boy what a difference in paddling that yak than my cd breeze- used my 240 cm paddle not a wise choice on my part but its all i have right now going to get one 197 cm. dont know if i have my boat set up right or not. out today no real fast water had to make major stroke changes- short and choppy kept me going straight. when i would stop paddling i would spin out n face upstream then slide back around bought made me dizzy- where there was good current n tight turns it was a blast! i am a high angle paddler- need good entry level paddle. any help would be great! thanks
Aqua Bound
They make good entry level paddles for WW boaters. I recently got a Manta Ray from them in a custom size of 200cm very light and good for lighter WW.
WW boats are made to turn
Watch your form, You want the blade out of the water by the time it passes your hips. Most likely this means when the shaft reaches your knee. Keeping it in past your hip means that you are either lifting water or turning the boat. Either way you are wasting energy.
Look where you want to go, not at the nose of your boat.
The boat is always going to turn(or spin out) if you stop paddling. And once they start turning they want to continue unless you bleed off your speed or initiate a turn in the other direction. Learn to use that to your advantage. Forget about paddling in a straight line - it’s called the forward stroke, not the straight stroke. On the river you travel in an arc, your job is to control the radius of the arc to get to where you want to go.
Practice paddling in circles large & small. Again - look where you want to go. If your paddling in a circle your head and torso should be rotated towards the center of the circle. Practice circles in both directions. If you have friends to practice with setup a slalom course between each others boats.
To avoid spin when you stop paddling, learn how to use a draw stroke. The blade in the water will let the boat track until you are ready for the next stroke.
Try to avoid using stern rudders to correct when the boat spins on you. They will correct your course, but you will lose valuable momentum. A stern draw at the end of your forward stroke on the opposite side will make the same correction without losing momentum. For a large correction use a forward sweep.
One final tip - after you have paddled a fair amount you will notice that you are doing many of things without thinking of it. But the better your technique is from the start the less likely you will make bad habits. If you have never paddled moving water consider taking a class. You’ll learn faster than you will on your own, probably make some new friends to paddle with, and know how to be safe.