Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

double post see below

Well, here is another comment on the skills needed to paddle a WW kayak in a "straight line".

It is my experience that most creek and WW play kayaks rarely like to go in a straight line. So, why work hard to make a WW kayak do something it does not like to do?

My Mega Rocker (close to the old school curved sides and rounded bottom) likes to turn big time.

My Super Hero (with a hull closer to new school with flat spot on the bottom and sharp lines on the sides) still likes to turn big time.

Paddle your kayak forward and stop paddling and most WW kayaks will turn pretty quick.

I rarely work much on paddling in a straight line in my WW kayak clinics.

My deal is to teach a variety of control paddle strokes to help control the built in tendency to turn most all the WW kayaks we paddle have designed in.

I think most of the time on a river or creek, most of us are paddling in a curved line. To me it is a matter of how much curve we want to paddle in and the amount of control paddle strokes us paddlers do to control the amount of turn is the key.

For me, I do not care much if the first time kayaker is in a creek boat or play boat. I think the basic paddle strokes are very similiar for both. At some point in time depending on the paddler and a lot of other things, creek or play boat design will come into play. But a good working knowledge of the basic paddle strokes and what they do for a kayak is a good foundation for going to more creeking or playing type boats.

Wild water race boats, some rec boats and some sea kayaks are designed to go straight and that is another topic to talk about.