In this video I want to show you, what is by far the most important secret in sea kayaking.
It’s the key to quickly developing the skills to be a confident kayaker with peace of mind,
in all kinds of conditions.
I can almost guarantee you it’s not something you have heard before.
And there is even a good chance that you already learned something which directly contradicts
what you are about to discover.
Yet I have seen this one thing transform even experienced kayakers with instructor level
certifications.
And I have seen beginners learn this, and in a few months or less, they are more agile
in their kayaks than most paddlers with 15 years of experience.
I know it sounds a bit much.
But I can’t water this one down.
I see it making that big of a difference.
Before I start you should be aware of this.
If you need to believe that the kayak certification programs have all the answers, and the Inuit
who invented the kayak and evolved it over thousands of years, couldn’t possibly have
any wisdom to share, this video is not for you.
If you need to see nature as a hostile place that is out to get you, this is not for you
either.
You may even find this video painful to watch.
I’m Paulo from Dancing with the sea.
And I give sea kayakers the skills they need to feel right at home on the water.
But not the way you might think.
People ask me why is it that I only teach kayaking with the Greenland paddle.
It’s hard to explain in a few words.
But after watching this video until the end, I think you will understand why.
Kayakers come to me thinking their skills need a bit more fine tuning.
When often this issue is much simpler and easier to fix.
Often they want to use the kayak to explore beautiful places.
Maybe their low brace doesn’t feel quick and strong enough, and they want to feel less
anxious when the waves come up.
Or sometimes they are struggling to keep up with their friends, and they are looking for
more fitness because, they don’t have the strength to us force.
If you are using the sea kayak as a way to enjoy your time in nature, this will likely
be the most important kayak video you ever watch.
By the way if you are really serious about developing your sea kayak skills and you like
what we are talking about and you want to go deeper, you might want to get the free
lesson I made for you on how to outfit your kayak for agility.
I think you will enjoy it.
You can get it by cliking the link in the description.
About 20 years ago I started using the Greenland Paddle.
I knew nothing about how to use it, but I loved how smooth and quiet it was.
One day there’s about 6 of us on a paddle.
The waves were a bit bigger than what I was used to.
I was still a beginner.
Of Course I’m the only one with a Greenland paddle.
And i’m feeling some pressure to prove it’s worth because at that time, people didn’t
think much of it.
They thought people just use it to be different.
I’m at the back of the group, and I get on top of a wave, start surfing it a bit when
I lose my balance and almost instantly end up in the water.
I’m rushing to get back in the kayak.
It was embarrassing enough to capsize, I wanted to get back in before someone had a chance
to help me.
By the time they got to me I was back in my kayak.
They were impressed with that.
But the leader of the group had to say it.
It’s your paddle, you can’t brace with that thing, it’s too skinny.
That’s what started my journey to master the Greenland Paddle.
I loved paddling with it.
If only I could learn to keep myself out of the water.
I decided that learning to roll was the solution.
I would watch a video demonstration of a young Inuit doing a roll, and I would go try it
in my kayak.
It did not work at all no matter how much I practiced.
All I did was fall out of my kayak and swim.
And get freezing cold.
While watching carefully to find that subtle difference that would help me succeed, I had
this realization.
In the video, the kayaker was moving his body with a lot more range of motion than I had
ever seen before.
You just don’t see kayakers move like that.
Now I think of it as wearing the kayak.
When you are wearing something it doesn’t hinder your range of motion, unless it’s
a cheap suit.
And it moves with you.
You don’t have to worry about a good fitting pair of pants falling off when you start walking.
That’s what i mean by wearing.
What I saw, was the young Inuit moving his body to make the rolls effortless.
He had perfect control of the kayak, and also could move his body naturally with full range
of motion.
Once I figured out how to wear my kayak, everything completely changed for me.
There was no more wondering if the Greenland paddle is good enough, because nobody using
a Euro blade could do what I was doing.
And 20 years later I’m still discovering ways that this simple shift transforms how
I feel on the water.
And how it helps me move with the waves more efficiently.
So what does it actually look like when you wear your kayak?
You may have been told to tighten your footpegs until both your knees are making contact with
the kayak.
It feels secure.
Any movement of the hips moves the kayak.
The problem is you can’t rotate your thighs without rocking the kayak.
That may seem like a good thing but it has serious limitations.
If you can’t move your thighs you can ‘t use them to power the forward stroke.
Which means less speed and less endurance.
