BOP - Hawaiian vs Tahitian stroke

[Argosi]

Watched the live webcast of the Elite race today. Interesting to see that most of the racers were using the Hawaiian stroke.

Danny Ching has a really interesting stroke in the flatter sections. He starts with a far forward catch but then has a long powerful stroke all the way to his feet and even past his feet. It's like a Hawaiian stroke with a forward catch. He has a huge bend as his waist and pulls powerfully with his whole body, using his core a lot. Seems like a lot of other top California racers have a similar stroke. Very different from the approach that Tahitian proponents like Dave Kalama teaches.

Didn't see many using the Tahitian stroke at the Elite race.

Maybe the Hawaiian stroke works better in flatter conditions while Tahitian is better suited to catching swell or waves.

I wonder if Danny changes his technique a lot when paddling in open ocean conditions with a lot of swell or waves like Hawaii downwinders.

[PonoBill]

I think if you have enough power the hawaiian stroke is best. As Dave told me, 70 percent of the power is in the catch, the rest of the 100 takes a lot of energy. So tahitian is more efficient, but if you don't need the efficiency then you can get the full 100. Of the first five finishers I'd say NONE were doing anything like a tahitian stroke, but none of them needed to. they had power in reserve.

[noa]

Having said that, does someone like Dave not have power in reserve ? I think this again crearly illustrates that there is always more than one viable path.

[CMC]

The best words I ever heard were to assume one style of stroke is to assume static water conditions.

You will find most good paddlers will use an armory of styles and stroke methods depending upon what is happening around them.

[1paddle2paddle]

Efficiency is going to matter more the longer the race is.  You can muscle the short race but eventually a stroke with inefficiencies is going to take its toll.

[SEA]

Conditions and type of board used dictates what type of stroke is best. It seems like flat water and displacement hulls allows for a bigger stroke meaning full reach and going past the feet. You won't see a long distance race won here in hawaii with a stroke like that or boards like that used in todays race. In rough down wind conditions you'll see the top paddlers adapt in two ways different stoke and different board type. So it seems to be apples and oranges when you talk about a race in super flat conditions VS 20 mph winds with 3 to 4 foot swells. you will see different techniques and equipment. Just common sense IMHO.

[surfcowboy]

I was watching the relay at BOP today and saw a ton of styles, often head to head. I noticed that Slater Trout or Conner Baxter, (sorry couldn't keep the lanky white kids straight out there) was scratching Tahitian and moving really quickly.

So many styles, in fact one of the fastest women paddlers was up against him as they left the beach on a lap and caught him and passed a bit by holding the paddle with her top hand about 6 inches below the end of the paddle, seemed to let her up the cadence and travel.

We can argue about our favorite guy's stroke, but from what I've seen, it's so individual, that the stroke should match your body. There may be good "ideas" but in practice, body mechanics are a huge part.

One thing I will say, if you can't keep a crazy cadence, you will not win, from what I saw, fast meant lots of strokes, no matter what style.

But Danny Ching is amazing to watch in person, seriously.