How to Move Around in Your Canoe

If you are truly concerned with getting the best performance from your quietwater canoe, learn some techniques for moving around in your boat. When done correctly, getting off your duff and unlocking your knees opens a whole new world of maneuvers and control. By simply shifting your weight around inside your canoe, you'll be able to handle your boat better and perform moves that used to be the exclusive domain of experts.

Moving around in your canoe, however, requires a different paradigm for those used to locking themselves in place. The boat-body weld (being so locked-in as to almost become a part of the canoe) is the norm in whitewater paddling. Many quietwater canoeists also try to remain locked into the standard three-point position, keeping knees apart and buttocks glued to the seat or thwart. For some, such stationary paddling is the only option because of weight, body geometry or range-of-movement limitations. For the rest of us, however, all that is needed to start unlocking a boat's potential is knowledge, practice, motivation and a new way of thinking.

When an expert executes a high kneel thrust to pop the stern out of the water and then initiates a skid that snaps the boat around 180 degrees, it is technique that makes the boat respond. The boat does most of the work, saving the paddler's energy for situations that require both technique and strength. But the design characteristics of some canoes make it impossible to maximize performance without such weight-shifting. By tailoring your body and kneeling positions, your boat will respond with minimal effort. The control of a boat's heel and pitch is the dividing line between intermediate and advanced skills. It is also the border between freestyle and so-called flatwater canoeing. Most advanced quietwater maneuvers--when executed for maximum efficiency and control--include heeling and weight shifts. Specific techniques for moving around include variations of the standard three-point kneeling position. The best way to learn these positions is to get face-to-face instruction with a competent, certified instructor. A review of some of the basics can help you get more from your first lesson.

Heeling and Leaning

Stay loose in the hips! Perfecting the basic J-lean is the first key to learning to heel your boat. Tilting at the hips with the upper part of the torso erect creates the classic J position (photo #1) from which the lean gets its name. Calling it a "lean" may give some paddlers the wrong idea. The boat is leaned--not the upper body. If you lean, a swim is likely to follow. Heeling--a sailing term--better describes what should happen. If you watch a sailor at the helm it's easy to see the boat may heel to the rail, but the helmsman's torso remains approximately perpendicular to the water. The same should be true of the canoeist. Unless you are a paddler with a reliable counter-balancing partner or some miraculous ability to defy gravity, keep your head inside the rail and your upper body erect. Smaller paddlers or paddlers in large boats may find heeling easier by modifying their kneeling position from the standard knees-in-opposite-chines to both knees in the same chine (photo #2). This position is similar to Canadian style kneeling. Instead of sitting on the heels, however, the rear end is kept on the seat or thwart. This modified Canadian position helps concentrate weight on the side you wish to heel, making it easier to keep the gunwale down near the water.

Heeling and Turning

A simple way to gain more efficiency during a forward turn is to heel or lean the boat to the on- or offside and raise your rear end off the seat or thwart. This two-point kneeling position (photo #3) shifts weight forward, and the small weight change releases turning resistance in the stern (the heel changes the in-water shape and length of the hull, creating more rocker). The result is an easier, more efficient turn. The paddler exercises more control and--usually--has more fun. This two-point position is an easy, but effective, way to shift a little weight forward to increase spin rate and ease. Weighting the bow and heeling for better performance can also be accomplished by moving around. The high-kneel thrust position releases the stern to allow it to skid free (photo #4). The onside knee is kept in the onside chine. As you rotate toward the onside rail, place the offside foot in the onside chine 18 inches to two feet forward on the onside knee. At the same time, thrust forward off the seat or thwart and place the offside knee on or just inside the onside rail directly above the offside foot. Obviously this is best taught in person; it is hard to describe in text. But don't let the awkward description rattle you. The little instruction and practice it takes to learn to high kneel thrust is well worth the enhanced performance you'll get from the canoe.

Reverse Strokes

An ingenious way to get better reverse strokes and maneuvers (and still be shoulder-safe) is to use the transverse kneeling position. Frequently called "facing your work," the transverse position has you kneeling sideways, facing the gunwale (photo #5). This makes it easier to reach sternward for more effective paddle placement. In a compound or combination backstroke, the length of the power portion of the stroke is increased, making it easier to get a vertical entry at the catch. It also takes less torso rotation. And because your arms can not travel behind your shoulder plane, the possibility of shoulder dislocation is remote. Facing the side also allows better sternward visibility. Being able to see where you're going adds more safety and enjoyment to reverse travel. Moving into the transverse position starts with moving the onside knee back to just in front of the seat. Then, come up off the seat and pivot around to face the onside rail. Next, shift your weight to the onside knee to allow the offside knee to skid around to a position next to and forward of the onside knee, bringing both feet to comfortable alignment with the knees. It sounds like a contortionist's nightmare, but it's not. And the little time it takes to learn this kneeling position will yield much greater performance from your canoe.

A Case for Pads

Absolutely essential to moving around in your canoe, of course, is a good knee pad, ideally a large one that doesn't lock you in place. The pad I use is a half-inch-thick, 3-foot by 4-foot piece of minicell foam covered with nylon-coated-neoprene (photo 6). The foam cushions my knees and the neoprene adds just enough friction to let me move or stay put. Knee cups and small pads will limit your comfortable range of motion. Unless you want to be locked in place, give yourself room to roam.

--Mark Molina is a two-time gold medalist in national interpretive Freestyle canoe competitions. He has taught paddling to students ages 4 to 84, and has written several articles on paddling and teaching. He is an Instructor Trainer Educator for the American Canoe Association (ACA) and serves on the ACA's Freestyle Board of Directors and National Safety, Instruction and Education Committee. He lives in Ft. Pierce, Fla.