(Or The Mystical Art of Snubbing)

Plenty of coaches go on about Poling, well here I am going to introduce its counterpart Snubbing - the things that make it easier and the common mistakes made. But like all things, the only way to get the hang of it is to read this, think about it, then get on the wet stuff and give it a go. So with this in mind, lets get on with it!

Whereas Poling propels the canoe upstream, Snubbing uses a pole to travel downstream. By keeping the speed of the canoe slower than the flow, and using deft pole movements, you can put the canoe anywhere on the rapid.  The easiest way to visualise the way you descend a rapid while snubbing is to imagine you are using reverse paddling and reverse ferries all the way down a rapid to keep it slow and in control.

The stance:

• Your feet should be as wide as you can get them (at least shoulder width), knees bent, back straight.

• Balance is important - what you are trying to do is to keep your weight low, centrally over your feet, without leaning forward onto the pole (this way, if the pole slips or gets lodged you are not going to be pushed over)

• You need to be forwards of centre, towards the downstream end of the canoe - far enough forward to keep the upstream end out of the flow, which improves control and stability, but not so far that the canoe is wobbly

• Your hands should be towards the end of the pole, to keep the end that is in the water as far away as possible from the canoe to reduce the chance of “tripping” the canoe over it.

Keeping it slow and in control:

The most common mistake made when first learning to Snub is trying to stop the canoe with each pole movement. This is tiring, awkward and above all likely to lead to you using too much downriver body lean - and then you are going to get wet. What you are trying to do is to gently bounce the pole off the bottom of the river, using the small bumps and jolts to control the speed of the canoe. This is easiest to practise on a shingle bedded river, because you can let the pole slide through the river bed, just slowing the canoe down. Rocky river beds will make it a little more tricky to get the hang of it at first!

Steering:

Steering the canoe is a combination of prior planning before entering the rapid, and angle control.  When looking at a rapid with the aim of snubbing down it, you are trying to pick the easiest route - the route where the flow will guide you to where you want to go, and all you have to do is to keep it slow and in control.  If this is not possible, then you are going to need to use eddies to enable you to  "play" the rapid as you would do when paddling.  Think about where you would slow the boat's speed, set the angle, then cross the eddyline. You do this when snubbing.  Keep the canoe's speed under control as you come up to an eddy, bring the canoe to a stop (using the pole against the bottom to hold the canoe), then using your hips rotate the canoe around until the upstream end is facing the eddy, and push the canoe into the eddy.   Then repeat for each eddy down the flow.  Another way of steering is to use the pole as a paddle and “paddle” the canoe into the parts of the rapid you want to get to, or even pole the canoe downriver to get yourself into the correct place.  When snubbing, you tend to use the pole to do turns as you would when executing a bow cut, or cross bow cut.  Because you are moving slowly you can use the pole more aggressively on the turns that you would do when poling upriver.

Another trick that is used a lot when poling, is to push the canoe sideways, from one jet to another, this is combined with a hip twist to counter the turn induced by the change in water flow.

Common Mistakes (how to get wet quickly):

• Not being far enough towards the downstream end of the canoe, or not
  transferring enough kit to weight the downstream end. If the upstream end is in the flow, the canoe will try to spin round or “trip” over jets and eddylines

• Holding the pole too close to the centre, which means either you have to lean further downstream to get the pole into a good working angle, or you have the pole too close to the canoe, so it becomes harder to do quick effective turns

• Not being committed enough - being hesitant or not putting enough effort in when required means the canoe bounces around wherever it wants to, which of course gets you wet!

• Not thinking about the rapid, and planning your route beforehand

• Allowing the pole to cross diagonally across your body (see right) - this makes you unstable and if the pole gets caught can knock you out of the canoe

Golden Rules:

• Use the water, don’t fight it

• Keep your pole as far out downriver as possible.

• Keep the speed as slow as possible

• Use eddys and eddylines to negotiate the rapid

• Try it lots and often!

Richard Witheridge
Chief Instructor
ProAdventure Ltd

Copyright 2007

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