Sculling Practice

[CharlesCouturier]

Originally Posted by sclim

Oh, I get it. The "instructor" prescribes the correct plane for the forearm wipe angle. That means he must prescribe and adjust the angle for the return wipe in the opposite direction and the same thing for the forward direction again.

So it is necessarily a paired drill where one is knowledgable and skilled, teaching the other who is not. It is the "instructor" training the "student". So as a solo student I can't do it by myself, at least not by this paired method.

Hi Sclim, been a long time. Thanks for your kind words.

Yes, your description is about right, although it is very intuitive for the person performing the sculling gesture to dictate the kicking board holder what angle feels right. Obviously that angle is a compromise between the needs, which is to orientate the pulling surface backward, and your flexibility restriction.

Now one interesting thing is that other than teaching the angle that the hand and forearm should maintain, it teaches the angle the hand should use whilst sculling. I think I forgot to mention in my original description. But I would ask participants to elevate the side of their hand by about 2 inches, no more. So as your hand sweeps in, thumb is elevated by about 2 inches. As it sweeps out, little finger is elevated by 2 inches.

That can be done on any flat surface, I mean learning to sweep in and out, giving the hand the right angle. Sweeping out is generally not an issue with beginners. Problem is that often they sweep out, then recover in a non efficient way.