How to Heel Your Touring Kayak or Canoe
by Mark Molina

Most canoes and kayaks can be better maneuvered with a simple, effective technique: heeling or leaning the paddlecraft. Heeling effectively and consistently is a key to advanced boat handling. Well-controlled boat leans will help you achieve faster, more complete spins and turns with a minimum of effort. A precisely controlled heel is also essential for efficient ferries, peel-outs, and eddy turns.

For many paddlers, heeling is a scary affair. Leaning a boat during a turn seems an unnecessary risk--albeit an essential one for eddy turns. Once mastered, a solid heel or boat lean becomes automatic and actually adds to the safety and efficiency of a turn. Developing the skill is not hard. A few hours of practice can lead to a lifetime of better boat handling. The following exercises can enhance your ability to achieve and maintain a smooth, predictable heel.

Shore Practice

Use a paddle as a brace against the shore and practice heeling the boat (new canoeists may want to start with a standard three-point kneeling position and a J-lean). Another useful practice is to use one's hands to brace against a dock or other stationary object.

Assisted Practice

Practicing with someone's help is the safest way to learn how to heel. One method is for the person helping to stand in the water next to the boat to guard the high gunwale. The guard places his or her hands a couple of inches above the rail to keep the paddler from turning the boat over. This same procedure can occur with two paddlers in boats taking turns as guard.

Unassisted Practice

After practicing with assistance, cultivate a confident, controlled heel with two additional exercises: the heel and hold and the heel and paddle.

Heel and Hold

To practice the Heel and Hold, heel the boat to the onside using any kneeling position (start with the three-point kneel). Have the paddle extend over the gunwale in the low brace position. Be ready to execute a low brace if needed. Hold the heel for one minute, trying to minimize wobble. Then roll the boat back to level in one smooth, controlled motion.

Next, heel the boat to the offside (high kneel positions are difficult with an offside heel). Extend the paddle over the rail in the high brace position. Be ready to execute a high brace if needed. Hold the heel for one minute. A slight sculling movement with the paddle may help maintain this position. Then roll the boat back to level in one smooth, controlled motion.

Try the same exercises while in the cross low brace and cross high brace positions.

Heel and Paddle

To get the feel of a moving, heeled boat, try keeping the boat heeled to the onside while paddling straight. Try to maintain the heel while paddling for at least three minutes. Paddle slowly and smoothly, and have a brace ready. Practice variations of this exercise heeled to the offside and heeled away from the offside using cross forward or compound cross forward strokes.

Land Practice

Even when the weather is cold or it is inconvenient to float, these practice exercises can be accomplished on land--even in a garage or carpeted living room--by using the Peppe Method. American Canoe Association instructor trainer Jackie Peppe, who teaches in Maine, helps students practice heeling their canoes or kayaks by having them place their boats on partially inflated inner tubes instead of water. This makes practice possible even in the dead of winter or if you have to stay home to baby-sit.

--Mark Molina is an ACA-certified instructor trainer from Ft. Pierce, Fla.