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Summary: Learn how to do a four stroke spin trick in this free kayak video and advanced kayaking lesson.
James Sullivan introduced to whitewater kayaking at age 12, James Sullivan is currently a head instructor at Zoar Outdoor, and a member of Team Z. Team Z is a group of sponsored...read more
"The four-stroke spin is a way to maintain your spot in a hole or wave when it's a more fleshy feature. When the current is a little faster and it doesn't hold you into the spot as well. With a four-stroke spin, I'm going to start by doing a reverse stroke to spin myself backwards. I'm next going to a vertical back stroke to hole myself in place. Then I'm going to take a forward sweep to spin again, and then a forward stroke to hold myself in place. I'm doing forward strokes to keep myself in the feature. With the first one, I'm really doing a bow pivot. I'm sinking that bow into the current, lifting my stern, making sure that end doesn’t catch, and then I'm just taking a vertical stroke to stop my momentum. Same thing on the back end. I start with a spin and then a vertical stroke to stop my momentum from going down stream. Every time I spin, I want to be pulling myself back into the feature again. It's a sweep with a low angle blade. Nice and low, the nice and vertical, then nice and low, and then nice and vertical at the end. We get a really good look at this once I get into the hole."
eHow Article: The Four Stoke Spins Trick for Advanced Kayaking