Canoeing Strokes?

Question

please could you help me with my canoeing strokes. Could you give me a overview on each stroke, when is it used, and how to preform it properly?

Answer 1

Skigirl has given you a pretty good rundown if you are looking at open canoe strokes. If you are looking at outrigger, there are a couple of others -- in a six man, the first person does an 'uni' - the place the base of the blade as far forward as they can, holding it against the hull of the boat, then prying it away from the hull, still keeping the base of the blade touching the hull. This changes the angle at which the water hits. The uni is done on the right hand and turns the boat left. Seat two does a 'kahi', which is a stationary draw and changes the pivot point for the boat to turn.

They all take a lot of practise until you can do them -- j stroke, draw, pry etc. -- without thinking. The big thing to remember is not to keep your paddle in too long. Once it reaches a negative angle, you are pushing water up, not back, and that's just wasting energy.

Enjoy your paddling!

Answer 2

is this a real question

Answer 3

This is a huge question.  Try looking at the Kent Canoes website, they have the syllabus for the British Canoe Union Star awards, this is a good starter.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

Thats a difficult question to answer. It's a lot easier to show someone than to tell them. The basic strokes are the foward stroke, J stroke, pry stroke, draw, cross-draw, and the sweep.

The forward stroke is exactly what it sounds like. A normal stroke to go foward.

The J stroke is a stroke to keep the boat going straight done by the person at the stern (back) of the boat. Because of complicated physics (which I don't understand) the boat will always turn according to what the person at the stern is doing regardless of paddling speed or strength. The J stroke prevents the turning.

The pry stroke is used by the person at the bow (front) to turn the boat. The paddle is placed against the side of the boat, and uses the gunwale to pry the paddle, which turns the boat in the opposit direction of the paddling.

The draw stroke is more or less the opposit of the pry. It is done both in the stern and bow. The paddle is placed at arms length and drawn in towards the boat by both people. This moves the boat sideways.

Cross-draw (bow) is a stroke to turn the boat. An example of how its done: you are paddling on the left but want to turn right faster. You keep holding the paddle as if you are paddling on the left, but bring it over to the right and do a draw stroke to make a course correction

Sweep stroke is to turn the boat. It is done from either bow or stern. The paddle is placed toward the bow and a wide sweep or C from bow to stern is made. This turns the boat.

Quick turn is when one person back paddles and the other person does a normal front stroke. This turns the boat very quickly but the boat will stop moving foward.

Rudder stroke is not really a stroke. The person in the stern places their paddle in the water so the blade of the paddle is perpendicular to the boat. This greatly reduces speed but turns the boat quickly.

These are the basic strokes. Some do the same thing but will not change speed as much Different or variations of these strokes are used for white water canoeing and racing. Remember to always paddle on different sided to mantain balance.