Great Jeremy Riggs video

[nalu-sup]

Paddling down the coast with Jeremy during a lesson is a study in unreality. We are paddling as hard as we can to try and catch bumps, and then paddling hard again at the end of each glide trying to make connections. Eyes darting left and right trying to see the best path, and giving it everything we've got. And then we look over at Jeremy. I swear that he is dragging his paddle to put the brakes on the whole time he is with us, trying to go slow enough to not leave us in the dust. If he never takes a stroke, he still passes us as we paddle as hard as we can, so he seems to always be on the brakes trying to get his board to slow down to our top speed. How does that happen?? At one point I rationalized that it was because he was on that magic board of his, or some other special rocket ship. And then he would swap onto a 30" wide heavy production F14 which everyone seems to agree is stable but slow, and he still has trouble slowing down enough to not leave us behind.
Stoneaxe commented on him adjusting his pack straps and taking a drink at full speed in the video. After each lesson, he always has tons of pics of his clients which he takes while gliding effortless alongside us as we paddle our hearts out. The man is truly the master of his art.
In contrast, we also did a run on that epic Thursday; iWindsurf recorded the steady wind at just over 30 the whole run, with lots of gust to 40. Fastest and biggest drops and glides of my short career. Unfortunately the highlight of the run was losing my paddle while getting washed around under water after a fall, catching it just I was coming to the surface, just as my F16 came down out of its spinning orbit through the air at the end of the leash to land exactly on my head. I knew my board was doing kite imitations every time I fell (its very impressive to see a 16 foot board spinning high through the air like a loose piece of paper blowing in the wind), so I always had my hands up over my head when I resurfaced. However, this time I was distracted by the fact that my paddle was getting away, so my hands were busy saving that problem. I think my neck vertebrae are about an inch shorter today, and my head is a little more screwy than usual. Despite all that, I still enjoy fantasies of someday having brief flashes of what it must be like to be Jeremy on a downwind run; can't wait for that day.

[Dusk Patrol]

What model of Quickblade is he using?

[burchas]

What model of Quickblade is he using?

V-Drive 91

[headmount]

He said it was 178 strokes in that mile.

[Dusk Patrol]

Thanks Burchas
That's a motivational video

[burchas]

He said it was 178 strokes in that mile.

Funny, I was just counting the strokes before you posted it. I had 181.
 
That's my main take away to get better at this, reduce the stroke count
for the same result. 

My average stroke count per mile on that downwind was around 500 or 4500
for the whole 9 mile.

My best result on that run was 1:28:37 and I had the lowest stroke count on that
run, about 4300.

[headmount]

Here's another clip from a later section... also averaging over 9mph.

https://vimeo.com/226608472?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749

[headmount]

There's a few really nice take offs in this one.

[nalu-sup]

Stroke count is a difficult thing for me to wrap my head around at this point; it seems to be a chicken and the egg kind of thing. My take is that Jeremy's stroke count is so low because he is gliding so much of the time, so he basically just strokes when he needs to in order to stay gliding. His bump reading and board handling skills (look at that foot on the rudder) are so high that he does not need to rely on the paddle as much. On the other hand, at our level, we are gliding a much lower percentage of the time, so we need to keep stroking during those non-glide periods for two reasons. One reason goes along with the saying to "keep the ball spinning", meaning that you need to keep your hull speed up so that you can catch the bumps when the time is right. The other reason is just for stability. If I allow the board to slow down much below the speed of the cross bumps, then they are hitting me from behind from varying angles and causing the dreaded tail waggle. The key to stability seems to be keeping the hull speed up, and if you are not gliding, that means keeping the stroke rate up.
So back to the chicken and the egg. Is Jeremy's stroke rate so low because he is so good at catching and linking glides that he no longer needs a higher stroke rate, or does lowering the stroke rate in and of itself make someone faster and catching more glides? My best guess at this point is that speed and low stroke rate are results of reading and working the board and bumps so well that there is less need for strokes. There is a video out there of Robert Stehlik from Blue Planet Surf doing a "no paddle" downwinder off of Oahu. In the video he is taking zero strokes, and he is consistently passing people who are paddling pretty hard; great board and bump skills. For an intermediate (a generous term) downwind paddler like myself, lowering the stroke rate seems to lessen glide catching opportunities, and makes the board more vulnerable to tail wagging as more cross swells catch up from behind. I agree that I need to time my stroking in spurts instead of steady rate, but at this point a high stroke rate seems necessary.
Any thoughts?

[digger71]

Nalu- no question that his low stroke count is a reflection of his skills and timing.  If I paddled the same amount I'd still be out there waiting to drift it.  However constant paddling can be detrimental as well.  Every "damn that guy is fast" story starts with them catching a nothing little bump, connecting to a good size one, and then flying out of sight behind a big roller.  Jeremy almost waits for those little ones to come to him rather than paddling - little bumps are moving slow.

