How to do the Reverse Sweep Kayaking Stroke

Video Transcript

"We've just talked about the forward sweep, now let's look at the reverse sweep. Reverse sweep starts in the back of the boat. You wind up your torso, placing it behind your seat and sweep out and away. Again, looking in the direction where you want to go and I also want to use my torso. So let's do in combination with that forward sweep that we discussed earlier. I'll do a forward sweep on one side and a reverse sweep on the other and you can see the combination and what happens to your boat. Here we go! Forward sweep, wind up, plant by your toes, look where you want to go, then I'm going to reach all the way around to the reverse on the other side and it spins in the spot. Again using those key principles where I'm using my torso to wind up the stroke. Here we go! Winding up the torso, place by your toes, sweep out and then the reverse comes all the way to the back and sweeps out to the front. Key thing to remember in whitewater boating we use the reverse sweep rarely, occasionally we'll use it but you do loose your momentum. So concentrate on the forward sweep instead of the reverse sweep, but it's always a good skill to know."