention. When you get into more advanced kayaking, using your core and your edges more = control. You’ll feel it when you try it out. It’s not for waves, hole punching, etc... it’s for strong eddy lines, boils, and “funny water” sections when you want to go straight. I hope this helps clear it up for you.
@@CleanLineKayaking I had kind of figured this technique out but I'm curious, I try to do that for waves and holes too, what's the technique we are supposed to use for those?
@@heatherhuth1 For waves, a good forward stroke (video is up) placed just on the backside of the waves is ideal (where the fastest water is). For holes you can effectively lock in to keep your bow up, but you really have three options essentially: over, under, and directly through (in that order of preference). That video is on the way! If you check out the lean boof video and forward stroke video, that combo with the lock-in will help you handle almost anything. Speed and a proper stroke, along with solid core engagement is key. I hope this helps in the mean time! I'm working on a stellar hole punching video.
@@CleanLineKayaking I wasn't very clear, I was wondering about what to do for lower body tension for waves and holes. And I'm looking forward to the hole punching video! Any chance you can also do an in depth video about holes? Or several videos? I feel like the videos I've seen haven't really covered much except how to punch through or side surf out. Thanks!