Kayaking-Basic Paddling Techniques

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Most popular comments
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- Xelo - - 7 years ago

can't we just free style with the paddle

Anthony's Malawi Predators - 7 years ago

- Xelo - like rap to it?

Toby Que - 7 years ago

Are your blades feathered?

Anton Bouchette - 7 years ago

You mean at right angles to the shore line?

Tim Thompson - 7 years ago

Thanks for this! Even though I've kayaked around an Alaskan glacier, Palau's rock islands and several far less exotic locales, I just learned a new technique: the sweep. Hoping to get back out on the water and put it to good use soon!

joynthis - 8 years ago

So it's right, then left, then right again? What if I'm left-handed?

Callum wood - 7 years ago

joynthis yes

joynthis - 7 years ago

OK, but since I'm generally upside-down, does that make right right, and left left?

TheSunFiles - 7 years ago

with paddling, left is right, right is left. You must paddle on both sides to go straight, so it can be for both right handed and left handed.

AleaderWaterShoes - 8 years ago

Good tips

Manit Monsur - 8 years ago

Lean it, like you mean it! Thank you for the tutorial :)

TheDakotaRed1 - 8 years ago

Perfect! Just the right amount of information I needed for starting with no prior knowledge of kayaking.

phillip bethea - 8 years ago

thanks for the good info

10. comment for Kayaking-Basic Paddling Techniques

Jayson Kriedler - 8 years ago

Good tutorial but he doesn't know the difference between "parallel" and "perpendicular"!

Denise Schmigelski - 7 years ago

Regardless of where he was doesn't it make sense to be parallel to the shore? Your whole boat is in without being further out.

Taylor Gutshall - 7 years ago

I know. I was thinking, I am pretty sure you are perpendicular to the shore...unless that is the weirdest shoreline.

Tim Thompson - 7 years ago

I thought that at first, too, but then realized that he must be along a curved shoreline: the paddle was toward the shallower shore side when he leaned on it getting in and out, so the kayak must have been parallel instead of perpendicular.

crazyskullz1021 - 8 years ago

Was thinking the same thing, lol..

KobeConfidence - 8 years ago

The more u practice, the better you get at it. If I wasn't in my kayak, I'd probably tell someone how to do the strokes wrong even though I know how to do them. Every once in a while I'll accidently do the wrong turn but really I've just noticed to more I actually do it, the easier the strokes become.

Luis Rodriguez - 7 years ago

Goddess of conquest howd it go ?

Debi Mason - 8 years ago

Thank you!

Wilburn Crane - 8 years ago

Just bought a kayak last week. Good thing I watched this video. Thanks for sharing it

Rick Martin - 8 years ago

same here

Lon Kincannon - 8 years ago

I like the straight arms and torso rotation.

Travers Barnes - 8 years ago

Why is the Closed Captioning so terrible? I wanted to share this with my Deaf girlfriend and the Captioning is so bad I ended up having to interpret the whole video??

Mila Djordjevic - 9 years ago

this video is so helpful! THANKS SO MUCH!

Yahir Guzman - 9 years ago

Thanks I am in a kayak so I wanted to know haw to do it right

daisy8luke - 9 years ago

Great vid. I'm a big guy and lack your flexibility. I just get the yak in float-deep water and straddle it near the nose, then pull it underneath me until the seat is under my butt, and sit down. Works pretty much the same but in revers for getting out!

20. comment for Kayaking-Basic Paddling Techniques

c fedyszyn - 9 years ago

thank you. I'll practice those techniques.

Alex McGruer - 9 years ago

I am going to answer some of these queries as no one else has. My dealings with recreational kayaks is restricted to teaching kids the very basics and while they have a place in the paddling kingdom , it's not where I paddle. I am a sea kayaker.
Entys and exits in this video are pretty well presented here but remember this is a wide bus of a boat and the guy preenting could get in and out at a flat run along the beach and seal launches may be OK with him too. What he dis was basic and good if you have bad balance or some problem like arthritis (me) . This meathod can be tweeked for most circumstances including dock side or pools.
Torso rotation is a pivotal part of paddling . Sorry , it just came out that way. Let the big muscles, torso and legs do the grunt work. This takes a long time to perfect. years: How many? I will tell you when I have it perfected.
Paddle Offset. 30 years ago Derrick Hutchinson and his generation taught and promoted 90 degree offset paddles to defeat wind issues . This angle was much to steep to allow real comfortable paddling, It moved from there to 60 degrees and nornally they are set at closer to 30 degrees now. This is not for wind but rather ergonomics. This angle best treats your body rotation and the way your arms and shoulders simply let the blade hit the water at each stroke with no effort. My best angle is 18 degrees and on a long trip i will set my take down paddle to 18 degrees and use electrical tape to keep it there. On club paddles i simply leave it at 30 as there is not a huge difference. The Eskimos or Inuit used a Greenland paddle with no offset , purists still use that paddle and it works very well. Wind is not the primary reasoning here. It you can't use a straight blade in the wind you shouldn't be there. Greenland blades again are straight and the best in foul weather. You don't want to be out in high winds in a rec boat.
I would highly recommend anyone interested i kayaking get courses; real courses. For a pond this and some self rescue practice may sort of do. That is of course what these boats are made for, The ocean would summon a different sort of kayak and white water yet another.

Mark Stafford - 10 years ago

"Lean it like you mean it" Bad video production. This is a pretty important part of kayaking. You should have recorded a wide shot and a side shot. The video is not informative for this proceedure.

kbld1 - 10 years ago

As a 'newbie' to kayaking, it would have been nice to see how you get into the kayak. Between the camera being too close and a graphic that pops up, I don't see how how you got in. I find the couple times I try this, the kayak is very unstable.

MonkeySee - 10 years ago

+kbld1 try this video: Kayak - How to Launch

Eff Yiew - 10 years ago

The torso thing is so important. I recently bought my kayak and have gone out twice. Both times I just paddled naturally, using my arms mostly. But it doesn't take long to get my arms and shoulders tired! I decided to look up other methods and found this video. I just went out yesterday and after watching this video I kept my arms more stiff and twisted my torso to generate power. Honestly, I felt like my power, and my speed, doubled. And no tiredness in my shoulders!