Moving Forward in a Hole for Beginning Kayaking Tricks

Video Transcript

"When I want to move forward in a hole, I can only take strokes on my downstream side. If I take strokes on my upstream side I’m likely to catch my paddle blade and get flipped over. There’s also some really cool techniques to getting forward in a hole that has an angle to it. If the hole has an angle upstream and you’re trying to work your way upstream you’re going to be taking a forward stroke and then sliding backwards as you take your next stroke, okay. So what I can do instead is use the power of the river that’s coming underneath my kayak to deflect off my kayak paddle. When I stick this kayak paddle deep in behind my hips slightly, the current is going to push on it and it’s going to help propel me forward so if you get into a angled hole and you want to slide forward you can do what’s called a gliding draw-stroke, where you take a forward stroke and then hold the paddle behind your hip and the current is going to hit that blade a accelerate you forward. "