"Ozark River Company"

"How to Paddle a Canoe, Canoe Paddling Techniques"

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• For River Rapid Canoe Running - "Kneeling Position" - drop to your knees, and brace them in the boat corners.  Use your toes, and your legs as you pull the side of the canoe, and control the canoe with your lower body this way.  It also drops your center of gravity too, so helps with your balance.  This can also cause a an uncomfortable feeling.  You can use this position when you feel it will help, or pad your boat for a more comfortable feel while on your knees.  (This is for those that can still do this, of course).

• J Stroke - (from the back of the canoe) This is a canoe paddling technique that will allow you to keep the paddle on one side of the boat, and steering the boat with the way you finish your stroke.  Start by reaching forward and pulling water.  From there, about half way through your paddling stroke, twist the paddle and finish the stroke by pushing away from the stern or rear of the canoe.  When you paddle from the right hand, you will pull the boat to the left.  by pushing away from the stern of the boat, it will correct the boat direction and keep it going straight.  The stroke looks like a J, thus called a j stroke.  Play with the push out pressure, and you will see that you can pick your direction with the final effort in your canoe paddling stroke.

• Reverse J Stroke - This works the same as above, but you will be wanting to exaggerate your turn instead of canceling your turn in the Standard J.  Through the stroke, do the same as above, but start by pulling water with your paddle stroke leaving a little room between paddle and boat.  As you go through your paddle stroke, twist the paddle and pull water under the stern as you complete the stroke.  This will make a turn to the opposite side that you are paddling from, example right handed stroke on the right side of the boat, and desiring to turn left.  The reverse J is typically used for light steering, as the sweep stroke would be used for more aggressive turning efforts.

• Pry Stroke - This is what it is, a prying action against the side of the canoe.  Play around in flat water, and while sitting solo in the most center seat of the boat, typically the front seat, plant the paddle in the water against the side of the boat and angle the blade to run with the boat. (parallel). Then pry away from the side of the boat.  You can push the boat effectively, making harder turns.  In flat water, it helps to hold the canoe "on edge".  This works best with some rocker in your boat and no keel ridge style canoe, you can really spin her!

• Sweep stroke - Just as it sounds, it is a sweeping action of the paddle for hard direction turning or spinning the canoe.  Plant the paddle near the bow, and with a body action, sweep the paddle stroke through the water, with a wide radius, keeping the full blade in the water, and sweep the water around wide and then to the stern.  Pull the paddle early enough as it will push under the boat and look clumsy.  We wouldn't want that!  A tip for successful movement of the boat, imagine in your mind first, that you are moving the boat to the paddle.  Spin the boat to the paddle, not just pull water.  Then as you execute your paddle strokes, allow the body to help "twist, jump, or swiftly slide the canoe" to the direction you want it.  Sweep strokes can be used very effectively in most cases, running rivers, turning your boat with forward thrust, as well as holding your canoe on edge and sweeping the canoe around rapidly in a stillwater move.

• Holding your canoe on edge - This is an exercise that helps you know where your secondary stability is.  While sitting in the front seat backwards (reversing your boat to do this), drop to your knees, then brace your knees and feet, thighs, everything you got as you spread your legs against the sides of the canoe.  Toes against the corner of the canoe, and heels towards each other.  This position drops your center of gravity, improving your balance, as well as bracing and holding the canoe with your lower body.  You will be on the front edge of the seat.  Great position for river running!  For holding the boat on edge, lean the canoe to one side carefully not tipping over, and find that secondary stability that the canoe will show.  You will feel it, a stopping point when the boat is leaned.  Use your position in the canoe, sliding to that side, and standing on that hip and knee, keeping head over the center of your balance line.  "Stand on your hip."  Find that spot where your canoe gets stable again!  That is your secondary stability.  Now try sweep strokes, pry strokes.  On hard edge, your canoe takes on a different shape, again depending on your style of canoe for success.  When leaned, the sides make it round and gets the ends up out of the water a little.  The boat will turn too when paddling, as it will ride one side of the boat with more drag.

• Rapid slide - Maneuvering a "rapid bend" on a river is easy once you figure out how to do that power slide around the rapid bend.  Pick your boat angle first.  You will see that you are sideways to the current, but as you start to paddle forward, you will head that direction to that side of the current.  As the current of the river pushes you towards the outside of the bend, accelerate through the rapid bend and slide around that corner you are going through.  If your angle is too tight, you will spin out in the inside of the bend.  If your angle is not tight enough, you will "hit the outside" of the bend.  If you let off the paddle pressure or "gas", you will hit the outside of the bend also, so pick your angle, accelerate with your paddle strokes as you slide around the bend, holding that right angle to get you properly around that river rapid bend.  Again do not let off the power as you slide around the river corner.  If you make it safely around that rapid bend but spin out at the end, make sure you straighten out your angle soon enough to follow that wave train right on out of the river rapid bend.  You are safe where you spin out, so you did 99 percent of the maneuver correctly, but gets frustrating having to back the boat out to restart back down the river.  If you straighten the boat out early enough through this exercise, you will follow that wave train out of the river rapid bend.  You'll head right on down the river like a real pro.

