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Summary: When riding in a tandem kayak, it's important for the person in the back to mimic what the person in the front is doing. Find out how to paddle a tandem kayak while letting the person in front relax with help from a whitewater and recreational kayaking instructor in this free video on tandem paddling kayaks.
Matt Preye has been kayaking for 15 years in both whitewater and recreational kayaks. Though his passion is whitewater, for over 10 years he has taught introductory and advanced...read more
"How to tandem Kayak. Tandem kayaking is not for everyone. Before you purchase a tandem kayak you should try it with the person you're planning on paddling with. Now tandem kayaking is very easy to do if you follow these steps. The first off the person that sits in the back has to copy what the front person is doing. When the front person's paddling on the right the back person has to paddle on the right and so forth. The back person has no right to yell at the person in front. And for those who have paddled tandem kayaks before watching will understand. Now you help the person get into the kayak, the front person. Now I'm going to get in, push the boat out into the water. Push ourselves off. And we start paddle. As we're going I'm timing it here. If I do need to turn the boat I'm going to tell to paddle backwards, Nick I want you to paddle backwards on the other side. So you're going to time it nice and slow. One of the common things you'll find, let's paddle forward on the other side, is that until you get your timing down, you might hit the persons paddle in front of you. You're just nice and relaxed. The other way to tandem paddle is you allow the person in front just to sit in the boat and not paddle at all. Enjoy reading a book, enjoying the scenery or taking pictures and making the person in back do all the work."
eHow Article: How to Tandem Paddle a Kayak