How to do Duffek Strokes in Canoeing

Video Transcript

"The duffek or the cross duffek stroke is a way to turn your boat when you have speed already or when you're turning into a current that has speed. In the duffek and in the cross duffek the paddle doesn't really move. It basically maintains the same position and acts as a rutter in the bow of the boat. It's often called a bow rutter as well. To get in the duffek position, you want to turn your torso toward your paddle and get into essentially the catch position for a draw stroke. From that position, if you bring your top arm back and your bottom arm forward, you're in the deffek position. I often think of this position as kind of reading your watch. It's like you're reading your watch with your top hand. If you look at my blade angle, my blade is open to the bow, which means that between the blade and bow is about at the beginning about maybe a 30-degree angle. If you open your blade more, you're going to get more turning, which you're going to slow the boat down more. If you close your blade angle more, you're going to get less turning but you're going to keep your momentum better. So depending on what kind of a turn your want, you may choose an open of a closed blade angle. Obviously, the deffek only works when you have some momentum, so I'm going to paddle away from the camera, do a deffek turn, and then come back toward the camera and do another turn right at the camera. "