I often get asked about the J stroke that is used by some kayak and canoe paddlers to help prevent yawing.
I've heard some say they use it for SUP and it works.. I say it's crap for SUP and doesn't work at all.
Here's a small gif that shows just what the J stroke is and how it works on a SUP.
Anyone doing it? .. What do others think?
DJ
From the little experience I have:-
I tried it and it didn't really work. 
Slight tipping of the board on a rail(paddle side) works the best for me
I tried a similar sort of thing when I first started paddleing, without any real good effect . I found that I lost power when doing the bottom of the J
In my local area I'm either going upwind or upcurrent or down current, down wind or a combo of the above.
When down winding or downcurrenting yawing is not a probem, just change sides.
When upwinding or upcurrenting, I use a tacking method { big zig zags } paddleing on one side for Quite a long time then swapping.
This allows me to make headway into currents 2-3 nkts and wind upto about 13 knts.
cheers.
we've been working on pulling the blade though with a very slight angle towards the board. the paddle still strokes down the rail. one thing i've learnt from being with the good paddlers and from the oc1 is you need a really nice clean exit/ flick out . i have the paddle shaft in my fingers, not the palm of my lower hand. also i personally don't actually grip the handle, the handle nestles in my hand- if i have to grip it, i'm not paddling right. so the whole paddle is held very lightly (except when pulling the paddle though in the water of course, but my top is still not gripping the handle and the bottom fingers only are gripping on the pull ) instead of trying to choke the paddle to death. this all helps to 'flick' the paddle and gets your hip up and forward with the rotation twist ready for the top of the stroke.
so i guess it is a kind of altered j stroke with the slight angle pull and a decent flick action
cheers
.. and I still think j stands for joke when used on a sup board.. 
From my small amount of experience i think a J stroke works (But I don't understand your picture DJ, I thought it was parallel to the board, then sliding out at the back but staying "square" to the board) and a draw stroke works too (Wider at the front then parallel to board )
.. and I still think j stands for joke when used on a sup board..
I also have tried the J stroke without success. From listening to the great paddlers I think the idea is to get the blade out sooner rather than later.ie. at about level with your feet so that squashes the idea of a J
dave
Hey Guy's, interesting to hear what you all have to say about the J stroke. I had to give it a go for a couple of reasons 1. I know how effective it is in canoeing to keep forward movement and turn the bow in the same direction as the paddling side and 2. People have spoken about trying it on SUPs before and i thought it may allow for straighter paddle.
The major differences for why it works in a canoe and not on a SUP are that the paddle on a canoe has no elbow joint, hence why when you pull the blade of your canoe paddle along the gunwhale and then point the thumb down to the water whilst pushing away creating the J stroke the blade acts as a rudder at the end of a power stroke. To get the same effect out of a SUP paddle you would have to get the paddle shaft out to a 90deg angle so the blade would start acting the way it should. The other thing is that a canoe has no fin on the tail and as we all know fins are designed to make the board track straighter so this counter reacts the effects of the J stroke.
I'd say thats my 2 cents worth but its more like 5 bucks worth.
Hi Guys, read any good work on rudderless outrigger paddling and you'll find lots of good information (some conflicting) regarding paddling and steering. Generally, any part of a stroke that is not creating forward motion is wasted energy, so steering is usually done as part of a forward stroke. Search youtube for Tahitians paddling rudderless canoes to see it in action. Below are a few to whet your appetite. Watch and learn. Surfing is different however, as the wave is creating the forward momentum and the paddle then acts like a rudder or a stabiliser.
thx's for the vids. boy, those guys can paddle
. much easier on a vid to see than yaping away
cheers
ps oci paddling is insanely fun.stiil dw sup good too
Select to expand quoteim with you on this method its the easyist way to teach some one to be able to paddle in a stright line when learning with out them having to change sides every outher stroke and allso for cross winds.i just call it a upside down j as its the quickest way for most to understand it the behind j does work quite well but i dont tend to use it inless im doing a very lazey paddle with frends and just kinda coating along or turning a tight corner.
well, i think a j stroke starts out wide from the board and comes back to the board then away. the more important part is the the wide and in. a j stroke with the last bit pushed away is more of a corrective or steering/stroke. the straight slightly angled blade does the same thing- pulls the board straighter and is a bit more effective. instead of pushing away, it gets flicked away/out
a j stroke pushing away at the last part is going to do jack for general paddling as you said
cheers
The J stroke works well on the outrigger canoes and normal canoes as a steering stroke.
The idea is to push the rear end of the canoe away from you.There is also a slight delay before you notice the change in direction at the front.
I don't see it being of any use on a SUP, as we tend to pull the nose around to catch waves more quickly. Using more of a sweep stroke, would be more suitable for changing direction.
The draw stroke works well from leaning out and pulling water under the board at an angle of say 45 degrees from your hips to the nose of the board.
I suppose that is why we are called "sweepers".
Thats my 5 cents worth.
It looks the best way to damage my rails while trying so I'll give that one a miss...
The j stroke is used in kneeling class C1 as there is no option for switching sides, but in the sitting class the stoke is the same as a paddle board. The paddles also vary as the blade in a kneeling C1 is much larger with no bend in the paddle where as the sitting class is smaller with a similar bend to a SUP paddle.
In my limited experience - if your paddling stroke is comfortable and efficient then you are there !!! no more need to overthink it or look for ways to change it or worry that some others seem to paddle different to you - JUST DO IT.
NO.
That guy in the toothbrush ad with the one big arm was a C1 paddler. These guys can also paddle Dragon boats really well.
Put them in a boxing ring though and they're useless.
You guys ought to see video of CamRon j-stroking while kneeling on his SUP. You can mail order the vid from Canberra.
Any one that has sat no 1 or steered an OC6 uses that technique to help the craft around the corner/can or to correct the direction of the craft, been using a sub for 2=3 years never used it or seen a use for it. so yeh its crap.
I find the J-stroke works on shorter boards with a lot of rocker. I have Corran Addison's Rapidfire, a 10' x 36" river board with a ton of rocker. It requires a huge fin to keep somewhat straight. By using the J-stroke, i can keep it in line.
With the board, I start the J by the nose with the blade starting about 2' away from the nose, then bringing it down parallel to the rail, and out at my feet. Corran also uses a 'C' stroke in a similar manner, check his youtube vids for more info.
rc
