Sea Kayaking: The Forward Stroke

Video Transcript

"In this next clip we are going to talk about the forward stroke. This is what we do most of the time when we are kayaking. We are always trying to strive to be the most efficient and effective as we can when we are doing a forward stroke. One of the aspects of the forward stroke is the catch. The catch is there, where your foot is. That is where the paddle enters the water. It's actually as far as you can reach because the more you can catch the more pull and more power you're going to get when you do your forward stroke. Next is the stroke it's self. You like to sweep fairly close to the boat and the exit is right here at the hip. It is toe hip. Russell is going to do one on the left side and another one on the right. As he's paddling forward he's pressing on the same side foot peg to transfer energy from his body to the blade of the paddle through the water. It's toe, hip, toe, hip. Energy transfers from the foot to the paddle blade. A dynamic seating position; where he has a nice straight posture. He's actually getting feedback or feeling the pressure of the water against the paddle blade and the pressure on his feet. We are going to let him go and off he goes. He's rotating his body to pull that paddle efficiently through the water. His boat is turning because he has it slightly on edge and this turns your boat while paddling forward. Watch the zipper on his PFD it should be moving side by side that demonstrates good core and torso rotation. "