Was able to see the pics this time. Starting in pic three it is obvious you were not paddling aggresively. Paddle shaft is at a 45% angle and your weight is back. You were making eddy turns low.
Paddling creeks in this unaggresive manner will get you exactly what you got.
We learn early in our creek paddling careers, paddle hard or stay home. Bad stuff happens when you float inactive. You can not execute turns after the drop or hole. You must set them up before hand, paddle aggresively into your move, and execute swiftly.
But a lot has to to with a good feeling for timing. When to place your last stroke before a drop, when to start accelerating to an eddy, ... .
That feeling for the timing you can learn on easier water. Transfering it to faster water is a matter of a couple minutes to get used to the speed of the water.
One more thing to try. Keep your forward strokes short - 'short stroke it'. Lean forward and bring the stroke no further back than your knees. This is the most effective part of the stroke, going further back is wasting time and gives you the opportunity to 'trip over the paddle'. This is real handy on creeks where you are throwing strokes more frequently.
OK, Fritz, here's my two cents, for what it's worth. I don't know about paddling canoes but I can confirm the observations of others (especially Jim)- yup, it looked to me like you were "hanging out" a bit much- hesitant instead of aggressive at the top of a drop, not forward enough in the boat, reacting instead of initiating, moving too slow to have forward momentum when you hit the squirrelly (sp?) stuff. I have better control when I'm paddling faster than the current and paddling from the front of the boat instead of the back. Does that translate to canoes? Attitude is important too- I tend to get more of whatever I am most focused on. I also wonder about how much flotation you lost when you chopped the boat- is 4 inches above the waterline really enough to stay dry in a creek?