• Rudder steer your canoe - I once paddled with a Cajun in a pirogue, a very flat and low profile canoe with what appeared to me knowing how boat geometry effects the way the boat handles,  to have no tracking whatsoever.  The technique that was used that I have used ever since is the paddle never left the water.  After the last paddle stroke of a set, he would grip the gunwale, (pronounced gunnel) or the side of the boat with the paddle shaft braced to that point.  Then as he steered the boat with a push or pull of the handle against the side of the boat, the flat and short pirogue would steer with any flex and twist.  This technique will stop that boat from wandering a lot, especially if you have a canoe with rocker or curve from front to back.

• Draw stroke - reach way out to the side and with paddle parallel to the canoe, pull water towards the boat.  will pull the boat towards the direction you are pulling water from.  If done from the front and back of the boat in a tandem or two person situation, you will pull water directly towards the boat with the paddle, and as each person does this you can pull yourself to shore in a sideways slide fashion.

• Sculling - As you start the draw stroke, make the paddle a more horizontal.  We are not going to pull the boat this time.  This time lay the paddle on the top of the water and let the tip sink.  Now start twisting back and forth in a figure 8, even motions of angles, and try to "catch water" with each twist.  There is a technique that when you find this feeling, you can skull and pull your boat sideways very easily.  This is a stillwater maneuver.

• Bracing - It is common to brace yourself against the paddle and use that as a crutch.  When you get the feel of your paddle and know the pressures that are applied, you can feel the benefits of leaning against this as you balance yourself.  A near fall can be stopped by applying downward pressure as the paddle hits the water surface in a flat way.  With a strong bracing technique, a solo paddler with have much greater ability with the stability.  It is not hard, just lay your paddle flat out on the water and you can lean on it to catch yourself!  Recover quick, but you do have some time.  This is a real common technique used in kayaks because of the low body position and long paddle.

• Learn to ferry your boat.  Park your boat on a shore where the current is easy, with the front of the boat pointing upstream.  Then as you angle your boat, pretend your boat is like a wind sail, and the river water is now wind.  Angle the boat slightly, and with lower side paddle strokes, control your angle carefully as you cross that stream in that current.  If it wants to push you out and down stream you have too much angle, straighten your angle to the water, then gently correct your angle to get across that stream with the speed and control you desire.  Faster water requires slight angles, and slower water requires greater angles to the current.  Do this in easy and slow rapids first, and get the hang of it.  This exercise will teach you about the dynamics of the water more than any other paddling exercise we know.  Then when you are sitting by the current at the beach and your boat keeps wanting to get pushed, remember your angle and you can now see what the boat is wanting to do just because of your angle to the water.

• Hooking eddys on the river.  When you come down through a rapid you will see on the inside of the stream a water line, where the fast water meets the slow water in the eddy.  These pools on the inside of rapid bends are called eddy lines, or eddy pools.  When you point and cross that eddy line, lean into your curve like you are on a bicycle, ready to do a corner.  Lean with your hips, keeping your head over the the center of the boat as much as possible.  Also keep your focus up, so you are balancing your head and shoulders to the horizon as you cross the line.  Throw your hips into the outside of that curve you are about to do, as when you cross that eddy line, it will want to throw you out.  Swing through that eddy line with a little hip action, and lean in towards the inside of your curve.  This takes practice, and you run the risk of a spill.  Do this where it is safe to practice, on an easy eddy, so you can get the feel for the technique.  The same goes for reentering the current from the eddy.  Again you are crossing the eddy line, and you will want to lean into the curves slightly.  Play around in eddys, as that again will give you the feel for the dynamics of the river, and hopefully give you more skills as this is practiced in easy places, so you have more control in the tougher situations, and are not caught by surprise as the currents want to push you around.

• For the case of this short canoe paddling technique piece, the last thing to really remember is, "do not lean upstream!  I have seen many times cases on the river whereby a pair of paddlers in a canoe will come up to an obstacle sideways, and they will lean upstream to avoid hitting the obstacle with their bodies.  This is not where the threat is.  The threat is behind them, the water coming at them!  It is indeed counter intuitive.  If you come upon a large rock sideways for example, remember to lean towards the rock and away from the water coming at you, from behind you.  Drop to the knees locking yourself in the boat and lowering your center of gravity.  When you come upon the large rock and hit it, grab the rock, and push your way around the rock either forward or backward, and let the water carry you around that rock.  You also would want to lift the high side of the canoe a little, the side where the water is coming at you, and the boat will surf or attempt to surf that water, as you slide it around the rock.  Keep your head up, keep your center of balance, as you do this maneuver.  This is not a recommended situation, but can get you out of a bad one.  Avoid all root wads!  Scout the river first if you are unsure.  This means get out of the boat at the top of the chute or channel, and walk it to see it.

• Remember, rocker for rivers, no rocker for lakes.  This is a boat selection tip when you want to buy your boat.  Rocker is the curve from front to back, bow to stern.  If the boat has rocker, it will wander more, but read through this again and you will see the control technique for your canoe that you will want to use.  If the boat has no rocker, then the current will push your boat ends around more, and make it more difficult to ferry, more difficult to go through eddy lines, more difficult to do rapid slides, as a rockered boat will respond better with these techniques employed.  

• Get good, is safe - The better you can get at handling your boat, the safer you are!  Easy first, then get good at that.  Then go to the next level if you choose to.  Improving your canoeing technique can be fun too!

• Learn what a throw bag is, learn how to use them, practice the use of them, and wear your life jacket or PFD every time!  You might have confidence and think you do not need one, then need to help your paddling partner.  Most of all, be careful out there!  We need each and every one of you!

Simply, thanks!  Have fun paddling!

We hope you have been informed and entertained!  Ozark River Company