The Fighting Barracuda: Built for Attack

The Barracuda is a natural hunter. They are one of the most vicious fish in the ocean. Their teeth are extremely sharp and have no problems lacerating a human limb. Having a diet consisting of almost any fish, they easily occupy the top of the food chain.

What makes the barracuda so dangerous is its deceptive speed. Even though it's a big fish (the record for a barracuda caught hook and line is 1.7 meters (5.5 feet), it relies on the element of surprise and short bursts of speed to overtake its prey.

Their deceptive speed comes from their slender, streamlined body that allows them to efficiently cut through the water. Their thin body fools the depth perception/sensation of its prey and overtakes them before they can realize it.

The barracuda is a lot like how we approach a fight from a distance. Like them, as we enter and engage an opponent, we should try to look smaller than we really are and move in the most simple, direct and efficient way possible. Since objects farther away appear smaller, we can learn to conceal our distance from our opponent by appearing thinner and staying lower to the ground as we approach. Hiding the trajectory of our movements within the thin, vertical/central plane between us and our opponent, we can also reduce our opponent's ability to tell when our movement began and how far away we are from them. Our opponent isn't given any edges of depth to perceive.

For us, this is just part of our regular Wing Chun training. In future notes, I'll go further in depth into the drills we practice in order to develop our entry ability.

For information on our Orange County Wing Chun classes in Dana Point and Newport Beach, visit www.ocwingchun.com.

Posted by Adam Williss, Founder of The Dragon Institute

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The Barracuda is a natural hunter. They are one of the most vicious fish in the ocean. Their teeth are extremely sharp and have no problems lacerating a human limb. Having a diet consisting of almost any fish, they easily occupy the top of the food chain. What makes the barracuda so dangerous is its deceptive speed. Even though it's a big fish (the record for a barracuda caught hook and line is 1.7 meters (5.5 feet), it relies on the element of surprise and short bursts of speed to overtake its prey. Their deceptive speed comes from their slender, streamlined body that allows them to efficiently cut through the water. Their thin body fools the depth perception/sensation of its prey and overtakes them before they can realize it. The barracuda is a lot like how we approach a fight from a distance. Like them, as we enter and engage an opponent, we should try to look smaller than we really are and move in the most simple, direct and efficient way possible. Since objects farther away appear smaller, we can learn to conceal our distance from our opponent by appearing thinner and staying lower to the ground as we approach. Hiding the trajectory of our movements within the thin, vertical/central plane between us and our opponent, we can also reduce our opponent's ability to tell when our movement began and how far away we are from them. Our opponent isn't given any edges of depth to perceive. For us, this is just part of our regular Wing Chun training. In future notes, I'll go further in depth into the drills we practice in order to develop our entry ability. For information on our Orange County Wing Chun classes in Dana Point and Newport Beach, visit www.ocwingchun.com. Posted by Adam Williss, Founder of The Dragon Institute