Using upstream strokes on the back of stoppers

Written by Ewan Vernon (in quotes and italics) and Dan Goddard

Why this topic?

“Using the upstream blade on the back of stoppers is something that I have been a focusing on in this years winter training. I worked on it to speed up stopper crosses and make the boat run better.”

“It is very tempting to be safe and use the downstream blade for support, however balancing edges and using upstream blades is quicker.”

“My coach (Louise Ramsdale) introduced it as a theme to be worked on this winter and when done right we found improvements in boat speed because I was able to drive the boat across the river rather than just support on the downstream side.”

Here is a little video showing some examples.

(Ewan 1st dude in the video ;) )

Why is it quicker to use the upstream blade rather than the downstream blade?

We know it increases boat speed because we are actually driving the boat forward but why can we not just drive on the downstream blade?


To understand this and understand why driving on the upstream blade is so useful lets first look at the outline of a stopper

As we can see in the images above the water off the curl is moving into the stopper. The water on the back of the stopper is moving upstream (see previous stopper articles to reinforce this)

“I think we use the upstream blade because it stops the bow rotating upstream so that the boat tracks well on the back of the stopper into the up or next gate? and I think in some cases if you drove on the downstream side you would overrotate?”

Yep as we come off the curl to cross the stopper, effectively the bows are being sucked up and into the pit of the stopper. The tail however is still in the moving water, so the boat effectively swings. We need the upstream blade to stop the boat swinging and just rotating to point upstream and into the stopper.

“definitely felt that a few times, the boat rotating up and not moving across, so the upstream blade counters the pull upstream, gives the boat movement downstream so when countered by the stopper we travel in the desired direction”

Hit the nail on the head - stops swing and increases drive across. The upstream blade counters the pull of the stopper and creates drive across

So without that upstream drive the boat can swing up

So how you working on it?


“watching lots of other people do it, both live during the session, anytime I am on the bank, using youtube to watch others, and any video I have collected”

Ah so the Lee Valley videos I gave you have been helpfull hey.

“Yep :)”

Thats good, what other factors play a part?

“Ummmm having the correct angle, boat movement across the river and an upstream blade ready - When it all goes right gives such a nice smooth stopper move.”

I know that feeling, the boat has so much pace, and just is sitting ontop of the water in the ontop window and feels like its flying across the river.

“It is quite a technical move then hey - requires practise to get right :P”

Haha, totally, having the confidence to be on the upstream blade and not rely on the downstream blade for support.

Going back to what you were saying about the upstream blades stopping the bow rotating upstream, if we are on the upstream blade but have too much pull into the stopper with the bows, this can be useful sometimes, the upstream blade stops the boat swinging on the spot and turns it into more of an S on the stopper. We can use the pull of the stopper along with upstream blade to drive down into the stopper, and with this added speed we can fly out the other end.

“I guess this is all very similar to the upstream edge article and the crosses at LV article on your blog”

Yep, pretty much, all the same concepts apply, so as we upstream blade drive, if we are nicely in the ontop window, we can edge a little upstream.

“right im going back to reread them :P”


Well done Ewan, some awesome stuff there.