Video: How to do an Abeam Maneuver in Canoeing

Learn about the more advanced abeam maneuver in your canoe for flatwater canoeing in this free outdoor extreme sports video from our kayak and canoe expert.

Video Transcript

Now that we have a good arsenal of strokes, we're going to use those strokes to put them together and form maneuvers. The first maneuver we're going to do is called an abeam. An abeam is a way to move sideways in the boat. To do an abeam towards my on side, it's just a matter of doing a simple draw to the side. My off side; same deal. Just do a draw to my off side. There are 2 things that I'm doing as well. One thing is that I'm lifting my on side knee a little bit when I do the beam to the to on side. That's as if I'm lifting up the carpet to slide the dust underneath a little bit. As I lift my on side knee, the water more easily moves under the boat. Same thing on my off side. Another thing you can do for an abeam is rather than doing a direct pulling to the side with your draw, you can do what's called a sculling draw. A sculling draw, you're just making little figure 8s like buttering the toast back and forth. That's a sculling draw to my on side. This is a sculling draw to my off side. A sculling draw is not only a good way to move sideways, but it's also great for paddle control. In sculling draw you have to have very precise control over the blade angle. The way you do that is just by getting a good feel for the water and suddenly changing the angle with your top and bottom hand. Sculling draw is a really good thing to practice on both your on side and your off side in order to improve your feel for the water and for the blade.

How to do an Abeam Maneuver in Canoeing

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