I had a kayaker come to me with limited upper body strength, and it was preventing her from
being able to paddle any distance with a group because she just couldn’t keep up.
After she learned to use her hips for power, she not only started going faster, but it
also took the pressure off the arms and shoulders, and eliminated much of her pain.
It allows her to do what she loves, when previously she thought her body just could not handle
kayaking.
For bracing, you don’t have to react with a quick enough smack on the water to stop
a capsize.
I was paddling with a fairly inexperienced paddler one time when the waves were starting
to build up.
We were broadside to the waves and it was obvious he was getting more and more tense.
Every few waves he would lose his balance and do a quick brace to avoid going over.
I rafted up with him and told him to leave the paddle in the water at the end of his
forward stroke, until the wave washes over.
The Greenland paddle is perfectly suited for this because it moves well in the water, and
gives you support as it glides smoothly.
Most people wait to be out of balance and then do a brace to regain balance.
Every brace wears on their nerves and brings them closer to a capsize.
I saw him go from increasingly scared, to completely relaxed with a smile on his face.
The transformation was instant.
Although he didn’t have to learn any new skills, he now looked like a kayaker with
many years of experience.
The Greenland Paddle allows you to turn your forward stroke into an instant brace.
A lot of kayakers want to move the paddle on top of a bigger breaking wave to avoid
having the wave push their paddle deep underwater.
That’s a Euro blade fear.
With the Greenland paddle you want the wave to bury it.
It’s what holds it firmly in place to ensure you don’t get knocked over.
That’s a pretty big deal when you’re getting thrashed around by the waves.
Keeping the paddle high on the wave actually helps the waves push you over.
For turning, that extra range of motion you get from moving your hips means less pressure
on your arms and shoulders.
No more shoulder pain.
It also allows you to place the paddle further back where it makes a more effective turn.
Instead of a high brace that almost nobody can do.
And puts you at risk of tearing your shoulders off, you can simply put your back to the water,
and rotate the kayak off of you.
You just float there.
If you can’t move your hips back before rotating the kayak, you can’t do that.
The kayak just pushes your head underwater while you try to force yourself up for a life
saving breath.
Believe me, It’s a different feeling.
And ofcourse this is also what makes rolling easy.
Again it’s not just the paddle, it’s not just the body position, it’s both working
together.
You rotate to put your back to the water, rotate your hips to take the kayak off of
you.
The paddle gives you support as your body moves naturally.
These are not difficult to learn techniques to show off how strong and athletic you are.
It’s techniques designed to keep the hunter safe in extreme conditions, so he can keep
coming home to his family.
So the answer the question of why I only teach the Greenland paddle?
It’s not just about the paddle, and how it moves through the water.
It’s not just about how you move your body differently so it feels more natural, and
gives you more of the freedom of movement which gives you agility.
It’s not just about how to use the water to support you instead of trying to resist
with force.
The genius of the Inuit techniques is to put all these elements together in a way where
you’re not an outsider in a hostile environment, but you actually feel like you belong there.
With the agility of an amphibian.
I don’t know how I could teach kayaking in a different way?
To review, the most important thing is wearing your kayak.
Having a fit where you can move your thighs to rotate your body, and still be able to
rotate the kayak.
All without falling out.
It’s this ability to rotate your thighs, and rotate the kayak independently that gives
you the biggest breakthrough in your kayak skills.
And the best way to take advantage of this newfound motion is to use the Greenland paddle
because it’s perfectly suited to move with you, through the water in a smooth controlled
way.
It’s what allows you to use the force of the water to help you instead of fighting
with it.
It’s more like a dance.
That’s why I call it dancing with the sea.
When you put all this together you are not like a tourist visiting a hostile place.
You feel like you belong there.
If you got nothing else from this video I hope you come to realize that we can learn
a lot from the wisdom of the endigenous cultures.
I know some people will say if these techniques work so well, why is it that we developed
a different paddling style that became so popular.
I don’t know the answer, but I can imagine that we saw the potential of the kayak and
decided a bigger blade would be better, and developed the skills to make it work.
I can imagine that we did not take the time to make sure we understood what the Inuit
had created with the kayak.
We never got the true genius of it.
And it’s my mission to make sure the world understands this.
If you would like to get started with with wearing your kayak, I created a free online
mini course to help you adjust the fit of your kayak to make it work.
just click on the link in the description and sign up for the free video course.
Thanks you for watching this video until the end, if you found some value in it please
share it with your friends.