[nalu-sup]

Thanks for the insights digger; makes total sense. I have been out there with Jeremy, and heard him calling out to relax and wait for it; meaning wait for one of those slower small bumps to catch up to us, and then go for it. I guess it is like when I am teaching people to get planing on a windsurfer when the wind is light or they are underpowered. If a wave passes under them, I tell them to quit trying to plane for the moment, and in fact slow down so that the next wave behind us can catch up to us sooner, and then we can pump and go.
Had my best day yet downwinding in Kihei today; details in another thread.

[Blue crab]

My lesson with Jeremy a couple of years ago was a turning point in my downwind progression. He had some really useful suggestions for footwork, but the major theme was to paddle less, and only in pursuit of a catchable bump.  It is such a simple concept but it took me a couple of years to master.

Because stroke parsimony is so central to my approach downwind, this thread got me curious in regards to my own paddle rate on our various DW runs.   I counted my strokes over  5 minute period during the raw footage of several runs which I have posted on this site in the past.  The results highlight the heterogeneity of the runs. As a reference, Jeremy is taking a stroke on average every 2.2 seconds in the first posted video (27 strokes / minute):

On a Viento run last July in 30-40 mph winds, my average stroke interval was 1.7 seconds (35 / minute) on a Viento run. Those on this site are likely familiar with this run which can be mixed up in sections but is generally a magic carpet ride  Getting into the swells does require more work due to the opposing river current, which may explain my higher paddle rate. Of note, I did not include the Wells express section of the run in this analysis.  My paddle rate in this section is likely to be far lower.

On my local run off of West Seattle on a day with 30-45 mph winds, my rate was the same as Jeremy's (interval 2.2 seconds, 27 / minute).  This run is in Puget Sound, a large estuary with ~30 miles of fetch and no ground swell.  Nevertheless, the conditions can have open ocean characteristics. It is usually a much more challenging run than the Viento due to lots of reverberation off the sea wall, particularly during high tide, as well as frequently shifting, gusty on shore winds.  However, there is no counter current which probably explains my lower overall paddle rate.

Finally, on Lake Washington in 35-50 mph winds, my stroke rate was really low (interval = 2.7 seconds or 22 strokes / minute).  This run requires huge wind to get going as there is 0-5 miles of fetch. However, it often has the easiest downwind conditions possible: pure corduroy head high swells with no seawall or current.  My analysis did confirm my suspicion that the lake run requires considerably less paddling than the other runs, at least on a bonkers day.

Overall, I was surprised that JR is paddling every 2.2 seconds.  Watching his videos, I would have guessed every 3-4 seconds.  There are occasional claims on this site about minute long glides without paddling.  If Jeremy has to stroke 27 times per minute than this type of event is probably pretty uncommon: minute long glides supported by occasional maintenance strokes seem more plausible.  Downwinding still does require a lot of paddling.

I also wonder if another key measure is the variance of the stroke interval.  I bet that the best in the sport have the highest variance due to occasional bursts of high interval poodles as well as a higher frequency of long 5-20 second glides with no strokes whatsoever.

[headmount]

minute long glides supported by occasional maintenance strokes seem more plausible.  Downwinding still does require a lot of paddling.

It sure does.  You'll realize after you hang around gonzo downwind paddlers long enough, that "I didn't even have to paddle"  is just an obvious over exaggeration of great conditions. 

Of course you paddle and even though the blade might be ripping through the water like silk because you're on or close to being on a glide, your cadence is very high. It doesn't feel like the other non gliding days when you're mixing cement, so I guess in that sense it's almost true.

I had a stand up run in phenomenal conditions on Thursday after a long hiatus on the surfski.  No falls, great time but the big deal was how tired my legs were when I stepped up onto the beach.  Legs aren't discussed much but they're a big deal.

At the end of the day I never have a problem falling asleep.  It's one of the reasons why I do it.  Even on the very best days, I know I've hammered.

[PonoBill]

When I watch people's downwind videos I look at their footwork and their stroke. I can't tell in a video how good their swell reading is. Jeremy doesn't stick to any particular form of footwork--sometimes he cross-steps, sometimes he shuffles--but his board is always still, no roll at all. Rolling a board steers it and puts on the brakes. I also notice that he never uses the rudder unless he's in a glide. He doesn't turn with the rudder to chase bumps, it looks like he uses typical board steering methods to get where he wants to be, and only uses the rudder to adjust the direction in the bumps. I've started doing that and it's made me faster. Rudder=brakes.

His stroke looks casual, but he buries the blade every time, even when he's moving fast and the stroke needs to be much faster. It6's a more powerful stroke than it looks.

[burchas]

He doesn't turn with the rudder to chase bumps, it looks like he uses typical board steering methods to get where he wants to be, and only uses the rudder to adjust the direction in the bumps.

What he told me is that he uses the rudder to follow the small bumps and gain momentum
until he sees a bigger bump coming up and places him self in position to be picked up by it.

It is actually very evident in the second video headmount posted.

When I did this excursive with him as he was telling me where to point the rudder,
it was all making sense and everything fell into place until I had to it on my own and
everything fell apart