How To Flatwater Cartwheel

I realised that one tutorial which would probably help with some of my other recent posts like how to tricky woo, lunar orbit or double pump would be how to cartwheel. Continuing with the same layout as previous posts, a cartwheel is officially defined as “at least two consecutive ends in the same rotational direction, with both ends at a vertical angle between 45° and 100°,” and the move can be scored to both the left and right for 30 points. To be able to cartwheel you first need to be able to double pump (as shown here – https://patrickyak.blog/2020/05/08/how-to-double-pump/) but learning the move will also help with being able to lunar orbit or tricky woo (https://patrickyak.blog/2020/11/15/how-to-flatwater-lunar-orbit/ and https://patrickyak.blog/2021/03/31/how-to-flatwater-tricky-woo/). A cartwheel can be split into 3 parts:

1. The run up and double pump. Paddle forwards steadily to build up enough momentum to initiate the first end. If you’re cartwheeling to your right (the side on which I will be explaining in this tutorial) place a hard right paddle stroke starting at the tip of the boat and ending at your hip while simultaneously edging to the right at an angle of 30-40 degrees; this should lift the bow of your boat out of the water. Now that your core has wound up with the forwards stroke it’s time to do a hard backwards stroke and slam the bow back under the water. As soon as you feel the bow falling after the forwards stroke unwind your core and push down with the back of your paddle blade (while keeping your edge going). Stay in the neutral position during the run up and forwards stroke and then lean forwards slightly during the back stroke to push your feet down. When the bow meets the water keep your weight forwards and keep looking forwards.
2. The stern end. If anything, going from the first end to a second end is easier than halting it (like you would do with just a double pump) because you get to keep your momentum going. If you leave your paddle in the water it will halt your rotation so you want to feather your blade out of the water which you can do by twisting it slightly so that it slices out more easily. You don’t want to stand up, but you want to return to the neutral position for the second end, as leaning either forwards or backwards will make the rotation more difficult. Finally, just look over your right shoulder. Your boat follows where you’re looking, so if you’ve got momentum from the first end, your paddle is out of the water and you’re looking over your right shoulder (still edging too), the boat will fall onto it’s stern end which will slice under the water. Some mistakes that people make here are to edge too much which will make you fall over or to lean forwards which will pull the bow onto you during the second end.
3. Completing the cartwheel. You’ve done the double pump, the first end and you’re half-way through the second end… what now? Use your left paddle blade to pull the bow around so that it flattens off and stop edging once the bow touches down again. You may need to use your right paddle blade to keep yourself from tipping over (especially if you edged a bit too much). To continue with some more ends (when you feel up to it) just get your right paddle blade underneath so that you can push down on it, keep edging and refer to Step 1 again.

I hope you enjoyed this post and found it useful, if you’d like to be emailed next time I post then be sure to sign up below!