Kayaking Skills Basic Strokes Video

http://www.rei.com/category/4500009 Brad, an REI Outdoor School instructor, demonstrates basic kayak paddle strokes in this video: the forward stroke, turning strokes, and boat-control strokes. For the forward stroke, think about placing your blade in the water and moving past it, rather than pulling the blade through the water. This increases your efficiency. The forward stroke is made up of 3 elements: the windup, the catch, and the unwind. Rotate your torso (the windup), place the blade in the water by your foot (the catch), rotate your torso (the unwind) to move your boat forward, and then take the blade out of the water when your hand reaches your hip. Now your already wound up for the next catch. It's a push with the upper hand and a pull with the lower hand while rotating the torso. In kayaking, technique is much more important than upper body strength. Now for turning strokes. The sweep stroke is a forward stroke that allows you to keep your momentum. It begins far forward in the front of the boat, sweeps way wide, and continues all the way back till the paddle touches the stern. Draw strokes help you move your kayak sideways, like to pull up next to a dock. The first draw stroke is a simple reach out and pull toward you. The other draw stroke is the sculling draw stroke: It's a sustained back and forth motion, kind of like spreading peanut butter. The final stroke we'll learn is how to stop a moving kayak—it's back paddling, the reverse of the forward stroke.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Kayaking
• Skills
• Basic
• Strokes
• paddle strokes
• draw stroke
• back paddle
• forward stroke
• sculling stroke
• sweep stroke
• REI
• how to

[mikembregh]

Good Job!

[PeachExtract]

Thanks

[PercussivePercussion]

I have a question about curved paddles: Is the power face always the concave face?

[malukitojr]

This wasn't even the video I was looking for but it's pretty well done!

[paddleme2]

Who is the manufacturer of paddle are you using?

[TheCrimsonIron]

@McCarlSpeed That is a Wilderness Systems Tsunami. Probably the Tsunami 140 or 145.

[McCarlSpeed]

what kind of Kayak is he using?

[wrecks1984]

excellent video and perfectly explained!!!

[TrudyPatoody]

Excellent refresher for someone who's been out of kayaing for a while but going back into it.

[routier1642]

Excellent stuff. I just bought a kayak & we're figuring out how to keep it under control. This is a real help.