How to paddle a kayak ? It is more than just a mechanical motion of the body. It is an expression which gets delivered best when you put in your heart into it. It is the best way to explore a water body and its surroundings while being the closest to it. Although in order to be able to venture out, you need to know a handful of things. The most important of all is to know how to paddle a kayak straight.
Learning how to paddle a kayak in a straight line is probably one of the easiest skills to grasp. Although just knowing how to paddle a kayak straight is not enough, you should know the right technique. If your technique is right, you can paddle faster, longer and exert your muscles much less than you would do while paddling with a wrong technique.
Tips to learn how to paddle a kayak straight
So here are few key tips that can help you paddle a kayak straight:
- Sitting Position – A good upright posture is key to paddling with utmost efficiency. So start by sitting straight, with a relaxed stance and a wide open chest. Leaning back or leaning aggressively towards the front will reduce the efficiency of your paddling. Make sure your kayak fitting is snug, with your knees touching the side wall and your feet pressing against the foot-pegs. Your legs and torso do the streamlining work and your arms and shoulders just generate power for the kayak to move.
- Hand Position – During the initial days of your paddling you will not really be sure about where to place your hands on the shaft of your paddle. When you paddle, you will start with one grip and it will keep changing even without you realizing the same. This will hamper your efforts of keeping the kayak aligned in a line. You need to choose the right paddle length according to your size. Make sure both your hands are equidistant from the blades and your grip is constant throughout.
- Paddling Strokes – Once you are in the kayak with your legs and torso in place and your hands well placed on the shaft, it is time to move forward. Start by driving a forward stroke. A forward stroke can be broken down in three phases:
- Catch Phase – Draw your paddle forward, close to your feet and immerse the blade completely inside the water.
- Power Phase – Pull your paddle towards you while rotating your torso. While pulling with your lower hand, just push the shaft with your upper hand.
- Release Phase – When your hand reaches just behind your hips withdraw the blade from the water.
- Predict Kayak Movement – This skill might take time to develop and hone but once you get there it’ll be awesome. The moment you start anticipating how your kayak is going to move and start acting accordingly you’ll master your paddling. Initially when you see beginners paddle, you’ll see that they are trying to paddle a kayak straight but it keeps turning. By the time they know that their kayak is turning it is too late. Although a professional paddler on the other hand will anticipate the movement of the kayak just at the right moment and take quick action. So predicting how the kayak will move will help a lot in learning how to paddle a kayak straight.
All these points will help you help you paddle a kayak in a straight line. Other than all the above mentioned points, it is extremely important to choose the right paddling gear and safety equipment. Keep paddling, keep exploring.
To learn more skills of how to paddle a kayak and learn whitewater kayaking check out our Kayaking Course for Beginners.
