Page 2.7

THE SLIDE OUT

The rock handle is still at the 12:00 o'clock position.

Both hands gripping the rock. Shoulders square and head up.

You are sliding out precisely on the brush line of sight.

Note slider foot is to one side of rock and NOT at the center.

Note the distance from the slider foot and knee slider. WIDE is better.

RELEASING THE ROCK --REMOVING THE LEFT HAND

Fig 2.13

Between 3-6 feet short of the hog line you remove the left hand.

The turn and release is initiated 3 feet short of the hogline.

It is important to release early because if your slide is too fast you can prolong the slide which is in the slowing mode (the curler slows immediately after the drop) thereby slowing the rock without the arm "pullback."

You can put on your brake (press down on trailing toe) to slow the delivery.

If you are light (slide is too slow) you must avoid arm boost because you will surely throw the rock out/in.

You can use "finger boost" at release to gain the 3-4 feet needed to make the shot. "Arm boost" is too hard to control and if you watch the pros on TV, you will note that 9 of 10 arm boost shots miss the brush or are heavy!

Fig. 2.13 RELEASING THE ROCK-- RIGHT HAND COMPLETION

The final release. Note both hands are still parallel so there is no chance of you dropping a shoulder or twisting the body.

Everything done up until now was concerned with keeping the body square with the line of delivery.

Note rock happens to be on the centerline and the foot slider is to one side. The knee slider is doing its job of carrying 40% of the body's weight and PROVIDING WIDE TRACK STABILITY.

This is the point that you apply the turn. Beginners should not worry about the turn until lesson/practice session 20. Fig. 2.14 As a novice, you want to gain confidence by putting rocks in the house. You do not want to worry about rock sideways movement called "curl."

The two handed delivery assures square and level shoulders and the dominant L-mode directed right hand and foot is "help" controlled on the line of sight by the R-mode left hand. Two hands/arms absorb the forward thrust force against the rock handle. You minimize the one handed tendency to push the rock off the line of sight commonly called "turning in and turning out." A 1/4" turn in/out in 1 foot of release means you missed the brush by 24". Putting the "turn in/out" another way, a slide out 1 degree off the brush line translates to a 12" brush miss. Is the slide out and release on the brush target line IMPORTANT?