This episode of PaddleTV is brought toyou by the ACA— improving the paddlesports experience for over a century.
Learn more at AmericanCanoe dot org
One of the great things about kayaking is that on a very simple level you can just slip on a lifejacket,
grab a paddle and start paddling around without any prior experience.
But learning proper technique will let you paddle more effectively comfortably and safely. And so in this video
we're going to look at three techniques in particular that all touring kayakers should practice and get comfortable with.
Although getting into a kayak has its own challenges, the first thing any touring kayaker should know
is how to get out of their kayak in case they flip, and that's called a 'wet exit'.
To wet exit your kayak smoothly, the first thing you'll do is lean forward and find your spray skirts ripcord
with one hand, while your other hand keeps hold of your paddle. You'll then pull the ripcord to pop your skirt
and then place both hands on your kayak by your hips to push yourself out of the boat.
By staying forward while doing this you'll end up doing a bit of a forward somersault out of the kayak.
The trickiest part of the wet exit is staying forward and fighting the instinct to lean back as you slide out of your kayak.
The problem with leaning back when you slide out is that it raises your butt off the seat and pushes
your thighs against the thigh hooks, which just makes it harder to slide out .
Now that you know how to wet exit, the second touring kayak technique that all paddlers should know is how to
re-enter your kayak from the water.
Although there are self rescue techniques to let you enter your kayak by yourself, it's a lot easier
to re-enter a kayak with a friend there to help hold and stabilize your boat, and so this is what we're going to look at.
First off you need to upright the capsized kayak, and the best way to do that is with the assisted bow tip out,
which lets you drain the water at the same time that you upright the kayak.
To do an assisted bow tip out, the rescuer should grab the bow of the capsized kayak with their own kayak
perpendicular to it. The rescuer lifts the bow up and pulls it across their cockpit. The goal here is to dump as
much water out as possible, and quickly roll the kayak up right.
Now that it's time to get back in, the rescuer's job is to stabilize the swimmers' kayak as they re-enter,
and to do this you'll position the empty kayak alongside yours, and then with a good grip on it, commit your
body weight to the empty boat. The best place to grab the boat is just forward of the cockpit facing the stern,
so that you see the swimmer re-enter. As the swimmer, you'll grab the cockpit rim of the kayak and let your legs
float to the surface behind you. With a powerful kick of the legs and push with your arms, you'll haul your chest
up and onto the stern of your kayak.
Keeping low, you'll then turn towards the stern as you lift your legs into the cockpit.
You can then slide back into the kayak while twisting around to your normal sitting position.
As your rescuer continues to stabilize the kayak, you'll want to then pump any remaining water out
and put your skirt back on.
The third and final technique that all touring kayakers should know is the sweep stroke,
because the sweep stroke is the easiest way to turn your kayak when sitting still, or when you're in motion.
The sweep stroke starts with your paddle blade in at the toes, fully immersed and your hands kept as low as possible.
Now, unlike the forward stroke which draws the paddle alongside the kayak, the sweep stroke involves sweeping
as wide and arcing path out to the side of the kayak as you can.
To get the most power for the sweep stroke, sit upright in your kayak and watch your active blade throughout its arc, because this forces your upper body to rotate during the stroke, which gets all your core muscles involved.
Now keep sweeping the blade on the arcing path and then before it hits your stern, you'll slice it out of the
water and move to your next stroke.
When moving from one stroke to the next, a great habit to get into is to sweep your blade forward skimming
across the water, and then if you lose your balance your paddle is ready in a brace position.
Now, the reverse sweep is exactly what sounds like– the forward sweep stroke done in reverse.
For the reverse sweep stroke, turn your upper body and look with your eyes as you plant your paddle
as far back as you comfortably can near the stern of the kayak.
With your blade planted deeply in the water, you'll then sweep a wide arc all the way out to the side
of your kayak and up to your toes, keeping your hands low throughout the stroke.
Now something that you might have noticed is that as I'm sweeping, I've got my kayak on edge and the reason
I'm doing that is because touring kayaks are designed to turn more efficiently when they're held on edge
In fact, the more you tilt a kayak on edge the more effectively it will turn.
Of course the more unbalanced you're going to be as well and so ease yourself into practicing sweeps with your kayak on edge.
Well, there you have it three techniques that all touring kayakers should know.
I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did please subscribe to our Paddle TV YouTube Channel,
and stay tuned for lots more kayaking tips and tricks.