|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
Your garden variety pivot (figure 1) assumes that the canoe pivots around a point in the centre of the canoe; that is, the fictional ‘pivot point’ which is often assumed to be the paddler’s fictional head. Thus, if the paddler can pivot three times each way with her head inside a hula hoop, she is declared a pretty good paddler and given a small gold star.
As you’ll have guessed, it needn’t be that simple: the pivot point can be anywhere inside the canoe (if it’s outside, then you’ve got a circle); the pivot point can move; as it pivots, the whole canoe can displace in a line or along a curved path (for which, see the curves page). Click any figure to see an animation of that manoeuvre. |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
Figure 1. Pivot. The canoe pivots around a point in the centre of the canoe. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Figure 2. Bow Pinwheel. The canoe pivots around a point at the bow stem of the canoe. |  |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Figure 3. Stern Pinwheel. The canoe pivots around a point at the stern stem of the canoe. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Figure 4. Line Pivot. The canoe pivots around a point in the centre of the canoe and travels in a straight line at the same time. |  |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
Figure 5. Sliding Pivot 180. The canoe pivots around a fixed point but moves so that the point moves from the bow of the canoe, through the centre, to the stern of the canoe and back. The canoe pivots 180° while the point moves from one end to the other. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Figure 6. Sliding Pivot 90. Same as figure 5 but the canoe pivots 90° while the point moves from one end to the other. |  |
||||||||||||||||||
| Figure 7. Spiral. This is something between a pivot and a curve in that it begins and ends with a pivot and follows a spiral path between. |  |
||||||||||||||||||
