Video: How to do a Forward Stroke while Kayaking

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Learn how to do the kayak forward paddle stroke, in this free kayaking video tutorial with our own kayaking expert.

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Video Transcript

The forward stroke is one of those strokes that sometimes a little difficult to perfect whether you're an Olympian or a whitewater kayaker. You spend hours just perfecting this stroke. So give yourself some chance to work it out. The forward stroke doesn't mean it goes straight, especially in a whitewater kayak. It means going in the direction the boat happens to be pointing at that particular moment. So let's break down the forward stroke in parts. We're going to place the paddle in by the toes, take it out by the hip with the paddle shaft relatively vertical. We want to keep the blade as close to the boat as we can. So what I'm going to do so you can see it, I'm going to paddle away from you across your vision and back to you. Remember it's engaging that torso, not those little muscle groups here. Here we go! You can see hopefully that my arms extend through the stroke, so they reach out towards the front of my kayak. I don't want to try not to cross the middle section of my kayak or the front grab loop. I want to keep my torso rotating all the way around. So just to review you're starting at your toes, take it out at your hip area. What you'll see now I'm going to do a little bit of sprinting. I'm going to start with slow cadence, then I'm going to pick it up and pick it up. I'm not pulling harder through the water I'm paddling smarter. So let's give it a go! I'm going to back up a little bit so I get a little speed or a little space to paddle. I usually tell people the first 4 strokes are freebies don't worry about keeping the boat straight as it starts planing. So here's a cadence, here's a fast cadence and here's an even faster cadence. (oops I'm on shore) So give it a go and practice, remember in at your toes, out at your hip, use your torso.

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How to do a Forward Stroke while Kayaking

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