When kyaking why do their legs move?

Question

It looks as though they are pedalling. Do they have some sort of apparatus in the kyak to syncronize the legs or what?

Answer 1

Physics. Boaters doing effective strokes keep their arms stiff and move the paddle with torso twisting. They brace their foot on the 'peg' or foot brace to transfer all the action to the kayak. The kayaker is planting his/her paddle forward in the water and pulling the kayak up to it. Beginners often paddle using arm action instead of torso twisting. Stop the stroke at your hip. Lift the paddle out of the water, feather it , reach forward, turn it so the blade is perpendicular to the line of travel and plant it in the water. On the other side you are pulling  on the planted paddle.  Have someone take videos.

Answer 2

if your talking about racing it's because the boat has a rudder that they control with their feet. i think it's the K1 or K2 class.

but you can race without a rudder and no other kayak discipline uses a rudder.

Answer 3

you move your hips in a kyak to help stabilize and turn