Key points of kayaking skills

Although we often speak of kayaking, kayaking and paddling are two different disciplines. The difference is that in rowing, the athlete kneels on one knee in the boat and paddles on one side; in kayaking, the athlete sits in the boat and paddles alternately left and right with the oar. In international competitions, there are only four distance competitions of 200 meters, 500 meters, 1000 meters and 5000 meters in kayaking, which are divided into still water and rapids.

For beginners, the first thing to do is to do the correct paddling action. Everyone always thinks that kayaking mainly relies on the strength of the hands and arms, but in reality these strengths only account for a part, and the core strength of the legs, waist and abdomen is also important. It is very important to rely on the strength of the whole body to row, and the close cooperation of all muscle groups in the body can complete high-quality rowing.

The paddling motion of kayaks and rowboats can be broken down into the following parts:

After the kayak enters the cabin, the upper body is upright and slightly leaned forward. The legs are naturally bent, the knees touch the sides of the inner wall of the cabin, and the soles of the feet step on the pedals in the cabin. After the posture is correct, use the spine as the central axis to stabilize the body, keep the upper body on the central axis at all times, and do not shake from side to side. In the process of paddling, the action of exerting force will be closely related to the left and right rotation of the body.

For kayaking, take paddling on the left side as an example. Hold the paddle with both hands, bend your right hand, and place your right hand in front of the right forehead. With the left hand slightly bent, the left paddle blade is fully inserted into the water. Lean your body forward slightly to better exert your body strength. Rotate the upper body to the right to allow the left arm to reach the bow as far as possible for a longer stroke. Then the leg muscles exert force, the left leg pushes forward, and the left crotch is twisted to the left through the reaction force of the pedal. Then the crotch drives the entire lower back to twist, and the left shoulder drives the left arm to paddle backward. During the paddling process, the left arm always keeps the initial movement unchanged. When the paddle reaches the hip position, lift the paddle out of the water, and then Quickly switch to the right stroke. The sequence of body exertion during the whole paddling process is: legs → hips → waist → back → shoulders → arms are transmitted in sequence, and the upper body is always kept vertical except for left and right twists.

The paddling technique of rowing is to bend the upper body forward, slightly bend the upper arm, stretch the lower arm forward as much as possible, and straighten the upper arm forward so that the paddle and the water surface form an angle of 65-75° and quickly insert the paddle into the water. The strength of the waist and shoulder and back muscles drives the arms to pull the oars, so that the boat can obtain the maximum forward force. The action of pulling the oar ends at the waist position, and at the same time, the lower wrist quickly turns inward to pull the oar, the elbow is outward, and the upper hand lifts the oar blade out of the water. After the paddle leaves the water, the upper arm slightly bends, the torso bends forward, and the lower arm moves from bending to straight swinging the paddle forward to complete the paddle pushing action, and the cycle repeats.

When we hold the paddle, we must pay attention to the difference between the back and the front of the paddle. The concave side is called the force application side, and the other side is the back side. Some standard paddles have curved surfaces, and it is these curvatures that push the water that propels the kayak forward.

The distance between the two hands holding the paddle is also very important, which is roughly equivalent to the distance between the two elbows, and can be adjusted appropriately when paddling. If you grasp the appropriate distance, paddling will also save a lot of effort. If you want to speed up the kayak, you can increase the distance slightly. If you need to paddle longer, then we can reduce the distance appropriately.

In the process of paddling, the position of the hand should not change greatly, because the hand is used to adjust the movement angle of the paddle, so the angle should not be greatly changed, and the hands should not hold the paddle too hard, otherwise it will easily cause fatigue.